If you’re looking for a Valentine’s Day countdown (with a free printable) that will help teach kids kindness, you are in the right place! One of my main goals with my children is for them to be kind, so I wrote down 14 random acts of kindness and turned it into a countdown!
Use the Valentine’s Day Countdown to talk about the importance of kindness
“Be kind to one another.”
“Treat others the way you want to be treated.”
“Let’s think about how that would make you feel if someone said that to you.”
Those are just a few examples of what I repeat daily to my kiddos. I’m sure I sound like a broken record, but kindness is really so important and my hope is that it will stick with them!
Kindness amongst siblings is one we work on the most. Kindness to others definitely comes much easier. But this February, we are going to focus on both! In our Valentine’s Day countdown, I have included acts of kindness for people in our family, and for those outside of it.
One of the best ways to teach kindness, in my opinion, is for kids to see how good it feels to be kind. My middle daughter loves smiling at people, and telling them to “have a good day.” My oldest is a door holder, and she loves when people tell her “thank you” or just say something nice to her.
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When they do these things, I make sure to ask them, “How did you feel when you did “xyz” for that person? Of course they say, “good!” And I will respond with, “Yes! It feels so good to be kind to others.”
One day I’m sure they will ask me to stop going on and on about it. But at this age we try to make it a BIG deal when someone is being kind.
Modeling kindness
I am forever grateful for the book Triggers by Wendy Speake. It is full of wisdom and teaches you how important it is to keep an eye on your own heart and behaviors. In my opinion, modeling kindness is one of the biggest factors in teaching our kids how to be kind.
I ask my kids to point out when my words or actions are unkind. Sometimes I can react out of frustration. When I do, I ask them to remind me how important our words and tone are. Sometimes I regret that, because who wants to be called out for being unkind? But in the end I am thankful for it, because I know how much my words and actions affect them.
Why do a Valentine’s Day countdown?
If your kids are anything like mine, they love games and crafts. I often make up games to encourage them to do something they do not want to do.
I created the Valentine’s Day countdown because it’s the perfect opportunity to teach kids kindness and have fun along the way! It gives them something to look forward to each day and makes kindness fun and engaging.
I’ll just say my kids like it much better than sitting down and talking about the importance of kindness. I’m sure you understand!
How to use your Valentine’s Day countdown
Here is the free printable for the countdown. Print it out, cut out the hearts, then put them in a jar. Starting on February 1st, have your kids pick out one heart a day and do that random act of kindness.
Continue this process until February 14th and you’ve got yourself a countdown! Another idea is to use this calendar, and mark off the days as you do each act of kindness.
Some may work better on certain days because of weather and other factors, so the calendar is good for marking them off as you go but not necessarily going in order.
One last and final option is to print out the hearts, hole punch each one and string them with yarn. You could hang this on your mantle or just tape it to the wall, and pull one of them off each day!
Valentine’s Day countdown – 14 acts of kindess
1. Make a card for someone in your family.
Simply prompt your child to make a card for anyone in their family. To make it more fun, have the child hide the card and give clues to help them find it!
2. Record a video for faraway friends.
Calling or Facetiming a friend or family member who lives far away is a great way to brighten to someone’s day! Ask your kids who they would like to call, and ask them what kind things they can say when they call.
3. Make encouraging bookmarks for library books.
How fun would it be to open a library book with a pretty and encouraging bookmark? This one may be tough because your kids won’t get to see this come to fruition. Remind them that kindness is not about us, but about others!
4. Make a sibling’s or parent’s bed for them.
Teach your child that acts of service like this mean A LOT to people. If they make your bed, be sure to praise them and tell them how happy and loved it made you feel!
5. Take treats to your local police station.
Who doesn’t want surprise treats? Police officers serve our communities so well. Take this opportunity to explain how grateful we are for everything police officers do for us!
6. Leave bubbles on a friend’s doorstep.
I don’t know about your kiddos, but mine LOVE bubbles. Have them write a little note and drop it off with the bubbles to a friend of their choice!
7. Bake cookies for your neighbor.
And maybe some for yourself! I think we often forget how something so simple can make people feel so special.
8. Write a thank you note for the mailman.
The mailmen (and mail-women) do so much for us! Talk to your children about what life would be like without the mail service. You can tell them that their cards and birthday invitations couldn’t make it to their friends without their help!
9. Make a list of 10 things you are grateful for.
Write these down with your child and ask them why they are grateful for it. This makes for a great conversation at the dinner table!
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.
10. Make your parents a yummy snack or meal.
This one may be a little tricky. I know messes could be involved. Try to see what they come up with and only step in if absolutely necessary. Remember to praise them for their efforts and tell them how special it made you feel!
11. Bake something heart shaped together.
You could always bake a cake or bread, and cut it out as a heart. We are using a silicone heart mold like this one and making chocolates!
12. Bring coffee to one of Mommy’s friends.
Ok, I might have some ulterior motives here. But I can’t think of a better surprise than having coffee delivered to my door! Go bless another mama and write a little note telling her how thankful you are for her friendship. It’ll be good for your kiddos to see you do something for a friend too!
13. Tell everyone in your family something you love about them.
Try to do this when everyone is together (dinner time works great). Have the kiddos write down their response. Try to encourage eye contact when they are telling each other what they love about them. This can be difficult at such a young age but remind them how important eye contact is!
14. Watch a show about kindness to end your Valentine’s Day countdown.
If you have a Minno subscription, they have a lot of great options. If not, I would try searching online to find one! A screen free option could be to read a Bible story about kindness:
- Luke 6:27-31 Treat others how you want to be treated.
- Luke 10:29-37 Love your neighbor
Valentine’s Day Books for Kids
Have fun being kind with your Valentine’s Day countdown!
I hope this printable is helpful for you when teaching your kids kindness. Please comment below to let me know if you’re planning to try it!
Are there any random acts of kindness you would add to the list? I’d love to hear them in the comments below!
Thanks so much for being here,
