The Power of Kindness: 10 Fun Activities to Try in Class

Kindness is one of the most important social-emotional skills children develop. Every day, children have opportunities to use kind words, help others, and make thoughtful choices that strengthen their relationships at home, at school, and in their community. Bring the power of kindness to life with your children through these 10 fun activities! 

Kids have THE BIGGEST HEARTS! They love spreading kindness, and they can do it in the most pure ways possible. Sometimes they make dinner out of green Play-Doh…

Sometimes they make motivational signs to lift others up or craft beautiful jewelry to help you look your best…

And other times, they leave love notes to be found at the end of a long, hard workday. Yep, kids are amazing at spreading kindness, and they LOVE, LOVE, LOVE taking part in kindness activities!

Try these 10 favorite activities for spreading love and kindness in your classroom:

10 Best Activities for Spreading Love and Kindness

• 1. Model Kindness… Your Students Are Always Watching
• First, modeling kindness is the simplest way to spread love and kindness in your classroom. 
• Be a kindness role model. Your students are always watching, always processing, and always your biggest fans!
• When they see you comfort, care, play, help, show up, respond, and give grace, they take that as their cue for how things should be done in their world.

Visuals—like these FREE Power of Kindness posters—are a great way to remind students of the tone you want to set for your classroom community. 

2. Teach Them To Spread Kindness On A Regular Basis

Next, encourage your students to regularly point out the great things they see others doing. 

Hang this poster in your classroom and encourage students, teachers, and classroom helpers to add to it throughout the day. (It’s a FREEBIE, so make sure to grab it!)

Teach students that even the smallest accomplishments are great things and should be celebrated!

Establish a set time at the end of the day when you will check the board and talk about whose names are up there and what great things they accomplished today. 

3. Build A Mutual Understanding Of What Kindness Means

Social stories are another great go-to for all things classroom management, and this Kindness Social Story & Activity Set is a great springboard for teaching the importance of kind words and actions.

Social stories catch kids’ attention because they are written in a voice and point of view kids can understand. 

You’ll be so excited to see all the little lightbulbs turn on as students make real-life connections when you read these stories!

The Kindness Social Story and Activity Set helps you teach children how to:  

• Recognize opportunities to show kindness
• Use kind words and actions
• Understand that people may feel differently
• Include and encourage others
• Practice empathy and respect
• Build positive relationships
• Use kindness at home, at school, and in the community
• Grow confidence through everyday practice 

This kindness resource includes:

• A kid-friendly social story
• SEL teaching cards
• Personal social skills mini reader
• Let’s Talk! Cards
• Interactive skill poem
• Class pledge
• Student promise & practice plan
• Skill reminder cards
• Calm & Confident Toolbox
• Family connection resources
• Family time activity

4. Encourage Kids To Catch Some Kindness

Remember Cootie Catchers from when you were a kid? These Kindness Catchers have all the fun from your childhood with a little extra twist of kindness!

Directions are included for assembly and how to play are included with this FREEBIE!

5. Support Random Acts Of Kindness

These Kindness Challenge Cards and Poster are a fantastic way to encourage kids to band together and spread kindness throughout their school and community!

This set includes 36 different acts of kindness that kids will be excited to take part in. Incorporate these into your Friday morning meeting routine and call it “Feel Good Friday.” 

At the end of Morning Meeting each Friday, one student can pull a Kindness Challenge Card from the bucket, and the class can discuss the challenge together. Then add the card to your Kindness Challenge poster.

At the end of the day and/or on Monday, depending on the challenge, share how you did spreading the power of kindness!

6. Make It Cool To Spread Kindness

Next, use Kindness Notes to spread kindness in your classroom!

You won’t be able to keep these notes in stock in your classroom! Students love giving these Kindness Notes to their classmates, and they love receiving them.

These notes are such a great way to build a positive classroom community too!

7. Spotlight Student Of The Day

Spotlight Student of the Day is another easy way to spread love and kindness in your classroom. 

Choose a different student to spotlight each day. At Morning Meeting, have the class volunteer examples of what makes that person an AWESOME classmate, human, and friend! 

The Spotlight student gets to take the chart home at the end of the day–such a great way to increase your home connection with special adults in the child’s life!

8. Get In On The Fun

These Positive Notes for Families are written to be sent from YOU the teacher to the families of your students. 

Students and families LOVE receiving these! This is a great way to communicate with families quickly and easily about the positive things you see in your classroom.

9. Shower Them With Positive Affirmations

These Positive Affirmations Cards and Poster are the perfect way to spread the power of kindness, boost self-esteem and attitude, and let someone know how amazing you think they are. 

The set contains 26 different positive affirmations, one for each letter of the alphabet. 

Incorporate these into your Morning Meeting routine every Monday, and call it “Motivational Monday”. 

At the end of the morning meeting each Monday, one student can pull a card from the bucket. Discuss the affirmation together, then everyone recites it out loud to themselves. Finally, everyone turns to their neighbor and repeats it to them! Share the power of kindness audibly and instantly to peers to encourage an increased positive classroom community.

Then add the positive affirmation card to your poster for the week!

10. Kindness Rocks…literally

Finally, decorate kindness rocks! 

This activity encourages kids to look for people in their lives who show the power of kindness to others in their daily activities. 

What You Need:

• river rocks (you can purchase these at a craft store like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby in the floral department)
• acrylic paint
• small paint brushes
• toothpicks. 

How To:

Share the power of kindness by decorating the river rocks in a positive way. Use images like hearts, rainbows, smiley faces, words, and more! 

Then, encourage your kids to take a few decorated rocks with them when they go places and to be on the lookout for people in their lives who are spreading kindness in powerful ways. 

When they witness someone spreading kindness, they can gift them with a decorated rock, explaining to that person, “You Rock Because You Are Kind!”

Remember, kindness doesn’t come overnight. Celebrate the progress you see, and remember that every child is growing in their capacity to show kindness each day!

Let me know if you have any questions about anything you see here. Don’t forget to pin this post to refer to it later!

Other posts you may enjoy:

3 Powerful Strategies for Teaching Kindness at Home & in the Classroom

10 Powerful Books on Kindness for Elementary Students 

7 Successful Strategies For Teaching Respect Of Personal Space To Kids