14 Fun Kindness Activities for Kids for Random Acts of Kindness Day
Do you need kindness activities for kids to nurture friendships and encourage an inclusive classroom community?
Beyond feel-good emotions or to stop bullying, kindness is a highly valued character trait we all want to embed in our kids. When teachers nurture positive character traits, they're equipping their students with an emotional skill set that's essential for them to lead a happy and successful life.
Teaching kindness can make a huge impact on wellbeing and classroom community. In this post you'll see why you need to incorporate fun kindness activities for elementary students and how to make it easy for your grade to get involved in kindness events like Random Acts of Kindness Day and World Kindness Day.
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Kindness Activities Build Emotional Intelligence
Kindness is a critical element of emotional intelligence (EQ). Each reinforces the other to significantly influence personal development and societal harmony.
Kindness is a manifestation of empathy and compassion, reflecting the genuine concern for the wellbeing of others. It's a critical part of social-emotional learning (SEL) which is now recognized as a better predictor of success than academic intelligence.
Emotional intelligence involves understanding, managing, and empathizing with one's own and others' emotions to foster a deep connection.
Daniel Goleman, psychologist and award-winning author describes the 5 elements of EQ as self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. Of these, three are directly related to kindness as they involve the interaction and connection of people.
When students engage in acts of kindness, they not only demonstrate empathy and compassion but also heighten their self-awareness. Considering the feelings and needs of others involves recognizing and understanding one's own emotions, a key component of emotional intelligence.
The magic happens when you combine SEL with kindness lessons. This powerful formula can have a marked impact on student wellbeing and your classroom community. Here's why:
Before implementing any volunteer activities, be sure to coordinate with parents, teachers, and relevant community organizations to ensure a safe and age-appropriate experience for the students. These activities not only teach valuable lessons about kindness but also empower young learners to make a positive impact on the world around them.
Kindness Days to Celebrate at School
There are many opportunities for students to take part in days earmarked for spreading kindness during the year. Participating during one of the official days makes students feel proud to be part of a collective initiative that can create such positive energy for our world.
If you're looking for RAK or World Kindness Day activities for students, then you'll want to check out this great list of kindness ideas. Just click any of the activities about kindness in the quick links box above to jump to the resource.
Days to Mark on Your Calendar
Random Acts of Kindness Day - February 17th
Pay It Forward Day - April 28th
World Kindness Day - November 13th
World Kindness Week - Week of November 13th
NOTE: The date range for World Kindness Week changes each year so you'll want to google it.
What are Some Random Acts of Kindness Day Activities for Elementary School Students?
Taking part in Kindness Day or Kindness Week doesn't have to be time-consuming and frustrating. There's no need for exhausting Google searches to find fun ideas for Random Acts of Kindness Week to engage and inspire students to participate in doing good when there are ready-made kindness resources to save you so much time.
1. Make a Kindness Quilt
Kindness quilt submitted by Karen Caswell, fourth grade teacher at Coomera Rivers State School
This is gorgeous kindness quilt was made by students using my kit. It's a wonderful example of the type of kindness activities you can easily incorporate in your classroom.
Students at this school each received a quilt square from their teacher. Some had kindness quotes on them, others were blank templates for them to make up their own kindness message. I love how colorful this one turned out and how the squares are offset by the black background.
This patchwork quilt has 30 squares with kindness quotes as well as images and bordered squares for students to make their own patches.
Ready-made quilt squares can be printed to use as coloring pages or students can use Google Slidesâ„¢ to add their own positive messages. Kids practice writing and spelling as they write or type an inspirational quote onto a blank template and personalize their piece with a picture.
We used this to create a Kindness quilt in our hallway and it was a big hit! The kindness quotes were great discussion points. Thank you!
Laura D - 6th Grade
My class have created this beautiful kindness quilt as part of our school's beginning of the year wellbeing focus on relationships and kindness. Every piece of the quilt is different and the words are so meaningful. We still look at it on the classroom wall from time to time, reflect and remind ourselves of the words.
Lyn C - 2nd Grade
We used this activity along with the book for our school wide kindness week initiative. Each class made their own kindness quilt and we hung them up in the halls of the school. It was a great activity and I highly recommend.
Tandy D - 1st Grade
2. Kindness Bookmarks
Kids love this kindness challenge and teachers love that it's a no-prep character-building activity to help them nurture a growth mindset to encourage a positive classroom community.
Each bookmark has a quote or positive affirmation about kindness. When used as a coloring activity, they are a fabulous addition to a calm down corner or use them as a mindfulness activity when students need a brain break. The color bookmarks are perfect as student gifts or incentives.
The most fun thing to do is participate in the kindness challenge. Here's how it works:
First, students select a bookmark design to color. Then they write a positive message on the back. The best part is when they sneak off to the library to hide their bookmarks for schoolmates to find. It makes them feel like they're on a secret mission and they absolutely LOVE it!
I used this resource with our school's Kindness Club. We colored the bookmarks and hid them in books in our library. The Kindness Club members LOVED making the bookmarks, and I've received great feedback from our school's media specialist about the reactions from students who are finding the bookmarks. Thank you so much. 🙂
Shania B - 3rd, 4th, 5th Grades
As an End of Year activity, my kids coloured these in left them randomly in books in my class library for the next year's students - it has been so fun to see my new class discovering them!
Mia V - 2nd Grade
I just love this resource! I have used a couple of times now and not only is it easy and quick for teachers, the engagement that it generates within the classroom for students is exceptional. Thank you so much for a resource that is high in quality, easy and engaging to use and practical!
Megan V - 3rd, 4th, 5th Grades
3. Kindness Coloring Pages
These cute little coloring pages are one of my most popular and versatile kindness activities for kids and top of the list for easy world kindness day ideas.
Thousands of teachers worldwide use my kindness coloring pages as a mindfulness activity to calm students while building character traits. When they're included in a calm down corner, they're the perfect way to reinforce the good values you want your students to adopt while giving them a brain break.
Teachers also use them as a fun and engaging activity for early finishers or as a no-prep activity for substitute teachers.
Why are these humble coloring pages so popular?
Did you know that coloring is an effective way to foster physical and psychological development in children? It is a relaxing form of self-expression that stimulates creativity and supports a range of benefits to nurture student wellbeing and mental health.
We know that teaching kindness has many physical, emotional, and mental health benefits. This is significant for schools who need to improve relationships to reduce anti-social and bullying behavior.
Though you might think they're "just" coloring pages, each one has a positive affirmation to reinforce the healthy thoughts, feelings and behavior that helps build character and nurture friendships.
These pictures went great with my social skills lesson, and it gave me some more books on the same topic to use and reinforce our learning about being kind to one another.
Esther A - K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Grades
Primarily students with mild to severe disabilities
My students loved these. We used them during our character traits unit. Since my school doesn't celebrate Valentines Day, I used these as "kindness coupons in a "treasure chest" hung on their desk -- fun.
Elizabeth W - Kindergarten
I used this as a way for my students to bond with their buddy students in a younger grade. It allowed the students to interact with one another while helping to make something to display in the school.
Allyson J - 2nd Grade
For adults who love coloring, download my FREE heart mandala coloring page.
â–º Try these FREE Kindness Coloring Pages!
4. Crack the Code Worksheets
If you'd like more academic kindness activities for kids, then take a look at these fun fill in the blanks worksheets for 2nd and 3rd graders.
Students choose the appropriate words from the word bank at the bottom of their worksheet to insert to finish sentences about kindness and friendship. When all 5 sentences are completed, they arrange the 5 words they inserted with others from the word bank to crack the code to make a kindness quote.
Students can work individually or in groups to make a poster that includes the kindness message they have just discovered.
The completed posters can be used on a kindness bulletin board or hung around the school to remind students of the kind and respectful behavior people expect.
How to Use These Crack the Code Worksheets
This activity combines reading and writing with social-emotional learning as a fun way to feed the heart as well as the brain. Strengthen reading comprehension and writing skills as students work to construct sentences and finish the activity with a drawing component as a relaxing mindfulness activity.
5. 10 Activity Kindness Challenge Checklist
If you're looking for Kindness Week activities for students, you'll love this 5-week kindness challenge checklist! There's a variety of different kindness activities for elementary students to help improve friendships and reduce bullying in your classroom.
Students learn about kindness and respect with 10 fun character-building activities that can be started during Kindness Week and continued over the following month or two.
There's even a kindness survey included for you to check the happiness level in your classroom before starting. It's a great way to discover how students are doing or if anyone is bullying. When students take the questionnaire again after the challenge, you can see if students feel better about coming to school.
Kids satisfyingly get to check off each of the kindness activities as they complete them and the excitement mounts as they move closer to the Kindness Heart Attack activity - a secret mission to make someone’s day!
How to Use This Kindness Challenge Checklist:
This Resource Includes:
6. Kindness Fortune Teller
You can't get a more engaging and educational activity than fortune tellers or cootie catchers as they're often called.
Kids love paper crafts and these fun old-fashioned fortune tellers won't disappoint. This version of an old favorite is all about teaching kids to be kind in a hands-on way that gets them excited about learning.
The game gets them to practice reading and writing as they develop social skills. They must carefully follow the directions to make it work, so they'll be developing comprehension, problem-solving, and concentration skills.
This engaging game delivers an important lesson about kindness and friendship and your students will be begging to play again!
Students can collaborate to work together or individually to learn positive character traits and values.
Why You Need Kindness Fortune Tellers:
This Resource Includes:
7. FREE Kindness Checklist for Students and Teachers
Thousands of kids have used my FREE kindness challenge checklists to participate in acts of kindness. They're a popular no-prep kindness day activity for busy teachers who want kindness activities that build character traits and nurture classroom community.
These worksheets are also included in my editable resource which allows teachers to customize the checklists to suit their grade.
Teachers can also assign a copy of the Google Slidesâ„¢ resource to students so they can add their own kindness ideas. There's also a template to make a checklist from scratch. Such a fun way to practice kindness and improve technology skills!
Students can work independently or learn skills such as consideration and co-operation collaborating on the group challenge. Students are challenged to complete three or more kindness activities from four categories (school, home, community, with an adult) OR five or more in two categories when working together in a group.
A great kindness activity for elementary students that will have kids considering ways they can make a difference. They'll be engaged for hours or even days!
Super helpful resource to use when encouraging acts of kindness! Well worded and easy for students to understand.
Fourth Story Creative Co - 4th Grade
I used this as a continuation of our weekly bully meetings about being kind. The checklist was a great way for them to see many different ways they have or can be kind to others.
Jacqueline Y - 2nd Grade
I loved this checklist! So many great ideas to talk about! Sent it home as a challenge for students to complete as many as they could in November and bring back for a prize!
Mandy E - K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Grades
Teachers can also join the challenge by printing my FREE adult checklist!
8. Kindness Day Challenge
This fun no-prep kindness challenge is perfect if you're looking for ideas for World Kindness Day. It's a fun way to reinforce values and nurture friendships as students can participate individually or in teams.
Teachers can elect to participate for a day or a whole week by selecting from kindness collection sheets where students complete 6, 9, or 12 good deeds.
Acts of kindness cards are spread face down on a table and randomly selected to reveal the good deeds children are participating in. There is also an option to use a variation of some old-fashioned card games such as Go Fish, Snap and Memory to select their kindness cards. These are great working memory activities that add variety if using the resource for more than one kindness day.
Why This is a Great Resource for Your Classroom:
This is such a comprehensive and well thought out resource. I absolutely love it! Thank you so much for creating these beautiful and kind ideas that I can share with my class.
Megan V - 3rd, 4th Grade
I was able to engage my students with this resource and branch out to the 4th grade students as well. I even utilized this resource with my own children at home.
Susan V - 5th Grade
This is so perfect for our Kindness Club at school! Thank you! Let kindness rule!
Joyce G
9. Create a Kindness Tree
Kindness trees are becoming a favorite way to display acts of kindness at school and it's easy to see why. Who wouldn't love the excitement of watching their tree come to life as good deeds are added!!
We love this idea so much that we gathered trees from around the globe and popped them in a post to inspire more schools to create their own. We even created a resource with templates to make it as easy as possible to encourage whole schools to participate.
1. Assemble Your Tree
There's a range of ready-to-print posters in different sizes to fit a variety of spaces. Posters are tile printed and stuck together to quickly become a large display.
If you want more student participation, print the outlined version of a poster and get kids to work together to color it before it's assembled into a fun organic patchwork design.
If you need more flexibility, choose color or outlined elements (tree, grass, flowers, banner, sign) and arrange them within your space or on a classroom door.
2. Prepare Your Elements
Leaves, apples, birds, and bugs are allocated to particular groups (students, teachers, parents, Principal) and acts of kindness witnessed or received are written on them and added to the tree.
If you want less prep, use the color version or print the outlines on colored paper. Print on white for students to cut out and color in (great for improving motor skills).
3. Start Your Challenge
When your community engages in acts of kindness they select the appropriate element on which they write their good deed and adhere to the tree.
Everyone's encouraged to be mindful of the way they behave and show more kindness so they can add another element and bring the tree to life. It's an absolutely beautiful sight and feeling!
4. Poster and Coloring Pages
There is an instruction poster and several other kindness posters to print and adhere around your tree. These are available in full color, printer-friendly, and outline options to use as coloring pages for brain breaks or in your calm down corner.
Great community building resource. I really liked how it included everyone - teachers, students, parents and the Principal. Thank you.
Samantha R - K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th Grades
I used this as a bulletin board outside my classroom. We are talking about being a kind school this year. This board is so cute and so powerful. I am thinking of doing it next year also!
Kaelene S - K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Grades
My Kindness and Manners Count Club used this resource to celebrate National Kindness Day for our whole school. It was loved by all.
Moneta R - 3rd, 4th, 5th Grades
You can use this kindness challenge as a class, year level, or whole school kindness activity to promote positive character traits and improve community.
You can use the tree to bring students, teachers, and parents together to participate in a community event. It's a powerful, inclusive, and fun way to set expectations of friendship, inclusion, and caring during kindness days.
10. Free Hug Coupons
There's nothing better than a good old-fashioned hug to show you care.
Research shows there's a whole range of benefits to be gained by hugging. Hugs help to connect people, reduce stress, lift mood, and may even be good for your heart and boost your immune system. Regardless of the proven benefits, getting or giving a hug FEELS sooo GOOD!
My free hug coupons can be downloaded and printed from this site and used in so many ways, and not just during kindness days. We like to include them in letters, leave them in books, add them to a gift or leave them in a cafe for a server.
If you're looking for another feel-good activity, print some as examples and have your students make their own hug coupons. Discuss ways they could use them and ask them to put them into action. We'd love to see what they make and hear how they share them. Please email us here.
11. Kindness Cash - A Money and Classroom Behavior Management System
This is such a fun and novel way to teach about kindness, friendship, and money management! Kindness Cash can be used all year as a behavior management incentive and to build essential life skills.
Acts of kindness are provided but sheets can also be edited to include considered acts of kindness. Students decide what they do and how much cash they earn. But what makes this resource unique is how they spend their reward money. Children can use the cash they have in their "bank" on reward coupons they give away to classmates!
As students buy coupons on shopping days, they'll have to decide who will receive them and consider what they like.
Kindness Cash is a fun incentive system that requires children to be intentional in their kindness and their purchases.
Why Kindness Cash is the Ultimate Life Lesson:
I am the coordinator of an after-school program and I have been wanting to find a way to promote good choices and finances and well this was that one-stop shop for me.
Denise
This is a fantastic resource! It was easy to use and my students loved it! Thank you!
Marlayne S - 5th Grade
12. Kindness Rocks
If you're looking for kindness project ideas for elementary students that will leave a permanent mark at your school, kindness rocks are a fun, low-prep favorite!
Kids can gather some flat rocks or bring them from home to decorate (you can also pick them up at a dollar or hardware store). Once they're clean you can use paint, markers, and glitter glue but be sure to give them a coat of varnish or a brush over some glue that dries clear to protect them.
You could even create a Peace Garden with your kindness rocks like the children at Zue Bales Intermediate in Texas did. All students, staff and even families were invited to paint an inspirational rock for their serenity spot. Read how they constructed their garden here.
If you have created kindness rocks at your school, please share photos with us here.
13. Read a book about kindness
Picture books should sit front and center in any elementary classroom. Reading to your class is a fabulous brain break for your kids but also a wonderful way to encourage conversations.
Books are essential when building a culture of kindness as they give students examples of the values and character traits you'd like them to adopt and kindness books give them ideas for good deeds they can participate in.
The books pictured are just a small selection of the wonderful kindness titles available. Full disclosure, they do contain affiliate links to help support my blog.
14. Big Value Kindness Bundle
Students thrive when they build connections and what better way to encourage a positive community in your classroom than teaching them to be kind! Kindness is an essential character trait that will stay with and help them succeed throughout their lives.
Save $40
on this big value bundle
with a year's worth of SEL activities
This comprehensive back-to-school kindness bundle is your ultimate toolkit for promoting confidence, caring, respect, and positive behavior in your classroom.
These fun activities and lessons reinforce essential character traits and create an inclusive, kind classroom culture.
Students enjoy exciting challenges where they feel like they're on a secret mission, work together to create beautiful bulletin boards, hone their writing skills, relax with coloring pages, reinforce concepts with posters, engage in exciting games, and so much more.
This versatile back-to-school kindness bundle includes:
How Can Volunteering Teach Children About Kindness?
Volunteering can be used to teach children about kindness by allowing them to actively participate in helping others. By engaging
Engaging elementary students in volunteer activities is a fantastic way to teach them about kindness, empathy, and the importance of giving back to the community. Participating in volunteer activities allows children to see firsthand the impact of their kind actions on those in need.
Age-Appropriate Ways for Elementary Students to Volunteer
I love that you're looking for random acts of kindness activities for students. Teaching kindness is one of the best ways I know to improve student wellbeing, behavior and the classroom community.
We're very lucky to have official days like World Kindness Day to remind us to incorporate activities that build positive character traits. The other nice thing about these special days is that so many people around the world are also looking for Random Acts of Kindness Day ideas so they can participate.
Whether you're looking for kindness activities for middle school or elementary school, I hope the ideas above check your boxes and you use many of them throughout the year. These fun lessons will set your students up with important social-emotional skills they'll use for the rest of their life.
Share your ideas for World Kindness Day or Random Acts of Kindness Day. I'd love to hear them, and others would too, so take a moment to EMAIL me your ideas and photos!
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