Summary: Happy World Kindness Day! World Kindness Day (WKD) is observed annually on Nov. 13 and is a day devoted to acts of kindness big and small. The holiday is celebrated in countries around the world and began in Japan in 1997. Acts of kindness can take all shapes. Why not use the ARTS to show kindness to others. Here are some ideas you can use to celebrate today. Many were inspired by the Random Acts of Kindness website. The site boasts a list of "kindness" activities along with resources and stories. A link to the website is at the bottom of this post. Share the love of culinary arts - Let your kids put on their chef hats to help you create a meal for the family or get really brave and let them create a meal on their own. Plant flowers or veggies (in warm climates) or sprouts and herbs indoors (in cold climates) to share. Collage of kind faces - Challenge your kids to find kind faces in old magazines, newspapers, and books and create a collage. Paint a picture and share it with someone you love or with a stranger Play music for a family member or take it to another level and offer to play at a nursing home or hospital Knit or crochet a gift - there's nothing like a homemade gift to demonstrate to others that you are thinking of them. Create a one-of-a kind sculpture - whether out of clay or things found in nature to display of gift Homemade Thank You Cards or Thinking of You Cards - connect with friends and family members. They will appreciate the time you took to make something special for them. Kindness bookmarks - commemorate World Kindness day by making bookmarks. The next time you kids read, they can mark their places and be reminded of the special day. Bird feeders - be kind to the wildlife in your yard as food gets more scarce Kindness journal - write down the ways in which others have displayed kindness, ideas to show kindness, or ways in which you display kindness everyday Create a play or dance show with your kids and let them perform for the family or friends Of course there are loads of other non-arts ways to demonstrate kindness such as picking up the check for someone else’s meals, letting someone go ahead of you at the grocery store, It's so much fun to use the arts to teach lessons to our kids. The more we let our kids express themselves through arts, the more they are learning about giving to others and being kind. Challenge yourself and your kids to create a year of kindness - do one kind thing for someone else everyday and see what happens :) For more kindness ideas, visit www.RandomActsofKindness.org.
