Ages 8 and up

Paint Comfort Stones

Offer support and hope in times of grief.

Decorate smooth stones with comforting messages and images. Then share them with people (or organizations supporting people) who are grieving.

Possible recipients

Share your creations with a local organization that supports grieving families, for example, Brighter Days Family Grief Center in Minneapolis, or with people in your life who are coping with loss.

What you’ll need

Instructions

  • Using paint markers, decorate a rock with a simple message or image of support.

  • Some examples include:

    • Words: Love, Peace, Strength, Hope

    • Images: Heart, Sun, Peace Sign, Get Creative!

  • Let your stones dry completely.

  • Deliver them in as a family.

Reflection questions

These questions are intended for families and children supporting others who are grieving. If you are supporting a child who has lost a loved one, the Dougy Center: The National Center for Grieving Children and Families, is incredibly helpful.

  • How do you think people feel about talking about death and grief? How do you feel about talking about grief? Do you have any questions about it?

  • Have you experienced grief or loss? Do you feel comfortable telling your story?

  • Death is a natural and inevitable part of life. How do you think our culture talks about death and dying? Can you recall books or movies that show examples of death or grief?

  • How does our family celebrate the lives of our loved ones when they die?

Resources

  • Cry Heart, But Never Break by Glenn Ringtved
    This simple, beautifully-told story from award-winning Danish author Glenn Ringtved, features death as a gentle houseguest. He then tells four children a story to help them understand grief, loss, and the importance of saying goodbye.

  • The Five Lives of My Cat Zook by Joanne Rocklin
    This deceptively light-hearted book features Oona, her brother Fred, and their ailing cat Zook. Oona and Fred are grieving for their father, who passed away a year before the action opens in the story. Laugh and cry with them on their journey to come to terms with the tumultuous cycles of life and death.

Take it further

  • If you’re creating stones for a grief support center, ask what other volunteer needs they may have.

  • Craft supportive, encouraging cards to share along with your stones.

  • Tell stories about loved ones your family has lost, recently or long ago. Young children love to hear family stories and it’s comforting to keep loved ones close through story.

Disclaimer:  Doing Good Together™ is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

The recommendations we offer are based solely on our mission to empower parents to raise children who care and contribute.

Create Pet Toys

Entertain furry friends with an easy craft.

Helping animals is a surefire way to get your child excited about doing good.

Crafty kids and their families can make toys for dogs, cats, and even guinea pigs and bunnies!

Possible recipients

Entertain neighborhood pet friends or donate them to your local animal shelter.

What you’ll need:

FOR CAT TOYS

  • Infant or child-size crew socks (make sure they are new!)

  • Cotton balls or craft stuffing

  • Dried catnip

  • Non-toxic permanent fabric markers

  • Non-toxic washable fabric glue (unless you prefer tying a knot)

FOR DOG TOYS

  • 3 pieces of fleece (about 7-10 inches) per toy

FOR GUINEA PIG OR BUNNY TOYS

  • Toilet paper rolls

  • Timothy Hay (available at pet stores)

  • Non-toxic permanent markers

Instructions

Before you begin, call your local animal shelter. Find out what their immediate needs are and ask if they can use pet toys.

CAT TOYS

  • Stuff the sock’s toe with 1 tablespoon of catnip. Stuff the foot of the sock with cotton balls or craft stuffing. Squeeze fabric glue on the inside of the sock’s ribbing to glue the sock closed, or knot the top of the sock. Decorate with fabric markers.

DOG TOYS

  • Take 3 pieces of fleece, knot at one end, braid, and knot at the other end. See more specific instructions here.

  • When you deliver the toys, see if you can play with the animals or get a tour.

GUINEA PIG OR BUNNY TOYS

  • Decorate the toilet paper tubes.

  • Stuff empty toilet paper tubes with Timothy Hay.

  • See more specific instructions here.

Reflections

  • What do you like about being around animals?

  • How do you think the dog or cat that receives your toy will feel?

  • Why is it important to help out living things other than people?

  • What are other ways we can show animals we love them?

Resources

  • Before You Were Mine by Maribeth Boelts (Putnam Juvenile, 2007). Ages 4-8. A young boy thinks about the life of his dog before he adopted him from an animal shelter.

  • Shelter Dogs: Amazing Stories of Adopted Strays by Peg Kehret (Albert Whitman & Company, 1999). Ages 8-12. A collection of stories about previously stray dogs that became heroes.

  • Kind News A fun interactive website from the Humane Society of the United States about how kids can get involved in animal rights issues.

Take it further

  • When you deliver the toys, ask about other ways you can help at the shelter.

  • Gather a group of friends to make more toys, and deliver them together.

  • Throw an animal-themed birthday party. Make animal toys and dog biscuits. Other ideas: hang a puppy or kitten piñata, make dog houses from graham crackers, make dog and cat ear headbands, and have guests bring donations for your local animal shelter in lieu of gifts.

    Browse the projects in our Big-Hearted Families Tookit!

Disclaimer:  Doing Good Together™ is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

The recommendations we offer are based solely on our mission to empower parents to raise children who care and contribute.

Foster Animals

Open your house to a pet who needs a home.

When your community has dogs or cats that need extra love and care (usually because they are very young, sick, or the shelter has limited space), your family can provide a temporary home.

Possible recipients

Support an animal shelter near you.

What you’ll need

  • A love of animals.

  • The time and commitment to help the animal you foster.
    (Typically, your family’s main responsibility will be to handle and cuddle the animals frequently — along with providing food, water, and clean living space — so they can become well-socialized pets for the families that adopt them.)

  • The financial ability to care for an additional animal or family of animals.

Instructions

  • Call your local animal shelter to find out your fostering options. They will likely require an application and offer an initial training course to get you started.

  • Ask which supplies and services (food, vet care, etc.) the shelter provides and which you will need to contribute.

  • Prepare yourselves and your home for the new addition.

  • Always supervise interactions between foster animals and young children.

Reflections

  • Do you have other pets? How do you think they might feel if we were unable to care for them?

  • How can we understand the needs and moods of our new foster pet? What cues tell us if they are hungry or lonely? If they want to be cuddled or want time to rest?

  • Why is it important to help living things other than people?

  • What are other ways we can show animals we love them?

Click the image to access this book.

Resources

  • The Little Blue Dog by Karen Roberts
    Your family will love this sweet story of life from the perspective of a shelter dog. This story is sure to spark big-hearted conversations about love, home, and belonging, necessary comforts for people and pets alike.

  • Before You Were Mine by Maribeth Boelts
    A young boy thinks about the life of his dog before he adopted him from an animal shelter.

  • The Shelter Dog by Christine Davis
    Ages 4-8. Hero, an angel dog, decides he wants to go back to earth to be a shelter dog so a loving family can choose him as their pet. Slowly he realizes that living in a shelter isn’t as nice as it appears.

  • Three Stories You Can Read to Your Cat by Sara Swan Miller
    This book features three silly stories about the adventures of being a cat.

Take it further

  • Gather the kids to make dog biscuits or toys for the animals you foster. If you have extras, the shelter would love to have them!

  • Create fun “advertisements” to help your foster pets find their forever homes. Share your ads on social media, create posters to display on community bulletin boards, or even make a short video to share.

Browse the projects in our Big-Hearted Families Toolkit!

Disclaimer:  Doing Good Together™ is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

The recommendations we offer are based solely on our mission to empower parents to raise children who care and contribute.

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Support Operation Paperback

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Share the solace of a good book.

Inspire friends and neighbors to put their dusty bookshelves to work! Collect paperbacks to send to soldiers serving overseas, their families here at home, and veterans.

Potential Recipients

For more than 20 years, volunteers with Operation Paperback have been distributing nearly 15,000 books each month to members of the U.S. Military.

What you’ll need

  • Motivation to ask friends and neighbors to share paperback books

  • Box to ship books

  • Art supplies to create cards for book recipients: Crayons or colored pencils, scissors, clear packing, and tape or laminating paper (optional)

Instructions

  • Sign up as an Operation Paperback volunteer. (FYI: It can take a couple of days to get confirmation from the folks at Operation Paperback.)

  • Wait for your volunteer application to be approved (about x days?).

  • Check troop requests to inform what kind of donations you ask for.

  • Collect books.

  • Package and ship books. If you are sending books only, send them via media mail, which will cost about $7 for 20 books. If you choose to add treats and small gifts, you will pay a higher rate for priority mail.

Reflection

  • Can you think of a time when you were stressed or far from home? What brought you comfort in that moment?

  • How do you feel when you are reading a good book?

  • How do you think you would feel if someone sent you a big box of new books when you were lonely or far from home?

Resources

Big-Hearted Picture Books
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The Impossible Patriotism Project by Linda Skeers
Explore the big idea of patriotism and celebrate heroes with this wonderful story. You'll meet Caleb, a boy stumped by an impossible assignment: make something showing patriotism. The big, bold ideas of his classmates only make Caleb feel worse. How can he show them that patriotism is more than maps and statues? His final project is stunning in its simplicity and power. You may even be inspired to visit our project instructions and write thank you letters to soldiers and their families.

Take it further

Browse the projects in our Big-Hearted Families Tookit!

Disclaimer:  Doing Good Together™ is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

The recommendations we offer are based solely on our mission to empower parents to raise children who care and contribute.

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Create a DIY Kindness Journal

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Invite creative reflection about big ideas.

Keeping a compassion-themed journal is a wonderful way to build kindness into busy weeks and shine a spotlight on acts of kindness. Plus, you'll have a place to record family volunteering memories.

Possible Recipients

Keeping a family journal will result in a one-of-a-kind keepsake. These journals also make thoughtful gifts for anyone needing some encouragement.

What You'll Need

Decorate a composition notebook with duct tape. Scatter compassion-themed prompts and quotes throughout it. Then make time periodically to discuss, draw, and write about those kindness prompts as a family.

Create Your Journal

  • Decorate the cover with duct tape, stickers, and markers.

  • Choose your favorite prompts and quotes below. Using your colored pencils, crayons, or markers, artfully add a prompt or quote every few pages throughout your notebook.

  • Print several of our Family Service Memory sheets. Keep them at the back of your journal to use when you complete a service project or act of kindness. After you fill out your worksheet, glue it into your journal.

Write in Your Journal

  • Schedule time each week to create a journal entry.

  • Set a timer for five minutes. Invite each family member to write or draw as much as they can in that time. Follow your ideas wherever they go. After the timer goes off, discuss your ideas.

  • Here are some options for recording your ideas:

    • Take turns being the person to record the main ideas from a family conversation about your prompt.

    • Invite each family member to draw or write about your prompt in your journal. Then take time to discuss those ideas.

    • When you serve together, record your reflections using a Family Service Memory sheet and glue the sheet into your journal.

Big-Hearted Picture Books
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Picture Books that Celebrate Diversity
Books to Help Talk about Bullying
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books for bibliophiles
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Kindness-Themed Journal Prompts

Make Lists:

  • Who did you help today? Who helped you?

  • What are you grateful for?

  • What moments of this day brought you a feeling of peace or joy?

  • Who would enjoy receiving a handmade card or handwritten note? Consider choosing people you know personally and/or those you have heard about in the news. Discuss your choices.

  • Make a list of characteristics a good leader should have. Make a list of the characteristics a good citizen should have. How are these lists the same? How are they different?

  • Make a shortlist of things you, as a family, would like to change about your community, state, or country. Then discuss what action you could take to begin working toward some of those changes.

  • Make a list of things that are important about you and each of your family members that others would know just by looking. Make a list of things that are important about you and each of your family members that others would not know just by looking. Which list is longer? Which list feels more important? What does this teach us about other people?

  • Who do you know (friend, neighbor, relative, classmate, anyone!) who may be struggling with loneliness, illness, or grief? Make a list of simple things you could do to help that person.

  • Notice five complimentary things about your family members (or teacher or classmate, etc.).

  • What causes or issues are most important to you? How can you support those causes?

  • What emotions have you experienced in the past twenty-four hours?

Ask Big-Questions

  • Why do you think it's important to spend some of our time giving back to the community?

  • How do you think people feel when you do something kind for them? How do you feel when you've done something kind?

  • Why do you think it’s important that friends, teachers, neighbors, coworkers, and students help each other throughout the day?

  • What does it mean to have courage? Have you ever had to be brave?

  • If you could change one thing in the world, what would you change?

  • If we live in a free country, can we do whatever we want, whenever we want?

  • What does it mean to live in a community with others? What rules (laws) does a society need to run smoothly?

  • Talk about the distinction between courage and recklessness. Give examples of each. Emphasize the need for difficult decisions to be well-considered and the importance of acting on our values rather than our impulses.

  • Together, imagine arriving in a new country without knowing the language or customs. What would it be like to have to leave home quickly and suddenly? What would you miss? How would you feel?

Ask Personal Questions

  • What would life be like if (someone specific, a friend in the carpool, a neighbor, a story from school) didn’t help you out today?

  • How do you make yourself feel better when you feel frustrated or angry at school? What about bored or tired? Excited?

  • If you won a grand prize of $1,000, how would you spend it?

  • If you won $1,000 and could not spend it on yourself or your family, how would you spend it?

  • Describe a moment when you felt proud.

  • Describe a moment you regret what you did or wish you had acted differently.

  • What should we do if we notice something that is unfair at school or in our community?

  • How does it make you feel to get a compliment? To give a compliment?

  • Talk about how making certain choices might result in the loss of popularity and how to navigate that with courage.

Tell Stories

  • If you could have one superpower, what would you choose? Write a brief story about how you use your power to help someone.

  • An older student starts making fun of your friend's new shoes. What do you do or say? What would you be afraid of? What happens next?

  • Write a story, poem, or comic about a child who finds a lost or hurt pet.

  • Create a biography about a kid who invents a tool to save the rainforest, end homelessness, cure an illness, or eliminate loneliness.

  • Write about a disagreement you were involved in recently, but write it from the perspective of the other person.

Find More Prompts:

Browse the projects in our Big-Hearted Families Tookit!

Disclaimer:  Doing Good Together™ is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

The recommendations we offer are based solely on our mission to empower parents to raise children who care and contribute.