Volunteering ideas for Kids: Different Ways You Can Commit to Giving Back as a Family
It’s never too early (or late!) to start engaging with our communities and giving back! We share below some resources and ideas of things you can commit to doing together as a family.
You’re reading this because like us, you want to raise kids who are kind and compassionate. You want them to grow into generous people who have empathy for others and want to make the world a better place.
The good news is that they’re never too young to get involved. Read on below for ideas on how to get started.
VOLUNTEERING WITH KIDS – TIPS
Pick something your child has shown interest in or is tangible for them.
Do they like animals and want to protect endangered animals or take care of orphaned ones? Do they love the outdoors and want to help save and protect nature and our environment? Do you or your child have friends that have a disability or long term illness, are BIPOC/LGBTQ, immigrants, or part of another underserved community? Talking about what they know and having relevant examples is useful in explaining the how and why behind how they can help.
Make sure the volunteering opportunities you choose are kid-friendly
Do something.org is a wonderful resource we found that encourages young people to participate and they have an opportunity to win scholarships as well. Although it’s aimed more at youth ages 10 or older, I found lots of simple ideas to build awareness with my young children like making a card to celebrate a superhero in your community, taking time to learn and talk about climate change, posting a surprise positive message for someone to find in a public area, creating a welcome home banner for a returning veteran, welcoming a new student to their neighborhood, class or school, and the list goes on. It helps your kids see that small acts of kindness can make a big impact.
Volunteer with friends
Ask your friends if they want to commit to do something together and make it fun. Nothing is ever boring when with friends!
Show your commitment to giving back
You can show them ways you contribute and give back to the community whether it is monetary, in-kind donations, or other. I also highly recommend offering your professional services help through catchafire.org if you aren’t already.
Make time to read, learn and celebrate the generosity of others
This can be accomplished in a myriad of ways, through young children’s books like “Last Stop on Market street”**, or through learning about both historical and current movements and the people that led the way. Recently, we’ve been loving learning about modern day young people rallying support for wildlife, our earth, justice and equal rights, underserved communities, relief efforts, etc. It inspires children to see young leaders leading the way and shows them that they really can make a difference. Spending a few minutes reading an article and/or researching can start a conversation that can help open a lifetime of perspective and compassion for others.
The ideas we’re sharing here are more suited for children 3 and up but for younger children or ones that don’t yet show interest, take them along with you while you volunteer. Just being exposed to different communities in need is enough to increase awareness and nurture their generosity as they grow up.
Top 5 Volunteering ideas for kids – Get 3-8 yr old kids started with volunteering
Lift someone’s spirit with art
We discovered Cards for a Cause this year and are super excited to share it with you. Zach, the founder, is extremely sweet and as a young person himself, will inspire your children as well. Although we live in Spain, he said it was OK for us to create digital cards that his organization would print and distribute to sick or injured children in hospitals to cheer them up. Cards for a Cause accepts cards for most major US holidays so visit their website and see how you can help them out throughout the year. This activity will inspire your child to use art to cheer up and lift spirits of anyone in your family or community. For older children who can write a letter, you can check out A Million Thanks, an organization that sends letters to military deployed abroad.
Donate a birthday to a cause
On our daughter’s first birthday, we asked that guests come join the festivities but not to bring a gift, so as not to contribute to the amassing of endless, unnecessary toys and “things”.
Then on our daughter’s 2nd birthday, people came bearing gifts anyway. It was overwhelming!
So the following year, on her 3rd birthday, we decided to gift our daughter a few items, and requested that guests refrain from bringing a gift, BUT that if they wanted to bring something, we’d love it if they could help us with a monetary donation to a local charity. While we were living in California, we chose a local charity that helped me while I was growing up.
We still continue this “donate a birthday to a cause” tradition but now choose a local charity here in Spain for the birthday donation.
When our daughter turned 4, she started comparing and asking why the other kids received so many more gifts than she did for her birthday and we took the opportunity to sit down with her to have a conversation. It took some time but she understood and she’s been proud the last two years to visit the local charity and personally give them the monetary donation on behalf of her family and friends. The volunteer coordinator asked her why she was donating her birthday and it was inspiring and moving to hear her respond.
Organize or join a local community clean up
You can organize one yourself or join one at a park, beach, or other area in need of help. Take advantage of Earth Day to build excitement and continue the spirit by cleaning up throughout the year!
Choose a local organization you care about and ask how you can best support them
Visit a local charity, school, hospital, animal shelter, community center, nursing home, homeless shelter, church, library, etc and ask what they need. This is important because you want to make sure that what you give will be useful. It could be monetary, food, supplies, time, etc. Based on what they need, you could:
- Organize a food/clothing/shoes/books/supplies/toy drive.
- Raise funds through a lemonade stand, bake sale, garage sale, arts and crafts, car wash
- Volunteer at an event (e.g. fundraising, education workshop, etc)
- Create care packages
- Spread awareness about their cause
Join organizations and/or programs that have a healthy community/volunteer spirit
This is a great way to get involved with the community and be around other like-minded families. Look into local community programs, 4H, Girl Scouts/Boy Scouts, etc.
Volunteering ideas for kids: More ideas to consider
- Adopt a family for the holidays
- Deliver meals or supplies to those in need (elderly, someone who has just had surgery, just had a baby, or someone who has experienced a loss of a loved one or their home, etc).
- Responsibly volunteer while traveling (we recommend experiencing at least one local homestay with your children)
- Help plant flowers or trees (we did this through an organized event through WWF and the kids had a lot of fun!)
- Participate in local events that donate proceeds to those in need (for example, family fun runs!)
- Adopt or foster a pet
- For older children, you can teach them about money responsibility by helping them st up a for-profit business that helps support nonprofits or charities. For example, they can make and sell products (physical or digital) and commit to donate a portion to charity.
What has worked for you and your family? We love learning about new organizations and resources. Please share below in the comments section. We love hearing from you!
Thanks for reading! Your support helps us support these non-profits. If you’re interested in learning more about non-profits and whether or not they are legitimate and how they spend money raised, check out Charity Navigator. There are others but I’ve found this one easiest to navigate.
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