Fun with Kindness Elves, 100 Acts of Kindness, and the Kind Words Challenge

The Kindness Elves were so much fun at Christmastime that I wanted to extend the fun and kindness. My 3-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, loves the Kindness Elves, too, so I decided to use them in one of my favorite projects, 100 Acts of Kindness Challenge, which lasts from Martin Luther King Day to Valentine’s Day. Then I learned about another kindness challenge with the Kindness Elves: the February Kind Words Challenge. So I decided to use the Kindness Elves to introduce the Kind Words Challenge, too.

So how well did 100 Acts of Kindness and the Kind Words Challenge work using the Kindness Elves?

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Materials Used for 100 Acts of Kindness and The Kind Words Challenge

• Kindness Elves (They come in a number of different options for skin, hair, and clothing color!)
• The Story of the Kindness Elves (I now use this book to introduce any kindness challenge.)
• 100 Acts of Kindness Chart and heart stickers. I don’t use this as a reward chart but as a way to count up to 100 acts of kindness (a fun extension to the Montessori hundred board).
• acts of kindness reminder hearts (You can go to the February Kind Words Challenge and download a free introductory letter and blank hearts from The Kindness Elves blog)
• manners matching cards and booklet
• manners books

You can see more manners resources in these posts:

20+ Free Printable Manners Cards, Booklets, Charts and Games

The Best Books about Manners for Preschoolers

Fun and Family Support with 100 Acts of Kindness

Family support made the 100 Acts of Kindness especially effective. My husband (Zoey’s grandpa) would comment whenever Zoey did something kind, saying something like, “That was very kind.” My daughter, Christina, and her husband, Tom, (Zoey’s Auntie Chrissy and Uncle Tom) would also encourage her kind acts and words by saying that they were very kind or a kind thing to say or do.

Zoey’s mom, Chea, played a big role in encouraging kindness, too. She often discussed acts of kindness with Zoey, talking about Zoey’s acts of kindness and telling about her own acts of kindness.

And I thought it was super sweet that Chea, my son, Will (Zoey’s dad), and Zoey had an acts of kindness tea party. They sat at Zoey’s little table, had tea, and discussed their acts of kindness!

I sent the completed 100 Acts of Kindness chart home with Zoey on Valentine’s Day for her scrapbook.

Fun and Family Support with the Kind Words Challenge

Initially, I wasn’t sure how it would work to do both the 100 Acts of Kindness Challenge and the Kind Words Challenge in the beginning of February and the the Kind Words Challenge for the rest of the month. Would it be too much?

It was actually perfect! I used the Kind Words Challenge to focus on the difference between kind words and kind deeds. We especially focused on manners that used kind words for this part of the challenge. Both kind words and kind deeds were counted on the 100 Acts of Kindness chart.

I often placed a manners book with the Kindness Elves as a special focus for the day. Curious George Says Thank You was one of the favorites, although Zoey loves manners books in general.

Zoey enjoyed finding the featured book.

I would typically read the book to Zoey and then she enjoyed retelling it.

We kept the Kind Words Challenge very casual, but it was an ideal way to continue focusing on kindness throughout the month. And our family members continued to encourage kindness. So would I recommend doing both 100 Acts of Kindness and the Kind Words Challenge using the Kindness Elves? Absolutely! 🙂

The Ultimate Guide to Kindness Elves

 

You can find links to all of my Kindness Elf posts in my Ultimate Guide to Kindness Elves post.

 

 

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