INSPIRING KINDNESS ACTIVITIES FOR PRESCHOOLERS

Kindness activities for preschoolers nurture a culture of kindness in early childhood education.
We, as parents tend to believe that acquiring skills is the main objective of early learning and sometimes overlook the importance of developing empathy, gratitude and kindness in a person.

This article focuses on kindness activities for preschoolers and how they benefit your little ones.

Incorporating kindness activities

Kindness gives you happiness and satisfaction that no amount of money can buy. Being kind when it’s a difficult choice makes you stronger and more confident. It is definitely a superpower.

How do we raise kind little ones who will eventually turn out to be kind, humane and empathetic adults?

That isn’t the easiest task in a society where material values, physical beauty, fame, popularity and so on are given unnecessary hype. But still we can start making a difference by teaching our kids at home that kindness is above all the other things mentioned above.

Of course, exemplary behaviour from you guys as parents is the key. Apart from that, let’s do some activities that give kids a hands-on experience of what kindness feels like in real life.,

Related article : 5 life lessons every parent should teach their children

Activity 1: Random Acts of Kindness

Random acts of kindness have no time or place. It simply requires us to be alert and quickly react when there’s something or someone who needs our kindness, sympathy, understanding or support.

It can be as simple as a smiling at a stranger or as purposeful as stopping to talk to someone who looks helpless and lost. But they all count and they can definitely show you who you are and how warm and caring you are.

List of simple and age-appropriate kindness ACTIVITIES for preschoolers

Giving a hug to a friend.
Sharing toys with friends.
Encouraging a friend to do something he feels scared to do. (something age-appropriate)
Cleaning after themselves.
Using kind words with everyone.
Inviting all kids to join with them especially if they have no friends.
Donate books to the community library.
Refill the birdfeeder
Place water pails for animals to drink.
Bake cookies and share them with neighbours.
Make Christmas cards for elderly neighbours.

Suggestions for implementing a “Kindness Jar” or chart to track acts of kindness

You can encourage your little one to implement a kindness jar where they put a folder of paper with a kindness act written on it every time they do something nice and sweet for others.

For bigger kids, a chart to track kindness acts is also ideal.

Activity 2: Activities To Encourage Gratitude

Gratitude and kindness go hand in hand all the time. Just think about it, it’s the gratitude we have for what we have that leads us to give back to whoever needs something.

When we feel grateful for the food we have, we feel the urge to help those who cannot afford it.

When children feel grateful for the love and care in their lives, they have the urge to spread that love and positivity among those around them.
How do we practise gratitude?

creating a gratitude collage with preschoolers

A gratitude cpllage is a good way to start. Basically it’s drawing or writing down what you are grateful for.
Sitting down and reflecting on what you are thankful for today is also a good practice we can incorporate into our children’s daily routine.

https://www.kiwico.com/diy/holiday-events/thanksgiving/gratitude-collage

positive effects of expressing gratitude

The positive effects of expressing gratitude are just too many to count.

Some of them are :
It makes you humble.

It makes you kind.

It makes you optimistic.

Activity 3: Friendship Bracelets

Kindness is the foundation of a warm and lasting friendship. The value of giving without expecting anything in return, is something beautiful that keeps people connected and bonded.
How do we encourage them to show kindness to their friends?

Packing extra food to share with friends (paying attention to dietary requirements)
Encourage your child to include everyone be it a birthday party, playdate etc
Educate them about the different dietary requirements of other children.

Here’s a fun and engaging kindness activity that involves friends.

Step-by-step guide to making friendship bracelets

Friendship bracelets are so easy to make. All you need is colourful beads, an elastic thread, beads with letters (optional).

Step 1

Wrap the thread around the wrist and measure how long it needs to be. (approximately)

Step 2

Make a knot at one end.

Step 3

Use a crochet hook to string the beads onto the cord.

Step 4

Tie a knot with the other end to secure the beads.

Your bracelet is ready now !

Ideas for discussing the importance of treating others with kindness

You can talk about the importance of giving. How we can show others that we care and think about them.

What kind of gifts should we give in order to show our love?

How our act of kindness will make them feel. How you will feel at the to

Activity 4: Storytime with Kindness Books

Storytime is a great time to talk about kindness. When they read deep, meaningful stories of kindness, they transfer that lesson to their long term memory.
Books that I recommend

Kindness is my superpower by Alicia Ortego
Find out about kindness by Louise Forshaw

Read more about benefits of reading for children

Tips for conducting a meaningful story time session with preschoolers

Ask plenty of questions. Ask them to tell about an instance in which they performed an act of kindness.
Discuss how the story brings out kindness. Ask what they think about it or what they would have done if they were in that situation.

Follow-up activities related to the stories

Encourage kids to do follow up activities related to the story.

If it’s a story about a lonely boy in school, ask your kids if there are kids with no friends/newcomers in their class. Model how they should approach and invite them to join or the follow-up activity may be making a video for grandparents, a card for the mailman or birdfeeder for backyard.

Just think about creative ways to apply the story’s message in real life. And have fun with it.

Activity 5: Kindness Rocks

Painting kindness rocks will be an activity that your child will love. It is not only fun, engaging and thrilling but it can also brighten someone’s day in a way you can never imagine.

Kindness rocks can be any smooth rock that you can paint on but flat smooth river rocks are ideal for this. Simply, paint the stones with a meaningful and kind message and hide them in parks, hiking trails or gardens.

Instructions for painting and hiding kindness rocks with preschoolers

Thinking about the safety of others and hiding in places where no one will find it inconvenient. Ex: not on bike trails, near the road etc.

Ideas for encouraging conversations about kindness while exploring outdoor spaces

Thinking about others’ safety is also an act of kindness and you can discuss it with your kid.
How their act of kindness will make someone’s day.
How beautiful it is to do something for someone without expecting anything in return… You can discuss these with your kids,

Conclusion

Kindness truly is a superpower. It makes you a happy, confident and charming soul. But unfortunately, the effort to inculcate it in our next generation seems to be minimal.

That is why we as parents should make our kids feel how glorious it is to be kind.

Hope this kindness activities for preschoolers article will help your little ones understand and have hands-on experience of what kindness feels like in real life.
Please share your thoughts with us.