Spreading Kindess in 2012

While browsing our local online newspaper I came across a listing for a Kindness Challenge.  Kindness Challenge you say - I love these kinds of things!  Apparently I'm not the only one as a group of Minnesotans has started a grassroots effort to warm the world through kindness in 31 days.  You can check out their website here. 

Looking for inspiration... you are in the right place!  the little hearts project is filled with tons of age appropriate ideas.  Would love to hear your stories :)

This ones for the birds

Type:  craft
Age:  over 3

Monday marked the end of the holiday vacation for my oldest daughter, but before she headed back we snuck in a few more projects! 

A morning playdate seemed like the perfect time for my girls to make a little treat for our feathered friends!  Each girl got their own "bird feeder station" consisting of pine cones, peanut butter, birdseed and age appropriate knife.  Then the girls got to work spreading and sprinkling to make some awesome pine cone bird feeders.

After I attached some string to the tops, our small Japanese maple was adorned in these winter decorations.  The fun didn't end there though, as the girls loved seeing who was visiting their pine cones for a snack! 

Salt Dough Cookie Ornaments

Age:  3 and up
Type:  Craft


A week before Christmas the girls and I set out to make salt cookie dough ornaments to adorn all the gifts for their grandparents.  I had seen this idea several times before, but this was our first attempt.  I have to say, that I enjoyed salt cookie dough way more than real cookies - much less nagging to stop eating the dough :)  The girls happily rolled out their dough below.

 After several LONG hours of baking and cooling, the ornaments were ready for decoration.  In retrospect I would advise doing the rolling/cutting one day, and the decorating the next.  Even I thought the cookies would never be ready - you can only imagine how the kiddos felt!

 We had just received a whole set of new paints for a birthday present several days earlier - so this was the perfect time to put them to good use.  The girls had a great time picking just the right ornament for their loved ones and carefully crafting it for them.  Definitely a successful project!

25DG&G: ReCap

Well my posts ended with day 14 but that does not mean the giving and gratitude ended there.  Rather, I think I was kidding myself to think I could keep up with the blog posts with all the holiday hussle!  Instead I think I will post a couple of our favorite acitivites that didn't get documented.  More to come :)