As parents (or homeschoolers), we have the unique ability to influence our children to be forces for good in this world.

One small step forward in that mission involves teaching good manners. It’s often overlooked in our culture today but so very important.

I love the idea of a Good Manners theme week or “Manners Month” to kick things off.

To help you get started, I’ve gathered 20+ free good manners activities to make teaching manners easy and fun!

To kick things off, grab this Manners List that you can print and hang on your fridge or wall in your classroom:

I’ve organized the list of activities below into 4 main categories:

• Songs & Books
• Arts & Crafts
• Games
• Worksheets & Printables

Just find the way your child learns best and have fun!

Songs and Stories

These make great preschool and kindergarten activities. There’s just something about a jingle and a rhyme that makes things “stick.”

1. The Manners Song

Children, especially young ones, tend to learn more through play.

Although there is far more to manners than this song depicts, it’s a great way to introduce manners to preschoolers.

The song is fun, catchy, and helps teach the concept of basic manners to young kids.

2. Cute Collection of Manners Poems

These poems offer a fun, gentle way to help children understand what type of behavior is acceptable and which actions to avoid.

They cover some elementary manners concepts like being friendly and willing to help others.

3. Behaving Properly by Little Mandy Manners

This is one of those teaching good behavior activities that provides a visual experience for kids while reinforcing the principles through song.

I like that it presents real-life scenarios and situations that children find themselves in.

It’s not an in-depth overview of manners by any means, but I think it’s a fun way to start the process of modeling good behavior, bit by bit.

4. “Mind Your Manners” Picture Books at the Library

I love reading. I wanted to instill that love in my children at an early age, and children’s books were a good way to do that.

In many cases, they naturally spark good discussions about good manners.

These books in particular are bright, colorful, and capture the attention of little minds well.

They’re not necessarily a series of lessons but are instead fun illustrations that discuss both good and bad behavior.

From actions like sharing to saying “thank you,” the more simple acts of good manners are demonstrated well within their covers.

Combat a culture of rudeness with clear action steps and character-building insights in the Good Manners Guide:

Arts and Crafts

Let’s face it—children love to get their hands dirty!

These activities related to good manners provide a delightful outlet for their creativity (and desire for gooey textures and colorful sparkles).

5. Teaching Manners Through Art Activity

This is a unique manners craft as it is different from most methods of teaching good manners.

I love that it allows for practicing manners in a very normal, everyday scenario.

Students engage in all sorts of group activities, and they need to know how to politely ask for items and share.

That’s exactly what this art activity teaches—without children even realizing they’re learning.

6. Good Manners Box

I wish I’d thought about this when my children were younger. All you need is a tissue box and a few of your typical school supplies.

The idea is to create a visual “holder” of their positive actions. It’s a fun way to call attention to good behavior and encourage them to continue in it.

You can create little “coins” for things like:

• I held the door for someone
• I listened carefully to my teacher
• I remembered to ask politely

Overall, it’s a simple activity that highlights how good manners should be weaved naturally within our speech and actions and speech.

7. Paint “Happy” Rocks

As simple and silly as it was, my children loved painting rocks. Do yours?

If so, this little good manners project might be their favorite one of all!

It involves painting words or phrases like “love others” or “be kind” and displaying them somewhere visible as a daily reminder.

8. Place Setting Craft

Do your children set the table? If not, would you like them to learn how?

This simple, yet fun craft helps them understand the basics without it feeling like a chore.

Games

It’s usually a win for the whole family whenever you can incorporate good manners into games.

It’s makes the task of learning more like a play.

As you might guess, many of these game are geared toward younger students. If you have older ones participating, get creative with ways to include them that don’t feel as childish.

For instance, you could role play for table manners. The older student(s) can serve the younger ones—both practicing their

9. The Please and Thank You Game with Animals or Action Figures

As your children get older, you’ll want to encourage good manners in age-appropriate ways.

This is a great manners activity for kindergarten that’s fun and easy to do—just incorporate their favorite toys!

10. Monster Manners Game

Have you discovered the wonder of file folders in your homeschool?

It’s really quite amazing how many uses they have, and this creative game highlights just one of the many!

The cute monsters put a different type of spin on this game. Boys, especially, will love it.

Each monster represents an action or manner, and you have to decide if it’s a good or bad one!

11. Holiday Meal Manners Game

This is an engaging way to introduce the concept of “please” to young children.

It’s so important to teach our little ones how to ask for something politely (as opposed to snatching), and this game makes the process light and fun.

12. Printable Board Game to Teach Manners

This good manners game works well with kids up to third grade. I liked that it was similar to other types of board games we play.

It’s easy to set up and even easier to not realize you’re “learning.”

13. The Mind Your Table Manners Game

This is a great one to tuck away for a night when you eat out.

As moms, I think we all know the struggle of teaching children to sit still and wait patiently. This game helps pass the time while waiting for your food.

It’s set up similar to board games where you have to reach the finish line to win, but you learn to recognize good and bad behaviors in the process!

Worksheet Activities

Do you have a child that just loves worksheets? These good manners activity sheets should be right up their alley.

14. Manners List for Your Fridge

This is the list of manners created by my dear friend, Stacy, here at Homeschool Adventure.

I mentioned it at the beginning of this post, but I wanted to make sure you didn’t miss it.

If you want to teach manners in a way that focuses on the heart behind them, you’re going to love it!

15. Lend a Hand Coloring Page

This is a great option to work into your lesson plan on good manners and habits.

Unlike other manners activities, I like that it focuses more on the heart behind the action.

Manners go far beyond chewing with your mouth closed. I appreciate that this coloring sheet highlights empathy and helping people others.

16. Patience and Manners Activity Printable

This activity is more like a mini-lesson plan to help develop social skills. It focuses on patience, which can be especially hard for children to master.

With a checklist used to track progress and gauge success, it’s an easy, engaging way to teach good choices and appropriate behavior.

17. Colorful Good Manners Classroom Posters

I love a good poster, and these are bright and colorful! They’re great to hang up around the house or wherever your children do school.

I’m a firm believer that “in sight” means “in mind.”

I like that these posters serve as an ongoing reminder and a passive way to encourage good behavior.

18. Manners Detective Lesson Plan

If you want to go further than an activity sheet but don’t have time to create a full-blown lesson, this good manners lesson is a fantastic tool.

It provides a fantastic overview of teaching manners in a fun “detective” theme and can be used for a wide range of ages.

19. Manners Word Search

This resource isn’t a standalone one, but it’s great to pair with other lessons you may be doing on manners.

Word searches help kids build their vocabulary and attention to detail, so it’s a win-win.

20. Using Polite Words Lesson Plan

I don’t know many children who like to sit still in desks for long. Get them up and moving with this fun collection of games and activities!

I especially loved the skits and role play aspect of this lesson plan.

They get to act out different scenarios (several are provided for you), but I think I’d encourage them to come up with their own narrative (throw a little critical thinking into the mix!).

21. Manners Matter Coloring Sheet

Training your children in good manners doesn’t have to be difficult or complicated.

I love coloring sheets—they engage the eye and employ the hand while training the brain. What’s not to love?

Plus, children love displaying their artwork for all to see, so they act as daily reminders, too.

If you’ve considered dedicating some school time to teaching good manners, I highly recommend it!

15 Ways to Build Your Child’s Social Skills From Home

Children naturally learn to socialize by being physically present amongst other children. But, what about when kids can’t be with their peers due to illness or school closures? How can they learn social skills from home to guide them from kindergarten to college?

“Everyone can learn reading, writing, and math from home,” says Jaclyn Shlisky, Psy.D., a clinical psychologist and mom of three, including a kindergartener who she homeschooled during the COVID-19 pandemic school closures. “While it’s not ideal, it is doable, but social skills come naturally for kids through modeling and the experience they get when they’re in a classroom setting and on a playground or interacting with other adults, like teachers.”

Read on to learn the importance of teaching social skills, and how to incorporate these lessons from home when your child isn’t in school.

 

What Are Social Skills?

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), social skills are learned abilities for interacting appropriately in different social situations. These include things like making friends, resolving interpersonal conflicts, communication, and regulating feelings and behavior.

Around the kindergarten age, social skills become the building blocks for what kids rely on to help them navigate the world around them. These are a few of the big ones children learn in the classroom environment:

• How to deal with disappointment
• Showing emotion
• How to respond to people (other than immediate family)
• Taking turns
• Making eye contact
• Listening without interrupting
• Playing fairly
• Sharing
• Accepting winning or losing (how to be a “good sport”)
• Using appropriate manners and greetings

While people are not able to do all these things in isolation, parents can try to pick up the slack of what kids are missing by engaging in targeted play at home that can be just as beneficial to their social awareness.

“Something as simple as having a virtual playdate with a classmate can teach your child so much,” says Francyne Zeltser, Psy.D., a child psychologist on Long Island, New York. During a video call, kids have to make eye contact, wait their turn, and demonstrate the body language to show that they are listening. In this way, Dr. Zeltser says you can turn your day-to-day in-person and virtual interactions into teachable moments.

But, teaching can be more intentional and activity-based, too. Below are some social skills activities you can do with your kids at home. Give them a try and have some fun with it too.

Perspective-Taking

This is an easy activity all about identifying the feelings and thoughts of others and you can do it when you are watching TV or a movie with your child, suggests Dr. Shlisky. Press pause and say to your child, “How do you think that he or she feels right now? What are they thinking?” Let your child respond and then you can also provide your own answer, “I think they feel scared because they are being chased” or “I think they feel happy because I see the rain is stopping and they can go outside.”

“It’s important to let your child practice identifying the thoughts and feelings of others,” Dr. Shlisky adds. You can also do this while doing role play activities or acting games. You can have a puppet show and have the puppets talk to each other about their feelings and thoughts. The Good Dinosaur, The Incredibles and Inside Out are great film options for talking through emotions and feelings.

 

Character Play

Get out a bunch of character toys, like Peppa Pig or Barbie dolls, and have them pretend to talk to each other. Maybe you have a toy kitchen and your characters can pretend to bake a cake and have a pretend birthday party together.

Use language like, “what do you say to a friend when it’s their birthday?” Then listen to your child’s answer and respond, “That’s right, we say, happy birthday! I hope you have a great day today!”

If your child is someone who jumps to the front of the line to help blow out the candles, take this time to role play with the character toys how the birthday child feels when that happens. “Use this game as a way to work on the things you feel like your child needs a little extra help with,” Dr. Shlisky adds.

Taking Turns

Even for those who only have one child, you can still practice taking turns with your children. Take out a coveted toy that maybe only gets used on special occasions or come up with a unique item that your kids always want to touch, like the family Polaroid camera. You can give the item to one child and say they get to use it for five minutes and then set a timer and switch it over to the other siblings when their turn is over.

Playing Board Games

While playing board games is probably the most obvious way to practice and encourage social skills, it’s really the best bang for your buck. Dr. Shlisky says playing a game requires a lot of social skills including:

• Patience in waiting and taking turns
• Negotiation about who goes first (or what character piece or color you are)
• Agreeing to and sticking to the rules
• Being a good sport whether you win or lose

Some of the most popular games for optimal social skill learning are Candy Land, Jenga, Apples To Apples Jr., and Connect 4. But card games like Go Fish and UNO are also excellent academic games too.

Dr. Shlisky advises making sure the game is age appropriate for your child—if it is too hard or has too many instructions, your child will get bored and give up and they won’t absorb the skills you really want them to get from playing the game in the first place. So it’s best to keep it simple and fun.

FaceTime or Virtual Playdates

It’s a novel concept to “play” with a friend over your phone or a computer, but lots of social activities can be done simultaneously from inside your own homes and can give the same sense of “togetherness” your children crave. Coloring and arts and crafts are ways that your child can do something at the same time as their friend. They can discuss what they’re working on with one another and will likely have side conversations, too.

“When our children are on playdates at the park or during recess, they can be involved in group play without fully attending to or engaging with their peers; they can even be zoning out during conversations,” says Dr. Zeltser. “Distance learning and virtual communication teaches children how to take turns talking, how to ask questions in order to be involved in conversations, and how to consistently use greetings like ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye.'”

Scavenger Hunts

Scavenger hunts can be done virtually with your child and their friend at their home or just with your child at home. Instead of telling your child to find items that are scattered throughout your house, come up with a riddle that your child has to solve with their friend. An example riddle might be, “I come in different shapes and sizes, can be found in the kitchen or the bathroom, and can be adjusted to be hot or cold, what am I?” (Answer is a sink!)

Though it may take a little work on your end, your child and their buddy will have a chance to work on their cooperation skills with this game. “This is a great opportunity for your child to really work together with another person and come up with an answer as a team,” says Dr. Zeltser.

Would-You-Rather Game

Would-you-rather is a silly game that lets kids laugh and let loose while using their imagination and creativity. Your child needs to come up with two goofy or outlandish statements, making you (or a friend who is playing virtually) choose an answer no matter how ridiculous the options.

This game brings on the giggles but also encourages children to think outside the box and ask follow up questions. You never know what topic or feelings you might start discussing when you play this game! (Some favorites to start your kid off that could have interesting follow-up chats after the game is over are, “Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible?” or “Would you rather live in the past or in the future?”)

Read The Color Monster

In The Color Monster, feelings are discussed as colors and each color gets a jar where it’s kept so the monster can feel more at ease with all his mixed emotions. When you get to the page of the colors organized in jars, try discussing each color (yellow is happiness, blue is sadness, green is calm, for example) and saying what has made you feel “yellow” that day and then what made you feel “blue” that day.

This will not only make it easier for your child to discuss their feelings (maybe they were scared to talk about something they heard on TV) but it can show your child that it’s okay to recognize and feel many different emotions in one day—and that adults have the same range of emotions, too. (If your child was having a particularly rough day, this is usually a good time to take The Color Monster out at bedtime.)

Problem-Solving With Props

This one may take some planning. Gather up props like:

• Paper clips
• Plastic cups
• Cotton balls
• Tape
• Popsicle sticks
• Sticky notes
• Paper straws

You can substitute for anything you don’t have or things you do have around the house. Then direct your child to solve problems with the items they have in front of them.

Some problem solving prompts can be: devise a slide for mini figures, create a jump ramp for cars, and build the highest tower you can. See where their imagination takes them! (Try this on a virtual playdate and see what your child and their buddy come up with on their own.)

Balloon Keep-Up

You need a balloon for this one. Encourage your child to keep a balloon from falling to the ground without catching or holding it. (Add in some counting practice. Tell them to count how many times they have to keep it from falling before it hits the floor.) This is good to play with a sibling as they have to work together to keep the balloon safe.

Telling Short Stories

The skills practiced with this activity include listening, following directions, patience, taking turns, ignoring distractions, cooperating and showing empathy. First, create a stack of flashcards with story topics you’d like to discuss with your child. Some ideas:

• Favorite summer memory
• Favorite holiday
• The best birthday party idea
• A dream you once had

Next pick a card, set a timer (two to five minutes) and tell your story. (Children who have trouble staying on topic, keeping focus, or giving too many details may benefit from this activity.)

After your child tells their story, show you were listening by summarizing what they said and ask for clarifications to help them stay on track with their topic. Now is also the time to show your child how to show empathy (for example, “That must have been disappointing for you” or “I can see your feelings may have been hurt when your friend said that” if it fits the story your child told you). If your child needs a little more excitement to get started, do this through playing telephone cups for added fun.

Play Restaurant

Playing restaurant is a great way to work on manners. Have your child be the server and you be the customer. Show your child how to order food by saying please, and saying excuse me if they burp at the table. Then switch roles.

Bookworm Workout

This activity gets bonus points because it encourages your child to read at all times of the day (forget reading only at bedtime!). Pick a book with a word that’s often repeated, like The Cat In The Hat or Green Eggs And Ham. Whenever the word comes up in the story (hat or eggs) your child has to do jumping jacks or push ups! This will encourage your kid to pay attention and listen—not to mention the physical activity too.

Show and Tell

Dr. Zeltser suggests using this as an opportunity for your children to take turns showing off and talking about special items or people in their home that they would otherwise not be able to bring to school or on a playdate. Examples of unique home show and tells may include:

• Furniture items (“this is my new bed” or “this is my pillow tent”)
• Precious family photos (“this is a picture from my first birthday” or “this is a photo of my great grandfather that I was named after”)
• Family members (“my show and tell today is my baby sister who is only 3 months old” or “today my show and tell is my older brother who is home from college”).

30 Kindness Activities for Kids

A Note Before We Start

Kindness must be intrinsically motivated.

According to Psychology Today, several studies have shown that “providing children with a reward for behavior is almost like telling them that the behavior itself is not much fun. So if you want to promote intrinsic motivation—if you want to teach your kids that learning in school or helping others are enjoyable in and of themselves—using rewards might be the wrong strategy.”

Furthermore, those studies found that when the rewards stop, the positive behaviors often stop; however, when rewards weren’t offered in the first place, the behaviors often continue.

Even praise should be used sparingly, as too much can create external motivation—though it shouldn’t go unused. Instead, reserve your feedback and encouragement for when it’s most beneficial.

(These studies were primarily done with neurotypical children; speak to an expert about your child’s individual needs.)

Keep this in mind when going through each activity. Now, let’s get started!

Day 1: Teach the Difference Between Kind and Nice

On day one of your month of kindness activities for kids, teach them the difference between “nice” and “kind.”

• Nice: doing what is expected to please those around you
• Kind: showing empathy and being willing to stand up for what is right

Create a poster with a column for “kind” and a column for “nice.” Have the kids write suggestions on sticky notes (or offer pre-written options) and put them in the column where they think the options belong.

Discuss each note to agree if they are in the correct columns. It’s okay to put a few in the middle—context can matter.

Once you’ve agreed upon which notes go in which column, hang the poster on the wall.

Day 2: Teach T.H.I.N.K.

“T.H.I.N.K.” means before you say anything, you should ask yourself if what you’re about to say is:

• True
• Helpful
• Inspiring
• Necessary
• Kind

Consider showing your kids an actual social media post (or a made-up one for younger children). Look at the post and comments and have the kids determine how much the person used T.H.I.N.K before they posted—how many letters did they get?

Day 3: Write a Letter to Someone

Many grown-ups don’t realize how impactful they are in a child’s life. This next kid-friendly kindness activity teaches children gratitude while making someone’s day.

Ask your kids, “Name an adult (other than me) who is important to you.? Why?” When they decide—and this does need to be their decision so their gratitude is genuine—have them write a note or draw a picture that tells the adult specifically why they appreciate them.

Letters can be mailed or hand-delivered depending on the parameters you set. If you are a teacher, consider asking your kids to write a letter to another staff member at school.

Day 4: Teach About Empathy

You can teach your child empathy from day one by modeling it for them. As your kids get older, you can help them identify emotions, embrace diversity, and understand current events through the lens of kindness.

Spend this day focusing on teaching empathy skills—and keep this up as time goes on.

Day 5: Volunteer

Rather than saying your kids must volunteer at a specific location, talk to them about what matters to them. Animals? Older adults? The environment?

Once they’ve decided who to help, research locations where you can volunteer together.

After you’ve finished your day of volunteerism, discuss the experience with your children. If the volunteer spot was a good fit, consider going back regularly. If it wasn’t, try somewhere new!

Day 6: Show Kindness to Workers

Turn an average day of errands into a kindness activity for your kids by making them aware of their surroundings and behavior.

If you go to a store and see items on the floor or tables that customers should have picked up or left tidy, your kids could pick them up. If they don’t know where items go, they can place them in a neat pile.

Have your child take the lead at checkout. (Be sure you’ve already practiced things you say to a store worker.) Positive interactions can make a worker’s day!

If your child is older, fill them in on what a day in customer service can involve. Ask how they’d want to be treated if this was their job and remind them to think about that when they’re out.

Day 7: Help Other Kids

On this day, teach your children how to help other kids.

You can create a “partner project” where each child reads a story or learns a skill, which they then need to teach their partner. You can also encourage older kids to help younger kids with schoolwork.

When kids help other kids meet their goals and learn new skills, they learn patience, kindness, and responsibility.

Day 8: See a Play or Musical

Keep an eye out for performances in your area. Read their synopses and determine if kindness could be a theme. If the play has a relevant online study guide available, even better!

A few live theatre options to help teach kindness (and frequently performed) are:

• A Christmas Carol (Note: there are versions for younger audiences, which are far shorter than the original.)
• High School Musical
• Puffs! (Note: there’s a version for younger audiences and a version for older ones. Make sure you know which one you’re seeing.)

Day 9: Plant Something

People who grow plants are involved in their entire life cycles. For kids, this kindness activity may be the first time they’ve ever done something like it and they learn how everything needs love and attention.

Try to choose a hardy plant (e.g. succulents), particularly for younger or more forgetful kids. Make the plant their full responsibility, supervising only as necessary.

If the plant dies? This is a time for a growth mindset, not shame. Even the best gardeners’ plants die from time to time. Talk about what may have gone wrong (and whether or not it was in the child’s control) and try again with a new plant.

Day 10: Create a Compliment Board

Truly effective kindness activities for kids will challenge children to dig deep and really think about what they appreciate about others. A compliment board can be a great avenue for generating kind thinking patterns.

Create a spot in your house or classroom where children can put notes saying something positive about, or giving thanks to, someone else. If you’re in a classroom, you could use envelopes for individual students.

Leave this up for the rest of the month or longer if you like.

These notes should be sincere and never forced; they should be written when someone wants to say something kind.

Try to keep it from becoming a competition. Perhaps make the notes anonymous or decide ahead of time who will receive compliments from the rest of the group that day or week.

Note to teachers: Is there someone who’ll never get these notes? Get to the root of the issue and make sure it’s fixed before starting this activity.

Day 11: Create Growth Mindset Rocks

Growth mindset rocks are stones kids paint and write messages on. The message could be something as simple as “You rock!” or something more profound.

Place the painted rocks in a public location (with permission) or your yard with a sign telling people they can take one.

Day 12: Play a Cooperative Game

What better activity for teaching kids kindness than a good old-fashioned game?

A cooperative game is a game or puzzle where you must work as a team. Winning only happens through active listening and group decision-making. Some of these games are:

• For younger kids: Outfoxed!, Friends and Neighbors: The Helping Game, Gnomes at Night
• For older kids: Mysterium, Forbidden Island

Day 13: Read a Book Focusing on Kindness

There are books about kindness for every age group and they don’t have to be totally on the nose to be effective. Find books kids can relate to and be prepared to discuss kindness using the book.

Some books may take longer to read. Treat these like you’re in a book club and space the reading out over the month.

You can find the theme of kindness in a variety of books, including:

• For young kids: The Rabbit Listened, Last Stop on Market Street, The World Needs More Purple People
• For tweens or teens: To Kill a Mockingbird, Wonder, A Wrinkle in Time

Day 14: Talk About Differences

One of the most effective kindness activities for kids is discussing diversity and more importantly inclusivity in an open and honest manner. While you should focus on similarities, it’s essential to acknowledge differences exist.

Explain what you can. If a question stumps you, research it in real-time. Admitting you don’t know everything models a growth mindset.

Discuss what we should do or say if we notice someone different than us and give kids the opportunity to ask you questions in a safe space or do their own research.

Day 15: Discuss Misguided Kindness

Sometimes an act of kindness may not be as kind as we think.

For instance, someone may assume a person with a visible disability needs help. Author Rebekah Taussig discusses this topic in an article for Time. You could summarize the article for younger kids and have older ones read it themselves.

Other acts of “misguided kindness” can be based on assumptions about race. For example, complimenting someone’s English or touching someone’s hair to say how much you like it can be unkind.

Even giving someone a hug they don’t want can be an act of misguided kindness as it invades their personal space.

Day 16: It’s Science Time!

While kindness is about being selfless, there is a selfish aspect to it: When you do something kind, you feel good. This is because your brain releases the “happy chemicals” of serotonin, oxytocin, and dopamine.

On this day, focus on teaching your children or students about how the brain works. We have a lesson plan on neuroplasticity to get you started.

Day 17: Learn About Bullying

For something to be classified as bullying, it must be repeated, intentional, and have a power imbalance of some kind.

Kids should learn the signs of bullying, when and how to intervene, and the causes of bullying behavior.

Learning about the root causes of bullying behavior can help kids choose the kindest routes. Knowing and understanding people, who exhibit these behaviors, are most likely in pain may help stop negative reactions and, instead, find productive ways to use that energy.

Day 18: Watch a Movie About Overcoming Obstacles

Inspiring kids movies like Inside Out, Finding Nemo, and even The Karate Kid show characters overcoming obstacles and often those obstacles include unkind people or the desire to be unkind.

After watching your chosen film together, talk about the kindness (and lack thereof) shown in the film. Let the kids guide the conversation.

Day 19: Hang Out With Friends

There are few better times for kids to practice kindness than when they have to make decisions about activities and solve problems as a team.

If you’re a teacher, this could be letting the kids run around outside for a while or giving free play time—teenagers even secretly love being allowed to play! If you’re a parent, arrange a playdate or sleepover for your child and a friend or two.

Day 20: Understand What You Can and Cannot Control

Have an open discussion about times you were unkind because of what was happening around you and talk about what you could have done differently. Discuss the importance of acting on what’s in your control and accepting what is not.

Day 21: Play a Competitive Game

Find a competitive board game, card game, or video game your whole family enjoys and play it together. Before starting, discuss how to be a good winner—as well as a good “loser”.

Don’t let your kid win, at least not every time. Instead, allow them to navigate the waters of both winning and losing at a game.

Day 22: Attend a Cultural Event

Attend a public event organized by people of a different background than your child or family.

This doesn’t necessarily have to be an education-focused event—you can attend a parade, a festival, etc. But, if there is an educational booth available, visiting it can improve this kindness activity for your kids.

Striving to understand people who are different from oneself is an important step toward kindness as it goes deeper than “tolerance” and “acceptance.”

Day 23: Find a Pen Pal

There are a ton of ways to find pen pals for your kids.

Meeting a new person, without the immediacy of conversation or texting, gives kids time to think about what they want to say before saying it, which can help them internalize this skill.

Day 24: Love Yourself

Talk to your kids about why loving yourself is important.

After all, it is much easier to be kind to others when you are kind to yourself. You can discuss the science of this with older children and teens or keep it to the basics with younger ones.

Day 25: Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness helps you reconnect with yourself in a meaningful way. In addition, this activity helps kids with kindness because feeling overwhelmed or disconnected can make you lose focus on what matters.

This activity looks different for every person, so you should investigate different mindfulness resources to decide what works best for your children.

Day 26: Know When to Stand Up for Yourself

This next exercise aims to help kids understand when kindness must be overruled for safety.

There are times when being kind is unsafe and standing up for yourself is more important.

Helping a stranger “look for their dog” in a park? Kind, but unsafe. Letting someone hug you when you’re not comfortable with them doing so? Kind to them, unkind to yourself.

This is the day when kids learn to say “no” and leave a situation where something doesn’t feel right. Empowering kids to set boundaries allows them to be kind to themselves.

Day 27: Learn First Aid

You never know when you may need to help someone—or yourself—when injured. Therefore, learning first aid is a great kindness activity for kids.

If possible, arrange for a professional (such as someone from the American Red Cross) to run this lesson.

Day 28: Find Gratitude

When you feel grateful for the world around you, you’re more likely to take care of yourself and others. There are a ton of ways to show gratitude for things big and small.

Even something as simple as a gratitude journal can go far. Have your kids write one to three things they are grateful for at the end of each day.

Alternatively, you can create a gratitude jar, where kids write what they’re grateful for on slips of paper to place in the jar. Watch as the jar—and their kindness—fills up!

Day 29: Teach Grit and Resilience

If we’re honest, choosing kindness every day is difficult. We don’t always want to take the high road—in fact, that low road looks great sometimes.

Grit and resilience are how we push through those times and steer ourselves back to the higher and kinder road.

Day 30: Practice Conflict Resolution

No matter how many kindness activities kids practice, no one is kind all the time. Even when they are, someone else may not reciprocate. These conflicts can be difficult to navigate.

Spend some time going over “I feel” statements, model conflict resolution skills, and then have the children roleplay these new abilities.

Day 31: Reflect

Today, summarize the kids’ kindness activities over the past month. Then, work out what your children or students have learned and which types of activities they have preferred.

After wards, keep it going with more acts of kindness, both modeled and practiced, as time goes on.

As a reminder, Big Life Journal encourages you to read, watch, or play anything you plan to engage children in before involving them so you can ensure appropriateness and be prepared to discuss.