How to Do a Simple Version of Camp Kindness

I often look for ways to simplify things while still retaining the essence of a project or activity. I love kindness activities, especially activities with the Kindness Elves. My 3½-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, and I have had lots of fun doing kindness elf activities throughout the year. But it’s easiest to maintain them when we don’t go overboard.

So when I was given a copy of the eBook Camp Kindness, I immediately started to look for ways to simplify Camp Kindness for us … especially since I only take care of Zoey three afternoons each week. If done as written, you could do 5 activities and 5 kindness projects each week for 6 weeks. I think we’ve found a simple way to use the fabulous book that works perfectly for us!

Disclosure: I was given the Kindness Elves and Camp Kindness eBook for this post. My opinions are honest and my own. This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).

Introduction to Camp Kindness with the Blue Story Teller Kindness Elves

We love the Kindness Elves! (They come in a number of different options for skin, hair, and clothing color, including the new Kindness Elves with pink or green clothing!)

The Story of the Kindness Elves is great to bring out every time you introduce new Kindness Elves or a new kindness project. I think reading this together is a perfect way to start Camp Kindness.

How We Used the Camp Kindness eBook

Camp Kindness has 6 weeks worth of activities and acts of kindness. It has lots of printables and focuses both on having fun and teaching empathy. You can start it whenever you wish.

The book contains:

6 weeks worth of easily achievable and fun activities for kids to do 5 days per week for 6 weeks
6 weeks worth of easily achievable and fun Acts of Kindness ideas to do 5 days per week for 6 weeks. These are sometimes even linked to the activities too.
30 printable ice cream shaped activity cards
30 printable heart shaped Acts of Kindness cards
Labels, lists, scavenger hunt and Camp Kindness completion certificate to print

Sometimes I use heart-shaped messages with suggestions from the Kindness Elves. Even though Camp Kindness has printable ice-cream shaped activity cards and heart-shaped Acts of Kindness cards for Camp Kindness, you don’t have to use them if you want a very simple version.

Here’s what I’m doing for our Camp Kindness: I’m using a book basket, one kindness activity, and one Act of Kindness idea each week (and our six weeks might not be six weeks in a row). That’s perfect for us!

Simple Literature-Based Ideas with the Pink and Green Kindness Elves

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.

Book Basket for Camp Kindness

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!”

Reading Can I Play Too? in an Outdoor Teepee during Camp Kindness

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!

Laughing at Mo Willems’ Humor during Camp Kindness

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

Showing Their Camp Kindness Sidewalk Art

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?

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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