Ten Ways to Volunteer with Your Kids This Holiday Season

The holiday season is filled with media messages to children that getting is more important than giving.

Contributing to your community and volunteering with your kids during this time of year can be a great way to give back, bond as a family, and teach your kids important life lessons.

Karen Bantuveris, CEO and Founder of VolunteerSpot, created a top ten list of volunteer activities to do with your family:

For younger children:

• Decorate reusable grocery bags and fill them with their favorite non-perishable food items.  Feeding America offers a  Food Bank locator, searchable by zip code.
• Stuff new, warm socks with water bottles and granola bars to give to homeless men and women you pass on street corners.
• Decorate holiday cards for soldiers overseas.
• Box up their gently used clothing to donate to your local foster care foundation.

Older Kids

• Donate their gently used books and DVDs to a local children’s hospital.
• Make holiday decorations and cards and then sing carols for nursing home residents. Call ahead to schedule a visit.
• Engage a team of secret friends to clandestinely rake leaves or shovel snow for an elderly neighbor for a whole month.
• Collect used towels and pet toys for the local animal shelter.
• Host a hot chocolate or cider stand and donate the proceeds to a charity of their choosing.
• Adopt a family for the holidays through a local business or faith group, and have your kids help shop for that family.

These activities suggested by Bantuveris are all great ways to give back during the holiday season, and to include your children in the giving spirit. If you are donating items, bring the children so they feel more involved. More importantly, talk to them about your family experience afterwards and how it feels to volunteer.

This could be the start of a new family tradition!