We've been using a Kindness Advent Calendar for about three years now, and ever since we started I've enjoyed the lead-up to Christmas so much more.
This free printable Kindness Advent Calendar brings new meaning to the Advent countdown to Christmas. Instead of receiving a small gift each day, kids are encouraged to give something back.
Each day, the Kindness Advent Calendar has a suggestion for something kind your child could do for someone. They are small acts, nothing fancy, but each one could make the world of difference to someone in your child's life.
The countdown acts of kindness
1. Write something nice about each of your friends and give them your note
2. Draw a Christmas card for your teacher
3. Pick up rubbish in the playground
4. Make a Christmas present for your siblings
5. Invite someone lonely to play with you today
6. Take a Christmas card to your librarian to say thank you
7. Find three toys you can donate to a kid who needs them more
8. Deliver the Christmas card you made to your teacher
9. Do a job for Mum without her having to ask
10. Call Grandma for a chat
11. Put a gift under a local wishing tree
12. Write a message about kindness on the footpath near your house
13. Invite a friend you don’t get to see very often over to play
14. Do a helpful job for Dad without being asked
15. Tuck a quote about kindness inside a library book for someone to find
16. Bake or buy a treat for your neighbour
17. Make and leave a kindness stone on a bench at the park for someone to find
18. Tidy your bedroom (Santa loves a clean room!)
19. Be kind to yourself all day
20. Leave some baked goods for the Postie with a thank you card
21. Compliment your sibling on something they are good at
22. Tidy up the backyard ready for Christmas
23. Make all the beds in the house as a surprise
24. Leave out a thank you note for Santa
Blank version of the calendar
Of course, you might prefer to come up with you own acts of kindness. You can print a blank Advent Kindness Calendar and write in your own.
Some suggestions for other acts of kindness to add to your calendar are:
- Donating clothes to a charity shop
- Helping out at a soup kitchen
- Giving a gift to a homeless person
- Visiting your local nursing home
- Singing Christmas carols to raise money for charity
- Donating food to a food drive
- Walk a neighbour's dog
- Donate pocket money to charity
- Taking treats to the local fire station or police station
- Leave change in a vending machine
- Writing a thank you note to a house with beautiful Christmas lights
- Leave a gift for the garbos on top of the rubbish bin on the last bin night before Christmas
Enjoy the excitement of Advent this year. If the kids miss their usual treat, you can always reward their kindness with a chocolate from time to time.
