Residents staying in a shelter against domestic abuse may feel hopeless and lost. Despite these negative feelings, one small act of kindness may help an individual feel a bit better. Give children the opportunity to create their own bracelets and necklaces for shelter residents. To get started, distribute colorful beads, string and jewelry clasps to each child and and ask them to use their imagination and creativity to create jewelry. Demonstrate different ways of using the materials. Although a shelter's policy may prohibit the young artists from meeting the women who live there, children should feel good about knowing they helped raise the spirits of individuals who are going through a challenging time.
Creating a kindness circle, a craft recommended by Crayola, provides kids with a manner of being kind to a variety of people in their lives. Distribute a paper plate to each child as well as a marker or crayon. Ask the children to divide the plate into pie-shaped sections. Once they're finished, ask them to draw a picture of a person they know in each section. These people can range from a teacher to a neighbor to their mom. Give each child an arrow-shaped pointer and help them push their pointer through the plate's center and attach it with a brass fastener. Encourage each child to spin the pointer. When the arrow lands on a specific person, ask each child to do something kind to that person.
To incorporate kindness with literacy, read the children's book, "Clifford's First Valentine's Day," written by Norman Bridwell. Once they know the story, introduce a craft to the class that correlates with the story, suggests the article, "Valentine's Kindness," published by Scholastic. The book focuses on sending Valentine's Day cards to loved ones and the role of the community post office. As a class, set up a post office of sorts in your classroom and establish a mailbox for the class in a designated area of the room. Give everyone a cutout heart and crayons. Have them choose one person then create and send a note of kindness to them. The teacher should monitor students' choices so that each child receives a note. When the notes have been created, have everyone "mail" their letters by placing them in the classroom mailbox.
To advocate the importance of kindness, have your class create public service announcements or pretend they are going to create a public service campaign. Encourage them to create a slogan and use their creativity to create banners, posters and bumper stickers stating their kindness slogan. Have them decorate their announcement items and display them in well-traveled areas of the school, such as the lunch room, school entrance and classrooms. "Kindness makes your heart glow," and "Kindness can change the world," are just two examples of slogans to display, according to KidsActivities.net, an online resource for teachers.