Inexpensive Volunteer Adventures for Your Kids

Volunteering is a great way to show our children the value of kindness and what it means to lend a helping hand to others in need. Money donations to charitable causes are always appreciated but the act of a hands-on service experience boosts the child’s self esteem in the knowledge that he or she made a difference in the life of someone less fortunate.

Furry Friends and Nature

*Call the animal shelters in town and ask for specific needs such as old newspapers, blankets, towels, or homemade dog biscuits.
*Organize a town clean up day and teach your kids the value of always putting litter in a proper garbage receptacle, recycling, making litterbags for family automobiles, and planting tree seedlings in parks and/or other public areas.
*Join a tree-planting event by contacting your local parks department.
*Learn about endangered animals and wildlife and how to help them by building homes for birds, bats, and more.

Friends Helping Friends

*Sponsor and create a birthday party for kids at a local homeless shelter by volunteering, filling goody bags, or having a holiday gift drive.
*Knit or quilt blankets to donate to ill or traumatized children.
*Have a community bake sale and donate the proceeds to a cause to benefit needy kids across the country.
*Send stuffed animals to foster homes who may arrive there without comfort items of their own.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

*Have your child illustrate an original story and donate to an emergency room, pediatrician’s office, homeless shelter, or preschool.
*Take a meaningful library book or flower bouqet to an elderly neighbor.
*Put on a puppet show or story hour at your local library.
*Brighten up your neighborhood with a garden in containers, a yard, or a community lot.
*Have a birthday party with a service theme. Ask guests to donate a gently used book or toy. Kids can make flowerpots to donate to a convalescent home.

Take Care of Your Self

*Set up a lemonade or hot chocolate stand and donate the proceeds to a national or global cause.
*Walk for a cause, such as Breast Cancer, Hemophilia, or Arthritis.
*Host a party where children dress up as favorite book characters and ask them to donate a book to their pediatrician’s office.
*Have your child visit an elderly person in need of company. Both parties will cherish the time spent together.