25 Simple Christmas Kindness Ideas for Kids
Kindness is easier for children when it is specific. “Be kind today” is abstract; “help your sister find her boots” is something a five-year-old can actually do before breakfast.
Every idea below is free or nearly free, and most take under ten minutes. Pick one a day through December, or keep the list on the refrigerator and let children choose.
Kindness at home
- Help a younger sibling with something they find hard.
- Set the table without being asked.
- Make someone in the house a cup of cocoa.
- Put away a mess you did not make.
- Read a picture book out loud to a little brother or sister.
- Write a thank-you note to a parent or grandparent and hide it where they will find it.
- Take care of a pet's water bowl for the whole week.
- Give up the good seat, the last cookie, or the first turn.
Kindness at school
- Invite someone who is standing alone to join in.
- Thank a teacher, bus driver, or cafeteria worker by name.
- Give a genuine compliment to someone you do not usually talk to.
- Help a classmate pick up dropped books or supplies.
- Share your supplies with someone who forgot theirs.
- Stick up for someone who is being left out.
Kindness in the neighborhood
- Draw a picture and leave it in a neighbor's mailbox.
- Help carry groceries or bring in someone's trash cans.
- Deliver a plate of cookies you helped bake.
- Pick up litter on your street.
- Wave and say hello to someone walking by.
Kindness that reaches further
- Choose a toy in good condition to donate.
- Add one item to the grocery cart for a food pantry.
- Call or video-call a grandparent just to talk.
- Make cards for a nursing home or a children's hospital.
- Save part of your own money to give away.
- Write a letter to someone who is far from home.
Turning the list into a nightly ritual
A list is useful. A ritual is what makes it stick. Families following The Julenissen Door tradition write one of these acts on a small note each evening and leave it outside the little door before bed, so the day’s kindness gets named out loud and then given away. Any container works, though: a jar, an envelope taped to the wall, a page in a notebook.
For more on why this shapes a December differently, read a Christmas tradition centered on kindness or browse other Christmas traditions for kids.