Some of my goals as a parent include raising un-entitled kids that are kind to each other and are also capable of looking outside themselves and doing good within their communities (and worldwide).
We are constantly looking for ways to teach our kids about helping others. Today we are excited to share one simple idea for helping kids give back!
This post is sponsored by Little Loving Hands.
Opportunities to help others within our neighborhood are pretty easy to find. We frequently make cookies and surprise neighbors, drop off meals for sick families or new moms, and occasionally "heart attack" people's doors to tell them we love them.
Finding opportunities to help others outside of our neighborhood is a little harder. Often service organizations have strict age limits or guidelines that don't allow little kids to help. Many times service opportunities can be too difficult or tiring for little ones as well.
This summer we have been trying to find ways to create, connect, and spread kindness. We were really excited to be introduced to Little Loving Hands and their craft kits that give back.
Little Loving Hands encourages kids to create something special (using the materials in the kit they receive) and then send it to a charitable organization. When our Little Loving Hands craft kit arrived in the mail a few weeks ago we opened it immediately!
WHAT'S INCLUDED IN THE BOX?
- supplies and instructions for creating the final craft to be donated
- materials for teaching children who, why, and how they are helping
- a pre-paid envelope to send your finished craft to the spotlighted charity
- a collectible button and certificate of achievement for your child
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?
The kits are targeted for kids ages 3-9 but even adults and littler kids can have fun with these projects! Work together and modify the crafts for littler ones. These kits are such a great way for parents to connect with their kids and set an example of spreading kindness!
Each kit has a recommended age that is listed on the website, so check that out before you decide which box to try.
WHAT SORT OF CRAFTS ARE INCLUDED IN THE KITS?
Each monthly box will include a different craft and will spotlight a different charity.
Today I'm going to share several photos from our Hearts for the Homeless kit. You can head over to the Little Loving Hands Shop for some other examples of the kits.
The Hearts for the Homeless Kit includes two crafts: 1) creating a soft heart pillow and 2) making a memory match game. Both completed crafts are sent to Enchanted Makeovers to be given to a mother and her child at a homeless shelter.
To get started, we first read through the instructions and information on the charity we would be helping. At the beginning my daughter was frustrated that she couldn't keep the crafts for herself. Reading through the information in the kit was really helpful. Once she understood who the crafts were for she was less reluctant to give away her creations and was excited to be helping someone out who needed some extra kindness.
To make our soft heart pillow we stenciled the word "HOPE" on the outside using the paint and stencil that we were given.
Once the paint dried then we tied each set of strips into knots to create the heart pillow.
Stenciling and using small dabbing motions with the paint brush were great fine motor activities. Tying the felt strips on the pillow was challenging and helped kids strengthen their finger muscles while they found each matching strip, crossed it, and pulled it through into a knot.
Then we stuffed the pillow full of batting before we tied it all the way closed.
My daughter was very proud of her pillow and wrote her name on it and gave it a big squeeze... hopeful that the little child that got her pillow would like it as much as she did.
Our next job was to paint the tops of our wooden hearts and decorate a small canvas bag (with paint and/or markers). These wood hearts would be used to play memory!
I loved the open-ended expectations set for the bag design. Kids could paint or color on the bags with markers to make their own design.
Once everything was painted then we set it out to dry overnight. The next day we put everything in our pre-paid envelope to send off!!
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH THE CRAFTS?
Using the pre-paid return envelope inside your box you send your child's finished craft (made with love!) as a donation to those in need.
Each box also contains a collectible button and certificate of achievement for your child. My daughter was especially proud of her certificate and button. Since she'd been hesitant to send her pretty creation away, it was nice to have a little memento of the crafting experience to help her remember how she had helped someone else!
WHAT I LIKED BEST ABOUT OUR LITTLE LOVING HANDS KIT:
- the structured crafts with clear instructions (along with visuals) were really easy to understand and make.
- the box was compact (not huge and full of unnecessary stuff) and included crinkly paper that we could use in a sensory bin
- the projects were easy enough that my older two kids (ages 5 and 8) could do most of them without much help, and my 3-year-old could join in for parts of the activity too.
- we learned about a new-to-us charitable organization and we were given their contact information if we wanted to help them again in the future.
- each craft helped us learn something new and helped us have purpose as we were creating.
- the project was a great excuse to talk with my daughter a bit about homelessness and kindness and helping others.
To get more information on these cool kits, head on over and check out Little Loving Hands on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. You can also follow along for more craft ideas, inspirational messages, and service ideas.
HOW DO I SIGN UP AND HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
You can subscribe to Little Loving Hands HERE for a monthly subscription.
Here's a quick rundown on the pricing...
$25 for monthly
$132 for 6 months ($22/kit)
$240 for 12 months ($20/kit)
Individual: $28 + shipping fees
Make sure to take advantage of this special promo code being offered.
PROMO CODE: 20OFF12 (Free month for 12 month subscription (i.e $20 off))
HOW DO YOU TEACH YOUR KIDS TO GIVE BACK?
HAVE YOU EVER TRIED OUT A MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION BOX?
Make sure to pop over to the comments and tell me about how you teach your kids to give back.
DISCLOSURE: This post was sponsored by Little Loving Hands. All opinions are mine.
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