Love is an action word!
Jesus taught us to love, and He lived His life on earth as an example to us of what it means to be a servant. As a Christian parent, I believe it is important to teach our children to love and serve others.
Here are a few ideas for service projects that are great for families and children!
Operation Christmas Child
A ministry of Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child is a simple way to bring hope to hurting children around the world.
Our family participates each year, and it has been a real blessing! This project is super fun and simple! Just grab a shoe box, fill it with gifts, and drop it off at a local drop-off center during National Collection Week in November! Be sure you check out the website for guidelines and this year's dates/locations.
This can be really fun as your children help to choose gifts for the child who will receive the shoe box. They can also make a card or write a letter to place in the shoe box. And the most important thing to include with your shoe box gift? PRAYER!
If you REALLY want to make an imapact, you could organize a shoe box packing party with your church, homeschool group, or friends! Everyone brings shoeboxes, small gifts, wrapping paper, etc. and has fun working together filling and praying over the shoe boxes! We have done these packing parties before and had pizza and games.
Cards for Hospitalized Kids
This is something new to us! I just found this organization over the weekend, and we got so excited that we started making cards this morning!
Cards for Hospitalized Kids accepts homemade cards and distributes them to children in hospitals all over the United States.
Be sure you check out their website for card making rules and the mailing address.
We plan to make a few cards each day and send them in once a month. Big Brother is really excited to be able to bring joy to sick and injured children this way! While we are asked not to include religious messages or Scripture on the cards, he is praying over each card we make asking the Lord to help the child who will receive it.
I also like the idea of having a Card- Making Party! Invite friends for some fellowship while making cards for hospitalized children! Just have some simple snacks and provide lots of paper and art supplies. I think this would be especially fun for a Christmas party!
Rest Home Visits
When I was growing up, my brother and I, along with some friends, made monthly trips to a local rest home to sing and pray with residents. They looked so forward to our visits each month! We have also enjoyed Christmas caroling at several local rest homes. Sometimes we would just walk the halls singing and visiting different rooms. Sometimes we would also bring simple snacks and gifts. Most of the residents LOVED this! For many of them, it is a treat just to get to see children and young people. This would be a great way for us to teach our children to put love in action!
These are just a few simple ideas. Do you have more? I would love to hear your ideas for family friendly service projects!! Please leave a comment!
Be sure to connect with me on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook!!
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Jesus taught us to love, and He lived His life on earth as an example to us of what it means to be a servant. As a Christian parent, I believe it is important to teach our children to love and serve others.
Here are a few ideas for service projects that are great for families and children!
Operation Christmas Child
A ministry of Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child is a simple way to bring hope to hurting children around the world.
Our family participates each year, and it has been a real blessing! This project is super fun and simple! Just grab a shoe box, fill it with gifts, and drop it off at a local drop-off center during National Collection Week in November! Be sure you check out the website for guidelines and this year's dates/locations.
This can be really fun as your children help to choose gifts for the child who will receive the shoe box. They can also make a card or write a letter to place in the shoe box. And the most important thing to include with your shoe box gift? PRAYER!
If you REALLY want to make an imapact, you could organize a shoe box packing party with your church, homeschool group, or friends! Everyone brings shoeboxes, small gifts, wrapping paper, etc. and has fun working together filling and praying over the shoe boxes! We have done these packing parties before and had pizza and games.
Cards for Hospitalized Kids
This is something new to us! I just found this organization over the weekend, and we got so excited that we started making cards this morning!
Cards for Hospitalized Kids accepts homemade cards and distributes them to children in hospitals all over the United States.
Be sure you check out their website for card making rules and the mailing address.
We plan to make a few cards each day and send them in once a month. Big Brother is really excited to be able to bring joy to sick and injured children this way! While we are asked not to include religious messages or Scripture on the cards, he is praying over each card we make asking the Lord to help the child who will receive it.
I also like the idea of having a Card- Making Party! Invite friends for some fellowship while making cards for hospitalized children! Just have some simple snacks and provide lots of paper and art supplies. I think this would be especially fun for a Christmas party!
Rest Home Visits
When I was growing up, my brother and I, along with some friends, made monthly trips to a local rest home to sing and pray with residents. They looked so forward to our visits each month! We have also enjoyed Christmas caroling at several local rest homes. Sometimes we would just walk the halls singing and visiting different rooms. Sometimes we would also bring simple snacks and gifts. Most of the residents LOVED this! For many of them, it is a treat just to get to see children and young people. This would be a great way for us to teach our children to put love in action!
These are just a few simple ideas. Do you have more? I would love to hear your ideas for family friendly service projects!! Please leave a comment!
Be sure to connect with me on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook!!
Subscribe to Shield of Faith Homeschool by Email!
Link Ups I Join - Modest Monday, Hip Homeschool Blog Hop, From House to Home, Women Living Well, Fellowship Friday, Weekly Wrap Up -, TGI Saturday, Share It Saturday, The Homeschool Mother's Journal, Mom 2 Mom, Growing in Grace, Titus 2 Tuesday
Affiliate Link
Hey there! Visiting from CMB's Fellowship Friday....
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing these service projects ideas. I've been looking for ways for us to serve.