10+ Community Service Ideas For Kids
by Tracy Shaw
Teach your kids to be the HERO in the community! Discover creative community service ideas for kids that build confidence, empathy, and leadership skills. This partnership with CMI Orchards has donated 9,000 meals to those in need. While the post is sponsored by CMI Orchards, our love for giving back to the community is our own!
Here at the Healthy Family Project giving back to the community is a big part of what we do. Over the years we have donated over 18 MILLION meals to Feeding America! Big or small, there is a HERO in us all that can make a difference by doing good.
Our friends at CMI Orchards know that the power to be a HERO is in your hands, and that we can all be a HERO in the community, so we wanted to highlight some fun community service ideas to hopefully inspire the HERO in us all!
Be sure to snack on a HERO Ambrosia Gold apple while you are out there doing good and being a HERO in the community! They are a sweet and crisp snack-sized apple that is perfect to keep you powered throughout your volunteering adventures. Make sure to pack enough to share, everyone will want to try one of these sweet as honey Ambrosia Gold apples 😉
Benefits of Community Service
There are lots of great reasons to have your kids participate in community service beyond just giving back to the community. Participating in community service activities also helps to build children’s confidence, empathy, and leadership skills. It is also an excellent way to strengthen the bond of your family, and is a great way to spend more time together.
Community Service Ideas For Kids
Neighborhood Food Drive
One simple and impactful (AND fun!) way to give back to your community is by organizing a neighborhood food drive. Setting up a food collection bin on your porch is an easy way to gather donations for your local food pantry. We had the kids decorate the box, they had fun getting creative 🙂
Let your neighbors know about the food drive by posting on neighborhood social media groups, sending out emails, or creating flyers to distribute. Encourage them to contribute non-perishable food items like canned goods, pasta, rice, and cereal.
Once your bin is full, gather the donations and deliver them to your local food pantry! Be sure to have the kids come along with you 😉
Don’t forget to share the success of your food drive with your neighbors. A simple thank you note or a post on social media can highlight the collective effort and inspire others to organize similar drives and be the HERO in their community.
Book Drive
Collect gently used books and partner with local shelters, hospitals, and nursing homes who can use and distribute them. Your local librarian may be able to help you find the best places for book distribution.
Make Cards for Seniors
Oftentimes residents of senior living centers don’t get a lot of visitors, so receiving a handmade card, a bookmark, or other small craft can go a long way towards brightening their day. Suncatchers would be an excellent craft that the kids can paint and deliver and residents can put them in their windows.
You can find multi-packs of them at the dollar store and big box stores for not much at all. This is a great community activity for the holiday season, but you could do it anytime of year, and it would be very much appreciated.
Neighborhood Cleanup
Everyone benefits when the neighborhood and the surrounding parks and playgrounds are clean. Set up a day to have the community work together to beautify the area. Provide gloves, trash bags and clean up a part of your community. It’s more fun when you all work together!
Food Pantry or Soup Kitchen Volunteer
Get involved with your community by helping to feed the hungry in your area. If you have a local food pantry, help your child collect donations and then volunteer some of your time at the food pantry. You might also consider volunteering to cook, serve, or clean-up at your local soup kitchen or shelter.
Animal Shelter Volunteers
Animal shelters around the country are bursting at the seams and could really use some help right now. There are lots of ways that you can help your local animal shelter that can make a big difference.
Organize a pet supply drive and collect old blankets and towels, cleaning supplies, pet food, toys, and grooming supplies and take them to the shelter. If your shelter allows it you can spend some time playing with the animals when you drop off the supplies. You might even find a new family member!
Gather Stuffed Animals for Law Enforcement
Did you know that you can gather gently used, or new stuffed animals, coloring books, and crayons to any police or sheriff’s department in the country and they will be so excited to receive them? They give them to children that they encounter at accident and crime scenes to distract them, and they ALWAYS need more. You might also consider baking some cookies or making a snack basket to drop off with your child when you leave your donation too.
Community Garden Volunteer
A great way for kids to give back to their community is to volunteer at the local community garden. If your community doesn’t have one it might be the perfect time to talk to community leaders and start one. Gardens are a lot of work so there is also a space for volunteers to weed, water, and harvest the garden.
This is an excellent opportunity for kids to see the benefits of their labor too. Not only do they get to watch the plants grow and harvest their hard work, they are helping to provide the community with healthy food too.
Collect School Supplies for a Family in Need
Back to school season is here, and this is the time of year to grab school supplies for the year at their lowest prices. Consider purchasing an extra backpack and filling it with school supplies for a family who might be struggling.
You can also collect extra school supplies and donate them to a local women’s shelter or other community organization that hands out back to school supplies. You might also give your child’s teachers a few extra supplies for a student who may not have what they need.
Start a Little Free Pantry
Food insecurity is an issue for many families right now and one way to help out is with the creation of a little free pantry for your community. You may have seen a little free library before and this is the same idea but with pantry essentials instead of books.
The idea is to take what you need and leave what you can. You can find more guidance for how to start one and register your little pantry so that your neighbors in need can find it here.
Closet Clean-out
This is a simple and effective way for your kids to clear out clutter and give to the community. Have your child search for outgrown but gently used clothes, shoes, toys, and books and donate them. You can take them to local shelters, community centers, or churches with a community closet.
Virtual Volunteering
We all have very busy lives, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t still encourage your kids to give back. There are plenty of virtual volunteering opportunities that can be done when your family has the time to participate. There’s an opportunity for everyone here, and these can be particularly helpful for high school students who need volunteer hours for college scholarships that can work around their full schedules.
Teaching our kids the importance of giving back to the community is very important. Getting them involved and excited about helping others is a value that they will carry with them throughout the rest of their lives. There are so many fun and exciting ways that you can be a HERO in your community, which will you and your family be doing first? And don’t forget to bring along HERO Ambrosia Gold Apples when you are out doing good!
Be sure to check out this podcast episode on ways to encourage kids to give back and more tips on how to get involved in the community.
