100 Days of Kindness Activities for 100 Days of School

Inside: To celebrate the 100th Day of School, use these 100 days of kindness activities which will help build a kinder school culture.

Schools around the world are realizing the importance of kindness in their education.

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) has become a new addition to the academic curriculum in more and more schools.

Kindness posters like these are going up in school hallways and cafeterias and gymnasiums.

Because more and more educators know that our students don’t only come to school to learn how to read and write.

We have to include character education in our lesson plans because as educators, it’s our job to create well-rounded, socially literate children who are the best versions of themselves.

And kids who can read and write but don’t know how to take turns, help others, and show empathy aren’t the kinds of kids we want in our schools and in our communities.

But adding in one more thing to the already jammed-packed school day can be tricky.

Figuring out how to teach kids to speak and act with kindness more often is hard when there are 20+ of them in each classroom.

But there is a way we can make it easier for teachers to fit it into their day and to make it simple and easy for kids to want to be kind.

And as an added bonus, it’s a fun way to celebrate the 100th Day of School.

How to Spread Kindness in our Schools

My kids have been in several elementary schools that all had kindness as a focus. Posters hang in the halls and there was a cheer at one school to encourage kindness.

The middle school and our local high school have a kindness wall where students can write kindness quotes.

And principals remind our kids to be kind at school assemblies and over morning announcements.

Which is all great.

But sadly, in all of these schools, even with all the talk of kindness, cruel, unkind and bullying behaviors persist.

That’s because talking about kindness isn’t enough.

Asking our kids to be kind isn’t enough.

Posters that preach kindness aren’t enough.

Our kids need to be taught specific ways they can speak and act with kindness more often.

Because when they know what to do and what to say, and are then praised for those behaviors, they’ll do them more often.

Kindness will become more of a habit. They’ll do it more often without reminders.

And as an added bonus, they’ll encourage their classmates and friends to act and speak with kindness more often because kindness is contagious.

But our kids need help.

We can’t just cross our fingers and hope they’ll know what “Be Kind” means.

So we can use this 100 Days Kinder List with 100 kindness activities our kids can easily do at school.

How to Encourage our Kids to Be 100 Days Kinder for the 100th Day of School

Teachers are always on the hunt for fun ways to celebrate the 100th Day of School.

Students bring in collections of 100 items, and we eat 100 snacks, and do 100 exercises.

And of course, we read 100 Day of School books like these:

Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day

100th Day Worries

100 Days of School

Emily’s First 100 Days of School

100 School Days

And we can also use the 100th Day of School to help our kids be 100 Days kinder.

Why the 100 Days of Kindness Activities Work

Starting on the first day of school, start talking about kindness. Build it into your everyday conversations. Champion it at school assemblies and morning meetings.

But we can’t stop there….we also have to tell students what to do in order to live up to the value of “being kind.”

Challenge them to act.

Encourage them to show kindness:

Day 1’s Kindness Activity: Say “hi” to someone you don’t know yet.
Day 2’s Kindness Activity: Make Kindness Pencil Toppers as a class and hide them for a classmate to find.
Day 3’s Kindness Activity: Smile as you pass someone.

And the activities like this continue for the next 97 days of school.

So by the time you’re ready to celebrate the 100th Day of School with your students, they will each have performed 100 acts of kindness.

After 100 days of action, our kids will be 100 days kinder.

These 100 Days of Kindness Activities will change the culture of your school environment and your classroom because your students won’t just talk about kindness.

They’ll actually be kinder.

And they’ll know first hand each time they’re kind, it feels great to be kind.

Kindness will become a new habit because kids who act with kindness, will act with kindness more often without needing reminders.

How to Use the 100 Days of Kindness Activity

1. Purchase and download and print the 100 Days of Kindness List.

2. On the first day of school, challenge your students to do the first day of school activity.

You can write the day’s kindness activity on your whiteboard or put a sign by your door so your students remember to act and speak with kindness as they head out to recess.

3. Continue to encourage your students to act with kindness each day.

Talk about kindness with them. Not sure how to talk about kindness? Use these 60 Kindness Discussion Starters. They’re perfect for your morning meeting or if you have a few minutes before the bell rings.