Countdown to Birthday Kindness Paper Chain

Inside: Countdown to birthday idea and focus on kindness at the same time by using this Kindness Countdown to Birthday Paper Chain.

Birthdays were always a special time in my family growing up and we loved to celebrate them.

We had a themed kid birthday party, a family dinner where the birthday kid picked out the dinner and dessert and we got breakfast in bed.

And we’ve continued these birthday traditions with my kids.

My daughter loves her birthday so much, the day after her birthday party she starts planning her next birthday party.

Since kids get so excited about their birthdays, they usually spend the weeks leading up to it constantly asking when their birthday actually is. The passing of time is a hard concept for all kids, but especially for kids who are extremely excited about an upcoming special day.

So to help countdown to our first big holiday of the school year and spread acts of kindness at the same time, we use our Birthday Kindness Paper Chain Countdown Calendar to help countdown to birthday time!

How to Focus on Kindness

Anytime of year is a great time to focus on kindness. But when our kids are heading into a birthday, it’s a great time to focus on it because they’l most likely be in the gimmes stage. Their wish list will be long. They’ll be getting presents from friends and family and hyped up on the excitement of all of it.

In those moments, it can be easy to lose sight of what’s important: friendship, giving gifts, being grateful for what you have, being grateful for what you get, and being a gracious host at your party.

To help kids focus on kindness during their birthday month, we can volunteer and help others. This list of kid-friendly volunteering activities will help you pick the just right volunteering activity for your kid’s interest and age.

This is also a perfect time to shower other friends with compliments with our Friendship Flower craft our Compliment Suns.

To get them even more excited about their birthday, you can play a Balloon-themed kind or unkind sorting game so they practice what is kind and what is not.

You can help them list what they want for their birthday, and also what they want to give away (to help others, to make room for new toys, or to donate some presents to kids who don’t get any gifts) with our I want/I want to give list.

And to help them focus on gratitude for when they do receive all those birthday presents, you can play our Gratitude Fork Game with them.

But we can also spread kindness every day as we countdown to your kids’ birthdays.

Each day as we speak and act with kindness and freely giveaway our kindness to others, we’ll focus a little less on ourselves and more on others.

Daily kindness reminders like this make kindness more of a habit and less of a one-time, big grand gesture.

And it sets them up to want to be kind more often, setting the new fall season on the right foot…on a kinder foot.

Supplies Needed for the Countdown to a Birthday Paper Chain

1 ½-inch by 11-inch construction paper strips (the number of strips you need will be dependent on the number of days your kids have left until Thanksgiving break) We used primary colors but you can use the birthday kid’ favorite colors.
Stapler
Glue stick
Printable countdown activities (download it below).

How to Use the Kindness Paper Chain Countdown to your Birthday

1. Download and print the paper chain countdown printables (download it below).

2. Cut each of the activities. Choose the best ones for you and the number you need depending on when you start and how many days are left until the birthday.

3. Glue each of the activities on one strip of the construction paper.

4. Loop the strip into a circle, with the activity facing in, and carefully staple the ends together.

5. Make another kindness activity strip. Put it through the first circle, loop it into its own circle, and then staple the ends together.

6. Continue with each construction paper strip, gluing the kindness activities down, and linking them all together.

The last strip in the link will be their last day before getting a year older!!

7. Hang up the countdown to your Birthday calendar where it can be easily seen so it’s a visual representation of how many days left until the big day.

8. Each day, rip off the top loop, do the kindness activity, and celebrate them for focusing on kindness.

As the strip gets shorter and shorter, so will the days until the birthday cake and presents!

So when your kids ask, “How many days until my birthday?” you can point to the paper chain and count the links left on your countdown chain.

And after focusing on spreading kindness, you’ll know you’re almost there!