69 Random Acts of Kindness Ideas for Kids to Do In the Primary Classroom and At Home

Putting together a list of random acts of kindness for kids is a great way to encourage your students to be just a little bit nicer to their classmates and the world around them. These acts may be small moments in the school day, but they can make a major difference in students’ lives.

With curriculum standards to meet and marking to do, how do you find time to encourage your students to be generous and gracious and sprinkle these random acts of kindness into the day? For that matter, what are some random acts of kindness ideas for kids that you can use in your classroom?

Whether you’re looking to celebrate Random Acts of Kindness Day on 17 February (directly after Valentine’s Day) or you’re looking for some random acts of kindness ideas for kids to add to your social emotional lessons, the teachers on the Teach Starter team have got your list covered!

We’ve put together this how-to guide for teachers to make this concept both easier to teach and truly inspiring to kids. Read on for the origin of the Random Acts of Kindness concept, plus ideas for students to use in your classroom this school year!

Need Random Acts of Kindness Day printables ASAP? Head over to download now!

What Is a Random Act of Kindness?

The name may give it all away. Then again, maybe not.

By definition, a random act of kindness is a selfless action performed by an individual to help or benefit someone else, without any expectation of recognition or reward. These acts can be small or large and can have a significant impact on the person or people receiving them, as well as the person performing the act.

Some of the more common examples of random acts of kindness include paying for someone’s coffee in line behind you, leaving a note of encouragement, or helping a neighbour with a task — and of course, there are hundreds upon hundreds of examples that we see students do every day from offering a pencil to a classmate when they don’t have one to opening the door to the toilet.

What Is the Origin of Random Acts of Kindness?

The concept of doing kind things for other people has been around for as long as there have been people, but the origin of the phrase Random Acts of Kindness is a bit murky — there’s no way to know who said it first.

Most credit the phrase’s popularity to an American woman named Anne Herbert who wrote an article titled ‘Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty’ in a 1985 issue of the countercultural journal ‘Whole Earth Review.’ Herbert went on to co-write a children’s book of the same name in 1993, securing the term’s place in the zeitgeist.

Republished 20 years later with a foreword by Bishop Desmond Tutu, the book is a good start for primary school teachers looking to implement random acts of kindness in the classroom.

In addition to Herbert, the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation in the US has played a crucial role in establishing ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ as a worldwide phenomenon. The non-profit was formed in the early 1990s and has been the driving force behind making 17 February the official Random Acts of Kindness Day, focused on a mission to ‘Make Kindness the Norm.’

The charitable organisation offers teachers, students, and other individuals a chance to sign on as RAKtivists, short for Random Act of Kindness activist. Apply for your class, and you’ll get free monthly missions to spread more kindness plus access to the RAKtivist Facebook group!

Random Acts of Kindness Ideas for Kids

Looking for immediate random acts of kindness ideas for kids to do in the classroom? Start with small, manageable tasks that kids can do to show them random acts of kindness are for everyone, no matter their age.

Random Acts of Kindness Kids Can Do at School

1. Holding the classroom door open for classmates
2. Allowing a friend to go first during a game
3. Asking another student if they need help with their homework
4. Throwing out a friend’s trash at lunchtime
5. Waving to a classmate on the school bus
6. Picking up another student’s pencil when it falls
7. Offering to help a classmate with a project
8. Leaving a note of appreciation for a custodian (print a thank you for looking after us card template to help!)
9. Baking cookies for their bus driver
10. Carrying a friend’s books when they are on crutches
11. Sharing crayons, coloured pencils and other classroom resources
12. Offering another student a hug when they are sad
13. Bringing a favourite book to school for a friend to read
14. Volunteering to help the music teacher set up for a concert
15. Offering to stay inside during recess to help a teacher with a project
16. Creating a thank you gift for a classroom parent or grandparent
17. Shelving books that have been returned to the school library
18. Gathering assignments for a friend who is absent
19. Helping a new student find their classroom
20. Gathering balls and other equipment near the end of PE or recess

And here are dozens of Random Acts of Kindness ideas for kids to do outside of school!

1. Leave a note of encouragement for a friend or family member
2. Pick up a piece of trash in the parking lot
3. Make a card for a nursing home resident
4. Help a neighbour with a task, such as sweeping
5. Hold the door open for the person behind you at the store
6. Donate toys or clothes to a children’s charity
7. Bake cookies or cupcakes for a local police department
8. Teach an older relative or neighbour how to use a device
9. Leave coins in a vending machine for the next person
10. Make flowers for a grandparent and deliver a bunch just because (use this fun printable flower template they can add their photos to!)
11. Leave a kind note on a park bench for a stranger to find it
12. Help a younger sibling with their homework
13. Pick up trash when they spot it in a parking lot or at the park
14. Leave a kind note in a library book for the next person who checks out the book to read it
15. Help an older person with their groceries
16. Leave extra quarters at a laundromat
17. Give a compliment to someone in the grocery store
18. Leave a note of encouragement in a public bathroom
19. Offer to babysit for a single parent (This one is best for older students, but younger students may be able to offer to assist in a mother’s helper capacity)
20. Help a homeless person by buying them a meal
21. Leave a note of appreciation for a store clerk or fast food worker
22. Offer to walk a neighbour’s dog
23. Leave a fun drawing on a stranger’s car to brighten their day
24. Donate food to a local food bank
25. Leave a small gift in your mailbox to surprise the mail carrier
26. Make a homemade thank you card for essential workers
27. Leave a kind note for the housekeeping staff at a hotel
28. Offer to help a neighbour with yard work
29. Make a bookmark for your local librarian
30. Make a homemade card for a soldier
31. Leave a kind note for someone who works in a public space such as your local community center
32. Volunteer to walk dogs at a local animal shelter
33. Leave a note for a museum guide
34. Offer to help a friend or family member with a task they have been struggling with
35. Offer to run an errand for someone who is sick or unable to leave their house
36. Leave a kind note for a coach or team leader
37. Donate their gently used toys to a local domestic violence shelter
38. Leave a note of appreciation for a park ranger or lifeguard
39. Offer to pet sit for a friend or family member
40. Create a thank you gift for a nurse or doctor
41. Offer to help a friend or family member with a personal goal
42. Create a drawing for their favourite barber
43. Bake cookies for their delivery driver
44. Help a friend or family member move
45. Leave a small gift for a hospital worker
46. Offer to help a friend or family member clean their home
47. Donate gently used books they’ve already read to a local library
48. Teach a friend or family member a new skill
49. Read to a neighbour or friend’s dog (this is also a great way for young readers to build their reading fluency!)

More Ways to Promote Random Acts of Kindness at School

Some random acts of kindness ideas you can kick off as a teacher:

1. Use our Random Acts of Kindness calendar with your students for the month. It includes 16 different kindness tasks for your students to do for others.
2. Set up a “kindness” board in your classroom with sticky notes where students can write kind things about their classmates and post them.
3. Sign your class up for the Great Kindness Challenge for a week of challenges.
4. Brainstorm random acts of kindness ideas and make kindness chatterboxes with your class.
5. A simple hello could lead to a million smiles. Have your students use our Hello Greeting Cards template to write a nice compliment inside for a class member.
6. Create a kindness chain for the classroom. Give students paper slips to write down ideas for random acts of kindness, and link them together to display on your bulletin board or even out in the hallway. Kindness might be catching!
7. Post a ‘sprinkle kindness’ banner in the classroom as a visual reminder to practice random acts of kindness.

Banner image via shutterstock/Darrin Henry