Service Project: Spread love and happiness by putting hearts on random windshields
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cost: $5
Duration: 30 minutes
Lesson(s) learned: Surprise someone with a loving gesture for Valentine’s Day and fill their heart happiness
How we did it:
We love Valentine’s Day! It’s all about doing things for those you love. It can also be about surprising a total stranger with a little Valentine’s Day inspired gift on their windshield.
Addie and I have been reading a lot of books about random acts of kindness. The two that we read frequently are Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed and Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler. These books are great and I highly recommend them! The basic premise of these books is that you can make a positive difference just by doing small, kind acts for other people. I love how it emphasizes the importance of looking outside of your own needs and to consider what you can do for others. Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed does a great job of showing how your one, random act of kindness can have a ripple effect. Your good deed not only positively impacts the person you did it for but also has the potential to impact the entire world. Does that seem far-fetched? Read the book with your child and it won’t seem so far-fetched.
We decided to take advantage of the Valentine’s Day sale at our local craft store and Addie picked out a great project aimed at spreading some love around our community. We found a package of foam hearts on sale for less than $5! We talked about the project and I asked Addie how she would feel if we came out to our car to find a decorated heart on our windshield. She told me that it would make her happy. Hearts for Happiness! We instantly had our project name!
Addie had some of her friends over later that week and we decided to enlist them in this fun project. I gathered our supplies and sat the children down to read them Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler. I would like to say that we made it all the way through the book but that wouldn’t be true. The girls were anxious to get started!
This project is so easy that the four girls, ages 2 ½ to 3 ½ needed very little help (once it was demonstrated to them). Here is what we did;
What you will need to make the Hearts for Happiness :
15 red foam hearts
15 pink foam hearts (smaller in size than the red ones)
Crayons, markers, glitter….anything you want to use to decorate the cards with
Glue
Note: If you don’t have foam hearts, don’t worry. It’s very easy to make hearts out of plain, colored paper.
First, gather all your supplies for the project. Since the girls are too young to write, I wrote, “Happy Valentine’s Day” on the bottom of the smaller pink hearts. If you have older kids that are capable of writing, or at least copying your example, have them do this part. After prepping the hearts, I simply put all the supplies in the middle of the table, demonstrated how to glue the smaller pink heart to the middle of the larger red heart and then encouraged them to color the pink heart.
The steps are as easy as 1, 2, 3! Have your children;
1) Glue a smaller pink heart to a larger red heart
2) Decorate the pink heart
3) Let the glue dry. Voila, you’re done!
Once the glue on the hearts has dried, head out to deliver some love!
I love how this project is easy to do but is so impactful. Just like our books talk about, little surprises can make a big difference in someone’s day. Think about the smile you would get on your face if you found a heart on your windshield (clearly decorated by a small child). I’m sure that would bring a smile to your face! You would probably continue to wear that smile throughout the day, positively impacting everyone that had the pleasure of enjoying it. Who knows, perhaps you would feel inspired to do something kind for someone else. See how quickly and easily kindness can spread?
Have fun creating your Hearts for Happiness!
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