Inside: Use these snow activities for kindness that are perfect for kids to spread random acts of kindness and happiness this winter.
The weather just dropped to below freezing and we got this winter’s first real snowfall.
And it’s absolutely beautiful looking out and seeing all the white…especially for this California girl who never grew up with real seasons.
When I talked to my kids or my students about winter, I had to show them pictures of snow and snowmen.
So now that we’re in full-blown real winter, we’re always looking for ways to get outside and enjoy the winter. Even if it is freezing.
And with Covid, we’re also in full-blown isolation from our friends and neighbors.
We miss people.
We miss school.
We miss getting outside and interacting with the world.
So we’re constantly looking for ways to connect with other people in safe, socially distant ways. And if we’re connecting, since we also love to spread kindness and happiness when we can, we’re also always looking for ways to perform random acts of kindness for others.
You will love these ways to spread kindness while staying socially distant.
But now that winter is here and snow is covering our streets, we needed to get extra creative to spread kind messages.
So we use the snow to our advantage with these snow activities for kindness that are perfect for kids.
Why it’s Important to Spread Kindness:
Teaching our kids to be kind is essential. It’s so important, it’s one of our only two family rules.
We play games like this Kind or Trash Game, we make kindness crafts like this Kind Heart, Happy Heart Craft, and we read books about kindness.
We volunteer as a family, we teach our kids how to be compassionate, and we make sure they know how to celebrate and appreciate the differences in others.
Because kindness is a verb. It’s something you do.
You can talk about kindness, but it’s powerful when you act and speak with kindness, not just talk about how awesome kindness is.
So with that, we focus on giving our kids specific ways they can show their kindness to others.
More Kindness Ideas You’ll LOVE:
Materials Needed for the Snow Activities for Kindness
- squirt bottle
- food dye
- water
How to Use these Snow Activities for Kindness:
1. Fill a squirt bottle with water and add food dye. (This is either an adult job or needs to be heavily supervised with reminders that food dye is permanent and will stain clothes and countertops.)
2. On a snowy day, make a plan of who you want to spread kindness to.
Is someone sick?
Are you missing a friend?
Is there a neighbor who is lonely?
Make a plan together and come up with ideas of what to write.
Or, you can leave a message on your own snow-covered front lawn for people to see who walk past!
Kindness Message Ideas:
- Hi!
- How are you?
- Miss you!
- Feel better!
- 🙂
- Love you (if you live near a family member!)
The trick is to keep the message short and sweet. Each letter takes a while to make!!
3. Put the squirt bottle on stream (rather than spray) and head to a friend, classmate, or neighbor’s home.
If you’re virtual learning but the teachers are at school, you can leave a message in the snow by the school entrance saying “hi” or thanking them.
Related: How to thank teachers during distance learning.
In the fresh snow, encourage your kids to leave a kind message for them to see.
To make the letters, kids need to make big wide, exaggerated letters with space in between so they’re easy to read.
Remind your kids not to step on or near the letters so they stay visible. We made the ‘Miss You’ message near bunny prints!
4. To make it easier, kids can trace the letters they want to make in the snow with a gloved finger first.
Or parents can do it for them to help with spelling and spacing.
5. Then use the indentations and fill them in with squirts to color the letters.
6. You can use a squeeze bottle rather than a squirt bottle but we found that the water runs out too quickly to work well. The only way to make it work is to write in cursive and even then it comes out fast to keep it neat. We preferred the squirt bottle.
But even if it’s not neat, this is the message my kids and I have for everyone in our lives: We Miss You.
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