While we think about instilling kindness and showing our love for our children all year long, there’s just something about this time of year that brings this mission to the forefront. February, the month of love, is a perfect time to work alongside our children to spread kindness and show our love for those around us—in our own homes, at school and in our community.
Looking for some ways to demonstrate this concept for your children? Families with kids of all ages, from toddlers to teens, can find ideas below, thanks to our extensive list of fun and simple acts of kindness.
We also spoke with three Northeast Ohio moms who took the mission of spreading kindness to the next level by founding a local nonprofit organization that directly connects families who want to help with those who are in need in the very same community.
We hope you’ll find inspiration to fuel your family’s kindness goals throughout this month and beyond.
Here are Acts of Kindness to do With Your Kids:
1. Donate old towels or blankets to an animal rescue
2. Read to a younger sibling, cousin or neighbor
3. Make a meal for someone in need
4. Help someone load their bags at the grocery store
5. Hide a few dollar store toys around a playground, with a note by each
6. Bring coloring books and crayons to a homeless shelter or community center
7. Donate a new toy to a local organization for children in need
8. Tape quarters to toy machines at stores
9. Donate a book you are done with to a doctor’s office waiting room
10. Call a local school and pay off or add money to a lunch account
11. Leave a treat for your garbage men
12. Pick up litter at a local park or town square
13. Leave jokes on post-it notes around a store to bring someone a smile
14. Hide handmade bookmarks at the library
15. Let someone else go ahead of you in line
16. Collect and donate outgrown clothes that are in good condition
17. Donate diapers, wipes or formula to a pregnancy or women’s center
18. Ask your teacher if he or she needs any school supplies restocked
19. Get a shopping cart for someone at the grocery store
20. Donate new pajamas for kids in foster care
21. Thank the custodians for all they do at your school
22. While running errands, hold the door open for five different people
23. Bring up a neighbor’s trash cans from the curb
24. Support a locally-owned store or restaurant that you’ve never visited before
25. Give a warm smile to 10 strangers today
26. Thank a police officer for keeping your town safe
27. Tell everyone at the dinner table what you love about them
28. Shovel snow off of a neighbor’s driveway or sidewalk
29. Take stickers to a store and hand them out to other kids
30. Buy a store gift card and give it to the person in line behind you
31. Bring in snacks to a police or fire station
32. Leave a container of bubbles or chalk at a local park
33. Wave and smile at kids on school buses
34. Leave extra quarters at a local laundromat
35. Send a thank-you note to someone who helped you recently
36. Collect books you don’t read anymore and donate them to a Little Free Library
37. Take your pet on an extra walk or hour of playtime
38. Leave quarters in shopping carts at Aldi
39. Leave a nice note or drawing for a neighbor
40. Make everyone’s beds in your house
41. Say “have a good day” to five strangers
42. Leave a treat with a note in your mailbox for your mail carrier
43. Give a scratch-off lottery ticket to a stranger
44. Play with someone new at recess every day this week
45. Make homemade playdough or a sensory bin and drop it off at the home of a toddler
46. Donate some art supplies to an art teacher
47. Tell a parent who’s having a hard time at a store that they’re doing a great job
48. Leave nice notes around the house for your family members to find
49. Give a restaurant gift card to someone eating dinner at that restaurant
50. Leave a coloring book and crayons in a waiting room
51. Write positive messages on sidewalks around town in chalk
52. Leave a nice note in a library book
53.Take snacks to school for the teachers’ lounge
54. Leave wishing pennies at a fountain
55. Have a family chore day
56. Collect toys you no longer play with and post them on a local donation site
57. Teach someone something new
58. Write a kind note on your car windows for other drivers to see
59. Tape a bag of unpopped popcorn to a Redbox kiosk
60. Donate nonperishable items to a food pantry
61. Leave tennis balls at a dog park
62. Give compliments to five strangers
63. Say “thank you” to the cafeteria staff at your school
64. Offer to babysit for someone who needs a break
65. Give a friendship bracelet to a stranger
66. Paint kindness rocks to leave around town
67. Tape a couple of dollars to a vending machine
68. Send a postcard to a family member or friend you haven’t seen in a while
69. Choose a friend and celebrate them in some way
70. Corral stray carts in the grocery store parking lot
71. Call a grandparent, aunt or uncle and tell them your favorite memory with them
72. Bake a treat for a friend and surprise them with it
73. Call an elderly relative and ask them about their childhood
74. Leave kind notes inside coat pockets at the store, as a surprise for people trying them on to find
75. Deliver flowers to a friend or neighbor
76. Leave uplifting notes on 10 cars
77. Take muffins or cookies to your local librarians
78. Make cards and deliver them to a nursing home to pass out to residents who don’t get visitors
79. Leave post-it notes on your front door with jokes for delivery drivers
80. Leave a pack of wipes on a changing table, along with a kind note
81. Make an insect hotel in the spring to shelter critters in your yard
82. Buy a children’s book at the store and then give it to a child you see before you leave
83. Take photos of your family and send them to a grandparent in the mail
84. Donate cooking spices to a food pantry
85. Leave heads-up pennies on sidewalks around town to bring people good luck
86. Donate personal care items to a homeless shelter
87. Give a candy bar to your bus driver
88. Leave a gas gift card at a gas pump, along with a note
89. Leave body-positive notes on mirrors in fitting rooms
90. Take treats to the nearest hospital’s nurses station
91. Offer to walk a friend’s dog for them
92. Take treats to a local pharmacist
93. Make birdseed ornaments to hang outside
94. Make and hold up positive signs for runners at a park
95. Leave a generous tip at a restaurant
96. Leave a copy of your favorite book in a public place with a note that says you hope the person who finds it loves it as much as you do
97. Have a complaint-free day
98. Donate puzzles or card games to a nursing home or senior center
99. Offer to host a playdate for friends
100. Make a get-well card for a friend who is home sick from school
