The holiday season seems to start earlier and earlier every year. As soon as you got over the Halloween frenzy, the Christmas rush is on you! It feels for us that we are sometimes caught in a never-ending loop of buying & wanting. And it's not just the grown-ups - kids feel this stress and take it on themselves as well. Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could find a way to have our kids look to others with kindness as well as enjoy the excitement of writing to Santa?!
This year it will be a very different experience of the holiday season. Celebrations will be much smaller and closer to home. What a great year to refocus on kindness and love. We have chosen to add a special element of giving & gratitude to our countdown to the holidays with a DIY Kindness Advent Calendar for Kids.
This Kindness Calendar can be printed out and used instead of OR in addition to a regular advent calendar. You can put it on the fridge and cross of an item every day, have your kids choose which item they want to do that day, or go down the list in order. You can also cut the items into strips and put one in each compartment of another advent calendar instead of (or with!) a treat. There are enough ideas that it's okay if you need to skip a few or if you want carry it into the new year!
The point is to have the whole family think of ways that we can make the season bright for others and spread the magic of the holiday season.
Here are some ideas (see the full list and printable below):
• Deliver cookies to your neighbours
• Find two of your toys to give to a local children’s hospital
• Sharpen all the pencils in the classroom at recess
• Make christmas cards for your neighbours
• Sort through your toys & donate to charity any that you no longer play with
• Write kind chalk messages around your neighborhood
• Write a letter to a family member telling them what you love about them
• Leave a beautiful homemade bookmark in your library book and give one to the librarian
• Deliver cookies to your neighbours
• Tidy up a room in the house
• Play with someone new at recess (someone who looks lonely)
• Be a holiday helper – volunteer to deliver local christmas cards
• Donate books to your school library
• Make a bird feeder
CLICK HERE to download a DIY Kindness Advent Calendar printable PDF to enjoy with your family.
Be sure to tell us how it went! Happy Holidays!
Born & raised in Vancouver, and co-founder of Healthy Family Media and the Healthy Family Expo, Angela is a reformed divorce lawyer turned healthy family champion! By day, she thrives on connecting conscious brands with busy Vancouver families. By night, you’ll find her wrangling two feisty daughters, choosing between instant pot or healthy freezer meals for dinner, and singing with MomChoir. She especially loves sharing her favourite family-friendly finds with other Lower Mainland parents!
