Everyone loves a little gesture of goodwill—even a smile and a kind word can do a world of good. World Kindness Day is celebrated every November 13! It’s dedicated to promoting good acts within communities and creating positive relationships between citizens.
To participate, people can do community service, perform random acts of kindness, or make donations to local agencies. World Kindness Day was created to make sure that we don’t forget how powerful positive acts can ripple through our community.
Cultivating kindness and empathy are important ways to build Character, one of the 5 C’s at the heart of the Begin Approach to helping kids thrive in school and life. Kids with strong Character skills enjoy better overall well-being and mental health, so it matters a lot!
The Short Cut
- More than 30 countries around the world celebrate World Kindness Day on November 13
- Families can participate by making yellow flowers to give out, volunteering, or doing kind things for others
- Acts of kindness can help kids learn to take the perspective of someone else, an important Character skill for early learners
How Did World Kindness Day Begin?
The day was created in 1998 by a group of nations to promote community-based projects across their countries. The concept caught on worldwide, and by 2010, World Kindness Day was celebrated in India, the U.K., Italy, and Singapore. By 2016, more than 30 nations promoted and celebrated World Kindness Day.
The internet has allowed supporters of World Kindness Day to coordinate their efforts across the world. One universal symbol of this day is the handing out of yellow flowers to strangers. In all of the member nations, volunteers are placed throughout a community to hand out a burst of happiness, just to make someone’s day a little brighter.
How to Make Your Own Yellow Flowers
It might be hard to find real yellow flowers in November, but your family can make your own from tissue paper and pipe cleaners! They’re great for handing out at school or in your community.
What You Need
- Sheets of yellow tissue paper
- Pipe cleaners
What to Do
- Stack three sheets of yellow tissue paper on top of each other.
- Make a one-inch fold at the bottom of the tissue paper stack.
- Flip the stack of paper over and create another one-inch fold the other way. Continue all the way down the paper, making the folded paper look like an accordion!
- Fold the accordion in half and place a pipe cleaner in the middle. Fold an inch of the pipe cleaner over the papers to secure your stem.
- Fan out your accordion and separate the paper to fill out your flower!
Cultivate Kindness with Learn with Sesame Street
Begin is proud to have partnered with Sesame Workshop to make Learn with Sesame Street, a social-emotional learning program for kids ages 2-5. The program includes a kid-safe, ad-free, replayable app full of engaging games, original classes with Elmo and friends, videos from Sesame Workshop, and a Grown-Up Guide by Begin to help parents understand what their kids are learning and how to reinforce it.
With a research-backed curriculum, it helps kids build the Character skills they need to get their best start to achieving their fullest potential. Get started today!
