How to Do a Simple Version of Camp Kindness

 

 

I’m a real book lover, so books were a huge part of our homeschooling and are still a huge part of my house. I’ve used literature a lot with our Kindness Elves activities. My last post here showed how I used literature with the new pink and green Kindness Elves.

For Camp Kindness, I want to introduce each week with a special book basket. The first week is with the blue story teller elves.

(Note: If you don’t have the suggested color of Kindness Elves, just use the ones you have … they can be helping out the ones you don’t have!)

Camp Kindness says:

“The Storytellers love to read, write and talk! They’re responsible for writing out the Acts of Kindness cards and also for the Story of the Kindness Elves book too.
Some love poetry, others love telling stories to children. They all love to write letters and check the mail box daily!”

It would be natural with the story tellers to use the acts of kindness cards, although I think they can also just share great story books with messages about kindness. So, our book basket for the week has fun books with examples of kindness. These don’t have to be serious books. They can be lots of fun, such as Lovable Lyle (from the Lyle, Lyle Crocodile series) or my favorite … Mo Willems’ Can I Play Too?

I think this may be the funniest children’s book I’ve ever read … and it has a great message! It has “differently abled” animals and encourages acceptance and inclusion. It’s hilarious! The first time I saw it was at the Amazon bookstore in La Jolla. And that’s the first time I’ve actually laughed out loud looking at a children’s book in a bookstore! I got one for Zoey right away. My son laughed a lot when he first read it, too, and Zoey absolutely loved it. Later, I ordered one for my house, too.

Kindness Activity: “Read books or listen to an audio book on your headphones in a den with cushions and treats!”

We skipped the treats part, but we made a special teepee for outdoors (in nice weather) or indoors. Where did I find the idea? On Pinterest, of course! There were lots of amazing teepees, but my eyes glazed over at all the tutorials involving sewing and elaborate directions. Then I saw the super-simple 5-minute backyard teepee from Mama.Papa.Bubba. You only need 6 6′ bamboo stakes, 1 king-size flat sheet, a few clothespins (we used 6), and twine to tie the bamboo stakes together at the top. Follow the simple directions at Mama.Papa.Bubba. to have your own teepee assembled in a few minutes!

My photos only show Zoey and my daughter, Christina (Zoey’s aunt), although Christina’s husband, Tom, was there putting up the teepee with Christina. It doesn’t take two people, but we wanted to be prepared for any difficulties. It really is as easy as Mama.Papa.Bubba. says! Zoey’s mom, Chea, even joined us after awhile. I was there, too, taking photos, of course!

Act of Kindness: “Draw a picture or write a surprise message on the sidewalk/ pavement or your own driveway for others to see.”

Some special sidewalk art with the message “Have a nice day!” was left for people in our neighborhood to enjoy. Chea joined in for part of the artwork, too. We got some smiles from neighbors before the project was even finished!

Follow Up during the Next Week

This will be an important part of our Camp Kindness. I’ll leave the book basket with Kindness Elves in our living room each week. I plan to follow up our activity and act of kindness with kindness discussions about the related book or books we read, our activity, and our act of kindness. It’s a perfect way for us to focus on kindness this summer, although it would work well at any time.

Are you using Camp Kindness with your family or group?