Looking for ways to cultivate kindness in your students’ hearts this World Kindness Day? Look no further! In this blog post, I have compiled a list of 10 delightful World Kindness Day activities specifically designed for preschoolers, making it easy for you to teach and celebrate kindness with your young learners.
If you are looking for things to do for World Kindness Day with your young students, you are in the right place. Each activity is carefully chosen to promote empathy, sharing, and inclusivity, allowing your preschoolers to develop these essential social-emotional skills.
So, gather your art supplies, grab some books, and get ready to inspire your preschooler to spread kindness on World Kindness Day and hopefully beyond.
Before we jump in, I’ve got the perfect Kindness inspired Freebie for you … click on the image below to download these free kindness scenario cards.
All About World Kindness Day
What is World Kindness Day?
World Kindness Day is celebrated annually and it serves as a reminder of the importance of spreading kindness and compassion throughout the world. It encourages us to perform acts of kindness, no matter how small, to create a ripple effect that fosters a more compassionate world.
On this day, people are encouraged to engage in thoughtful acts that uplift others, whether through a simple smile, a helping hand, or a heartfelt gesture. World Kindness Day serves not only as a celebration of kindness but also as an opportunity to reflect on the impact such acts can have on our communities. The overarching goal is to inspire individuals to incorporate kindness into their daily lives, making it a natural part of their interactions with others.
How did World Kindness Day Start?
This special day was first introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, a coalition of kindness organizations. The initiative aims to promote kindness as a fundamental value that transcends cultural and geographical boundaries.
When is World Kindness Day?
It is celebrated on November 13th and is observed in many countries, including Canada, the United States, Australia, Japan, and the U.A.E.
Why Celebrate World Kindness Day?
For preschoolers, World Kindness Day is an excellent opportunity to introduce and reinforce the concept of kindness in a fun and engaging way. By participating in World Kindness Day, children can learn the significance of being kind, not just on this occasion but as a core value they carry with them throughout their lives.
The Importance of Teaching Kindness to Preschoolers
Teaching kindness to preschoolers is crucial for their social emotional development. Our preschoolers are just beginning to understand the feelings and emotions of others.
When our students engage in acts of kindness, they learn about how their actions and words can affect others and how powerful their actions and words can be.
When children learn to recognize and consider the feelings of their peers, they are more likely to build healthy relationships, resolve conflicts peacefully, and contribute positively to their communities.
Helping students identify kindness is one of the most important parts of teaching it. You want your students to be able to determine when someone is being kind and when someone is being unkind. You can do this by having images of children doing kind and unkind things and sorting through them all the while discussing what they see, how they think the person might be feeling and what is the act of kindness.
My students love my kindness resources: Kindness Monster Sort, Kindness Questions and Kindness Lesson with activities. These engaging resources will support you as you effortlessly put together the pieces of the SEL puzzle to teach and reinforce kindness in your classroom.
10 World Kindness Day Activities for Students
There are so many fun World Kindness Day activities for preschoolers, and teachers can easily incorporate them throughout many of their lessons. Here are 10 World Kindness Day activities to help your preschoolers spread kindness inside and outside the classroom.
1. Read Books on Kindness
There are so many books that help teach, spread, and show students kindness! Get students involved by discussing how kindness is demonstrated within the book, how each of the characters feel, what is said or done to show kindness, how we can use what we have learnt from the story.
Another effective storytime activity is to role-play the stories you read or different scenarios. Your students can act out scenes where characters display kindness or not and you can discuss as a class how we can show more kindness in that particular situation.
This interactive approach will allow your students the chance to practice kindness in a safe and supportive environment. By embodying the characters, they can better understand the emotions involved and explore different outcomes based on their choices.
Some of my favorite kindness books are:
Kindness is my Superhero By Alicia Ortego
Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler By Margery Cuyler
The Kindness Book By Todd Parr
There are so many amazing books that teach students about kindness, so here’s a seperate blog post with my top 12!
2. Decorate & Celebrate Kindness
World Kindness Day shouldn’t just be celebrated inside your classroom! Let others in your school celebrate too! Grab some markers, crayons, or colored pencils, and let your kiddos create posters with kindness quotes. Once completed, hang them around the classroom or school. If you want a quick print and go set of World Kindness Day coloring sheets, will these will help get students started on the right foot!
3. Spread Kindness and Show Appreciation for Others
Your preschoolers can easily spread kindness and show appreciation to the people in their life. One fun way to show their gratitude to others is to create kindness cards and give them to their loved ones, the secretary at school, the principal, and anyone else that may need some kindness.
4. World Kindness Day Craft
Kindness bracelets are a simple and fun activity to help teach your preschoolers kindness. Creating bead or paper friendship bracelets with your students is so much fun! When finished, have each of them give their bracelet to an acquaintance or someone they appreciate, like a cafeteria worker or teacher’s assistant. These simple bracelets can easily brighten someone’s day!
5. Create a Kindness Classroom Challenge
This kindness challenge is a fun way to get your students thinking about how simple acts of kindness can impact the lives of others and bring joy to their own lives. Decide on a daily or weekly challenge and see if your students can complete the challenge. As the challenges are complete, mark them off. Once your class has finished them all, give each child an award.
Some examples of kindness challenges you could include are: talking to someone new, sitting next to a different person at lunch, complimenting someone, letting someone go first, etc. Grab my kindness challenge pack here!
6. Sidewalk Messages to share kindness
This is one of my absolute favorite World Kindness Day activities! Imagine a sidewalk full of kind messages. How would our students, staff, and parents to feel while entering the school for the day. These chalk messages could change someone’s day around.
7. Show Kindness to our Earth
Teaching kindness is not only about being kind to each other, but also showing kindness to our Earth.
Outdoor activities provide us with the opportunity to connect with nature while spreading kindness in the community. One simple yet impactful activity is organizing a neighborhood clean-up. Preschoolers can participate by picking up litter in local parks or playgrounds, learning the importance of caring for their environment.
This activity not only promotes teamwork and cooperation but also instills a sense of responsibility for their surroundings. This shows them that even small actions can contribute to a cleaner, healthier community.
8. Collaborative activities to encourage kindness in preschoolers
Collaborative activities are an excellent way to foster kindness among preschoolers by promoting teamwork and cooperation. One effective project is organizing a “kindness chain.” Students can create links out of colored paper, with each link representing an act of kindness they’ve performed or witnessed.
As the chain grows, it visually represents the collective impact of their kindness. This fosters a sense of unity and accomplishment among the children.
Other fun World Kindness Day art activities include creating a kindness mural, which can be a fantastic group project. Or a large photo collage of acts of kindness or what kindness means to your students.
They will love working together to paint or draw a large mural that represents kindness. This collaborative effort not only allows for creative expression, but also respect and appreciate each other’s contributions.
9. Be Kind To Yourself
Another interesting concept to begin to introduce to our preschoolers is to be kind to themselves. But what does that mean when it comes to a 4 or 5 year old?
Being kind to their bodies by getting exercise, going to bed early, eating fruits and vegetables and things like that. They must also be kind to their minds by taking time out, practicing mindfulness, meditation or practicing calming techniques.
10. Outdoor activities to spread kindness on World Kindness Day
Another engaging outdoor activity is to create a “kindness garden.” Preschoolers can plant flowers, vegetables, or herbs and learn about nurturing living things. As they tend to their garden, they can discuss how sharing the produce with neighbors can be a kind gesture.
Additionally, organizing a kindness scavenger hunt can be a fun way to engage preschoolers outdoors. Create a list of kind acts for children to find or complete. Such as “spot someone helping another” or “give a compliment to a friend.”
This activity encourages observation and interaction with others while reinforcing the message of kindness. By celebrating their discoveries together, we can highlight what kindness looks and feels like.
World Kindness Day Activities: More than a Day
Kindness shouldn’t be delegated to just one day! Brooke Jones, Vice President, The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation speaks of making kindness the norm not the exception. She challenges us to consider instead of random acts of kindness, how about intentional acts of kindness.
What if ….we intentionally went out of our way to be kind to others on a daily basis?
We taught our students to recognise when others are kind to us, through their actions and words?
We taught our students to be intentional about being kind to others?
Celebrating World Kindness Day with your students is a great start in developing a culture of kindness in your classroom. However, this year I challenge you to go deeper. I challenge you to think wider and make kindness the norm in your classroom all year round!
Want more ideas on how to encourage more kindness and empathy in your classroom? Check out these blog posts:
9 Simple But Effective Kindness Activities for Kids
Empathy in Preschool: Why Should I Care?
13 Books to Help Teach and Develop Empathy
Why Empathy is Important in the Preschool Classroom
*This post was updated in November 2024, to give you the most current information*
