Teachers, I promise this is easier, cleaner, and more impactful than you’re imagining. Hear me out. Last year we wanted to provide hands-on community service-based classroom activities….the students are still talking about how awesome it was. If you’re looking for winter activities and community service for kids, I’ve got you covered!
Classroom “Baking” for a Cause
The all-time favorite activity we did was making homemade dog treats to donate to our local animal shelter. You may be worried that around the holidays your students are already more energetic and adding baking into the mix sounds like a disaster. That thought crossed our minds too, but the students were so excited to participate that they were hanging on our every word. Never underestimate the power of engagement.
As soon as we told students we’d be making dog treats to donate to a local shelter, they lit up!
Community Service for Kids in the Classroom: Setting Up
We read some of the books below which sparked powerful discussions on what is community service, ideas for community service that they’ve done before (or want to do), and the impact and power children have to spread good in the world.
Since we shared with students the plan on a Monday we had all week to build hype and continue to bring those conversations of compassion, kindness, and generosity into our daily activities.
***Please make sure to notify parents ahead of time in case there are any allergies to accommodate. To make sure every child could participate we made 2 substitutions, but because of the simple recipe, it’s easy to modify as needed. It’s also smart to check with your local shelter to ensure they accept homemade treats and learn of any regulations you need to follow.***
As a new teacher, did anyone give you the advice to always build strong friendships with the custodian, secretary, and cafeteria manager? *Golden advise*
Our cafeteria manager is amazing. When we proposed the idea of our classes using the cafeteria tables (early in the day) to make dog treats he was all in! It worked with our scheduling that we could go in ahead of time to make sure we had all of the ingredients, baking tools, and clean up resources ready to go. For actually baking the treats you could ask your cafeteria manager, use an oven in a home economics or other specialized classroom, or refrigerate and bake at home (or even get a parent volunteer to pick up/bake at home).
Create an even more memorable experience for students by allowing them to drop off the treats. Check with the shelter and if they allow, invite families to volunteer to drop off the dog treats.
Easy Homemade Dog Treat Recipe & Supplies
Supplies:
- Rolling pins
- Cookie cutters
- Mixing bowls
- Measuring cups
- Mixing spoons
- Baking sheet
- Cooking spray
- Can opener (if you don’t have easy-open tops)
- Our cafeteria had trash cans, brooms, and table cleaner that we used
Ingredients:
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup pumpkin
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 2 tablespoons dry milk
- 10 grinder twists of salt
Recipe:
- Mix ingredients in a bowl: if too dry add a tablespoon of water or a little more pumpkin (crumbs are okay)
- On a lightly floured surface roll out dough with a rolling pin until ½ inch thick
- Use cookie cutters to make shapes
- Place cookies 1 inch apart on a greased cookie sheet (we used cooking spray)
- Clean workspace
On average, our groups of 3 students would get 10 treats per batch.
This year if you want to focus on teaching students about generosity and kindness instead of focusing on specific holiday activities for kids, this is the perfect classroom activity for you! These types of hands-on kindness activities for kids teach lessons that extend far outside the classroom walls. Teach older students? Use this as one of your kindness activities for middle school too!
Best Children’s Books on Kindness and Community Service for Kids
Pairing this engaging and meaningful activity with a tug-at-your-heart-strings book is a great way to tie in teaching standards and make a stronger impact on your students. These Children’s books about kindness teach the power of community, compassion, and generosity.
One of my favorite things about this activity is that it can be used in so many capacities. It can be done as a class, a school club, or sent home as an optional project over winter break. If you’re looking for student council ideas for elementary it’s a perfect fit, student council activities for middle school, and even high school too!
Helping Kids with Community Service
If you have any questions leave a comment, I’m always happy to help! Are you looking for more community building or student council ideas? Click here to read about some of my favorite activities for student council.
PS: They work great in the classroom setting too.
This fun method of team building for kids teaches compassion and generosity with a hands-on activity that all students will love! Whether you’re in the classroom, a student council or kindness club rep, or a school leader add this to your list of winter activities for kids! Make community service for kids fun and meaningful.
Be sure to check out these other great winter and holiday reads.
- Holidays Around the World
- Holiday Gifts for Students
- Christmas Math Activities
- Christmas Read Alouds for Upper Elementary
- Mission Possible – Classroom Community Building
P.S. Are you looking for ways to cultivate a culture of kindness in your classroom? Eliminate disruptive behaviors? Help your students with social-emotional learning? I’ve got your answer! Check out this totally free teacher right here.
