Welcome to the 100 Acts of Kindness! And welcome to the 100 Acts of Kindness week 2 challenge!
If you haven’t started the 100 Acts of Kindness Project through Toddler Approved, it isn’t too late to start. You have plenty of time to do 100 acts of kindness before Valentine’s Day.
Toddler Approved had the kindness challenge for week 1: Kindness Challenge #1: Saying Thank You. If you missed it, there’s no reason you can’t do more than one kindness challenge at a time. Just do the 100 acts of kindness in whatever way works for your family.
This week’s challenge: choose 5 Montessori-inspired ways to give love to relatives. (It can also be one Montessori-inspired way to give love to 5 relatives.) It doesn’t matter if you normally use Montessori education at home or not. Regardless of the age of participants in your family, you can easily make these Montessori-inspired acts of kindness.
1. For younger children, prepare an activity tray or table.
Montessori-Inspired Love Sticker Card Tray
The sticker tray in the photo is something you can easily put together and keep on a low shelf for your child to use whenever he or she chooses to create a card for a relative.
I don’t have markers, scissors, or glue on the tray because I had a central location on a shelf for those supplies. You could add those to your tray if you wish. The tray just has lace doilies (mine are in a napkin holder that has sentimental value as it was from Finland and belonged to my grandmother), paper for cards, 5¾ x 8¾ greeting card envelopes (available at office supply stores), and a supply of stickers in a container.
You could put together a simple tray like that or a tray with the materials for any Valentine’s Day craft. The accessible tray is helpful because it allows your child to choose to do the activity and to repeat the activity when he or she wishes, an important Montessori principle.
Montessori-Oriented Pipe-Cleaner-and-Bead Valentine’s Day Activity
I have a post with ideas for turning Valentine’s Day crafts into Montessori-oriented activities.
Valentine Writing Tray (Photo from The Work Plan)
The Work Plan has a Montessori-inspired Valentine writing tray.
Valentine Placemats Tray (Photo from Little Wonders’ Days)
Little Wonders’ Days had a Montessori-inspired Valentine placemat tray. (Little Wonders’ Days blog is no longer available.)
If you have room for a table instead of a tray, you could have a Valentine card-making work table or area, Valentine sun catchers table, or another craft area similar to one at My Montessori Journey.
2. For any age, let your child help choose the activities. Choice is an important part of Montessori education, and the project will have the most meaning if your child is an active participant in choosing what you’ll do.
3. Follow your child’s interests. Following the child is one of the main principles in Montessori, and you can consider this a Montessori-inspired activity (with any age) if it’s an interest-led activity. If you’re doing this activity with adults, make sure you’re choosing activities of interest to whoever is participating.
My daughter, Christina, talking to me on Skype
For example, if someone is interested in technology, you might want to create a video for a relative, create a digital scrapbook page or album, or create memories together on Skype. Help Your Child Create Unforgettable Cards and Gifts through Digital Scrapbooking is a post I wrote with ideas for following that interest. Creating Memories Together on Skype is a post I published which tells about one of my family’s favorite ways to share love from a distance.
If your family is celebrating Chinese New Year, you might like to choose a Chinese New Year activity or activities to give to a relative.
I have a Kids’ Chinese New Year Activities Pinterest board filled with activities to choose from.
Baking Cookies (Photo from Kitchen Counter Chronicles)
If your child likes baking, bake something for a relative like the cookie-baking activity by Jen from Kitchen Counter Chronicles at Toddler Approved.
Valentine’s Day Jar of Hearts (Photo from The Outlaw Mom)
If your family is interested in Valentine’s Day and enjoys crafts, make something like the Jar of Hearts from Outlaw Mom.
UPDATE: JDaniel4’s Mom has interest-led and practical life activities for helping others: Acts of Kindness – Montessori Style.
I have a Kids’ Valentine’s Day Pinterest board with lots of Valentine’s Day crafts and activities to choose from.
I also have a Kindness Projects Pinterest board with kindness projects to choose from.
Update: More Ideas for Kindness Projects
- Random Acts of Kindness Week – Montessori-Inspired 100 Acts of Kindness Project
- Kindness Project for Children and Adults of All Ages
- Simple Ways to Make a Difference in the World
- Family Fun with 100 Acts of Kindness and Operation Beautiful
- Including a Toddler in the 100 Acts of Kindness Challenge
- Using Montessori Principles in the 100 Acts of Kindness Challenge
- Teaching Kids to Be Kind
- The Ultimate Guide to Having Kind Kids This Christmas
- Focusing on Toddler Manners in the 100 Acts of Kindness Challenge
- Free Kindness Songs and Rhymes for Home or School {Character Education Resources}
- Completing 100 Acts of Kindness (Toddler Manners Challenge) and Starting 100+ Acts of Kindness
- The Ultimate Guide to Kindness Elves
- Encouraging 100 Acts of Kindness with the Kindness Elves
- Introducing the Kind Words Challenge with the Kindness Elves
- 20+ Printable Manners Cards, Booklets, Charts, and Games
- Kindness Projects Pinterest Board
Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!
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Thank you for featuring our work! Lot of inspiration here. Thank you for sharing.
My pleasure, Discovering Montessori … I love your post! Thanks for your kind comment! 🙂
Deb – thank you for the linky – I noticed that One Hook Wonder isn’t doing Montessori anymore so she will not have a weekly linky. Will you be doing a linky every Monday?
Thanks!
Thanks for your comment, Nicole! I’ll miss seeing One Hook Wonder’s Montessori activities, but I’ll post the Montessori Monday linky here at 6:00am EST each Monday.
Great post! I am excited to start planning our activities to share love with our families!
Thanks so much! And thanks for inviting me to plan this week’s challenge. Sharing love with my family is one of my very favorite things to do! 🙂
Thank you for featuring our valentine placemat tray. My kids were so little in that picture, but I still remember them making their placemats.
My pleasure, Kelly! Isn’t great that you have so many precious memories preserved in your blog?!
Thanks for hosting this! I love the different idea’s everyone is sharing.
Thanks, Randalin! I always look forward to seeing everyone’s Montessori Monday posts, too … such great inspiration to start the week. And I’m so glad you’ve joined us with your great posts and lovely photos! 🙂
what great ideas! I love the Kindness project too! We’ve had fun coming up with ideas. I haven’t posted yet but last night we put together seed packets for a cousin who is starting her first garden (she’s 12) and my toddler transferred seeds into little envelopes. It was so fun!
Thanks so much! What a sweet idea … I’ll look forward to seeing your post about it! 🙂
So many wonderful ideas here, I don’t even know where to start! I’m really looking forward to setting some of these up for my two. Thanks so much for sharing our Jar of Hearts 🙂 We had lots of fun with it!
Thanks, Chrissy! I LOVE your Jar of Hearts … what a very special gift to give someone! 🙂
I love the Pinterest board recommendations – you have some great finds there (as though I needed more Pinterest boards to follow…)
Thanks, Jenn! LOL about the Pinterest boards … can totally relate! 🙂
Deb, you have GOT to be the most informational and the most organized person I’ve never met in real life. Actually, probably the most also IN real life of those people I know. You are amazing!
Great post! Great project!!
Sheila, thank you so much for your very, very sweet words! I wish I were actually that organized in real life! LOL 😉
I’m always so glad that you link up to AfterSchool. Your blog is amazing and such a wonderful resource.
Thanks so much, Kelly! I always look forward to seeing what’s at AfterSchool … great for my Pinterest boards! 🙂
Fantastic ideas! I like the idea of a card-making place. Perhaps I’ll experiment with it next week.
Thanks, Natalie! It’s very simple to set up, and I always loved seeing what creations my kids came up with. I often was the lucky recipient as well … still have every card my kids gave me! 🙂
I love your Pinterest board – new follower of your blog!!! 🙂 I love this Valentine theme you have… I’m definitely going to recreate the writing tray – so cute!!! Thanks for sharing.
~Bekah @SonshineTotSchool.blogspot.com
Thanks so much for your kind comment, Bekah! And thanks for following my blog! 🙂
Love the heart beading activity, I’m going to be pinning that right now! It would be fantastic for my daughter’s fine motor skills! As always, love your Monday posts!! Thanks for sharing at Thrifty Thursday!
Thanks so much, Katie! I was always a fan of activities that are fun projects as well as great for fine-motor skills … it’s wonderful that lots of craft projects accomplish both! 🙂
You know what- after reading this post I discovered that a lot of times I do things in a Montessori-style. I like to teach via creativity and although I project an outcome I like to follow what my children are interested in. Great examples of showing others how they can go with the child’s interest in this post! Love this idea and thank you for sharing your ideas with us on The Sunday Showcase ~Aimee
Thanks so much for your kind comment, Aimee! I always find it amazing how easy it is to follow a number of Montessori principles without actually trying to! 🙂
Thank you for sharing this post at WOTT, Deb! So many good ideas to pin and follow through with, so little time in the day! Your themed collections are such a blessing! They save me so much time searching and I really appreciate it!
Thanks for your kind comment, Sierra! I’m so glad my posts are helpful … I love it when I can make life easier for busy moms like you! 🙂
hey….there are so many things to start up with. Little confused from where to start. I think I m gonna commence with Jar of Hearts. Deb, thanks for sharing such creative things. BTW I love site’s layout.
decal lettering
Thanks, Rupert! The Jar of Hearts would be a great place to start … have fun! 🙂
so many fabulous ideas all in one place! thanks for sharing on the sunday showcase – pinned this!
Thanks so much for your kind comment, Bern! And thanks for pinning my post! 🙂