Canadian Thanksgiving is here so we're sharing some great ways to make a game of gratitude to enjoy as a family this weekend. Just like kindness, practicing gratitude has a plethora of benefits for our physical and mental health, from increasing happiness, energy levels and quality of sleep to decreasing anxiety and depression, to name but a few.  

Here are some kid-approved ways to encourage expressions of gratitude this weekend and beyond!

Let’s be honest. I’m an adult who likes to do crafts.The list of reasons to do art with your kids is long. It encourages self expression, promotes creativity and innovation, and boosts self esteem. It helps with fine motor skills and dexterity and improves hand-eye coordination. But in case all this isn’t enough, add a theme like “kindness” to your crafting and you have a perfect venue to explore ideas and raise important conversations in a fun and engaging way. It’s no secret that our raison-d’etre at My Kindness Calendar is to help empower kids to practice and adults to role-model kindness through easy everyday actions. And so here are some of our favourite activities that will let you do just that! These Kindness Crafts are the perfect warm up to your holiday season, as you get ready for a month of counting down to Christmas with acts of kindness and My Kindness Advent Calendar. Guaranteed to get you in the sprit and start the conversation on being kind! 

Three weeks into back to school... how are you and your kiddos feeling? Though we've seen a lot of successes already, the new normal has sunk in and the questions are starting to come... When's the next PD Day? Is it a long weekend yet? Well, with no PD days or long weekends on the horizon just yet, cue a little something different to shake up the back to school routine. You guessed it... an act of kindness! Give you kiddos a special kindness mission on their way to school this week. Not only will it add something new and exciting to look forward to, but on a larger level, it's empowering our kids to shape the culture of caring and community in their schools by choosing to act with kindness and spread positivity. These are the things we want our kids to feel for the first few weeks of school and beyond.

So with this in mind, here are some of our favourite school-inspired Acts of Kindness to help your kiddos fill their emotional backpacks with good vibes this week!