Welcome to Week 4 of the Your Vibrant Family 30 Day Random Acts of Kindness Challenge!
This week’s challenge is about secret agent kindness. We’ll explore some simple ways we can show kindness to each other in fun, stealthy ways (with kindness activities, family discussion questions, Bible verses, and more).
Join us and let’s spread kindness! Remember–every act of kindness counts!
Just joining us? Awesome! Go here for more info about the Your Vibrant Family 30 Day Kindness Challenge!
Go here for the Week 1 30 Day Kindness Challenge post (Kindness to Family).
Go here for the Week 2 30 Day Kindness Challenge post (Kindness to Community).
Go here for the Week 3 30 Day Kindness Challenge post (Kindness to Our World).
Our Week 3 Results:
We had more good discussions this week. The verses have been really speaking to the kids (and me). All of the verses on God providing for (and taking care of) His creation were a great opening for us to talk about all the incredible ways He provides for us.
In terms of kindness to our world…
We made some of our own toys this week out of stuff around the house, such as these old school snake-from-a-paper-plate toys:
In case you forgot how to do this, simply draw a two-lined spiral on the back of a paper plate. Start the spiral in the middle, and then cut around and around until you get to the outside. Leave a wider part for the snake's head. Then color them in with your favorite crayons or markers! Easy peasy and done!
Kindness Challenge Week 4: February 21-27:
Kindness to Each Other Through Actions
Goal: To continue talking about kindness and why it’s important; to discover how we can bless family members and friends by showing kindness to each other; to continue to experience how good it feels to both get and give kindness; to build habits of kindness in our everyday family interactions.
Suggested Kindness Activities:
Secret Agent Kindness!
This week is a little different. Like Week 1, we're going to work on spreading kindness within our immediate family. However, instead of focusing on kind words, tone and body language, this week we're going to focus on actions. What specific actions can we take to be kind to a member of the family?
But there's a super fun element: All of the kindness activities are going to be done in secret!
That's right! We're going to be like kindness ninjas! We'll be working our awesome black belt kindness skills (we've had three weeks to learn and practice) to bring more love and blessings into our family.
But where do we start? How do we direct all these mad ninja skills into incredible (but secret) kindness missions throughout our week?
I'm suggesting that we have a family discussion around kindness before we embark on our stealthy secret missions. Call it a kindness reconnaissance mission. Specifically let's discover how our individual family members best receive kindness; and what actions, words or activities make them feel most loved. I've explained below.
Step 1: Family Discussion and/or Write/Draw Activity
Are you familiar with Gary Chapman's The 5 Love Languages
- Words of Affirmation
- Quality Time
- Receiving Gifts
- Acts of Service
- Physical Touch
- This book
, teens
; plus a singles edition
, men's edition, and a military edition
).
Talk to each other about this. Ask each other simple questions such as:
When do you feel most loved?
Do you feel most loved when:
- we spend time together doing something special?
- when we tell you how much you are loved?
- when we give you a gift?
- when we do something special for you (such as doing a job for you)?
- when we give you a hug?
We tend to feel loved in all of these ways, but most people have a certain one or two that really stands out. Try to identify the key love languages for each family member and write them down in a place where everyone can see them.
Next, brainstorm some practical ideas of how to love family members in each of these ways. For example, under “Words of Affirmation” one idea would be to put a “you are special” note on a dresser; or for “Acts of Service” an idea could be to do a chore for that other person.
Write these ideas down and make sure everyone has a copy.
Step 2: Plan Your Secret Missions
Challenge each other to show kindness this week through one of these love languages in at least one way to each member of the family. But remember–these kindness actions have to be done in secret!
Note: Um… “physical touch” kindness activities can't be done in secret. Obviously.
You may want to incorporate the Write/Draw ideas listed below into this discussion.
And moms–let's show our husbands the secret agent kindness love too! This is a great opportunity for us to give to our spouses without expecting anything in return.
Write, Discuss or Draw Activity
1) Ask God to show you how you can bless each person at least one time this week. Write it down or draw it out. Don’t show it to anyone (Moms, you can help younger kids out with this, of course). It may be a simple pledge to only say nice things to that person for one day; or to do someone’s chores for them without knowing it; or to send them a note (type it to make it more secret!).
2) Read Matthew 6:2-4. Why do you think that God likes when we practice kindness in secret?
Bible Verses to Write, Discuss or Draw
Of course these aren’t the only ones on this topic. These are just the ones we’re going to talk through this week—one for each day of the school week. All references are in the NLT.
Ephesians 6:1, 4: Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do… Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.
Titus 3:4-5: When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 4:2-3: Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.
Galatians 5:14: For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
James 2:14-17: What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, ‘Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
This Week’s Kindness Resources
Disclaimer: My family and I haven’t personally participated in all of these activities or resources, but they look really fun and/or useful!
67 Awesome Random Acts of Kindness Ideas for Kids from Your Vibrant Family
4 Tips that Teach Kids to Be Kind from Your Vibrant Family
Your Vibrant Family “Teaching Kids Kindness” Pinterest Board
Kindness Crocodile idea from Pennies of Time
Cool Object Lesson on Acts of Kindness from Pennies of Time
Mirror Love Messages (a personal family favorite of ours too) from Pennies of Time
134 Random Acts of Kindness from And Then We Saved
60 Random Acts of Kindness for Kids from Feels Like Home
Showing Kindness to Others, Sandpaper People from Layered Soul
Tell Us About Your Kindness Acts!
- Invite Others. Share this post on your own FB page, Twitter feed, Pinterest page (or whatever social media you enjoy) and invite others to join us! Don’t forget to use the hashtag #YVF30DayKindnessChallenge!
- Share Ideas! If you have other kindness ideas, resources or Bible verses that can encourage others, please share them in the comments below!
I look forward to hearing your stories this week!