Free Printable Random Acts of Kindness Cards

Use these printable random acts of kindness cards to come up with ideas for the entire family to do on Random Acts of Kindness Day or all year long! With plenty of ideas for simple acts or kind gestures, there are more than enough ideas to help you spread kindness.

One of my goals for my kids is to teach them to be more kind and to do things for others whether it’s strangers, people they know or love, or even people they maybe don’t love quite as much.

This year we’re celebrating National Random Acts of Kindness Day (February 17th) by doing a bunch of random acts of kindness for people.

And I’ve created a list of ideas that you can use too, plus printable random acts of kindness cards that you can use with your own family.

But don’t worry, you don’t have to use these only on Random Acts of Kindness Day, these are great for doing kind things during Thanksgiving (it makes one of the best gratitude activities), during the Christmas season, or really all year long!

You could pick one thing to do each week – just do what works best for you and go for it!

The best part is that random acts of kindness are super accessible to everyone. Even the little things make a huge difference, so you can do something as simple as holding a door or saying kind words. I made a whole list of possibilities to get you started on some ideas.

And if you don’t want to celebrate Random Acts of Kindness Day, you can still do kind things all year long! I’ll be the first one to tell you that doing something for someone else is a great way to make yourself feel better too, all while making the world a better place!

Random Acts of kindness ideas

There are endless ways to be kind and kindness can look different for everyone, but I wanted to make a list of kind acts to get you started. I tried to put together some ideas that maybe you haven’t thought of before as well as ones you likely have.

I tried to keep them as general as possible so you can adjust them as you want. For example, if it says to write a nice note to your best friend you can easily write it to a neighbor or teacher.

Doing this list as a family is a simple way to teach kids about the importance of a kind gesture. With that in mind, I tried to make them all family-friendly and all fairly small things you can use them at home or in a school setting.

Some of these things require physical items, some require minimal money, and some just require time. The only thing they all require is kindness.

1. Donate extra food to a food bank
2. Give someone flowers
3. Give someone a compliment
4. Donate a book to your local library
5. Give a homeless person a meal
6. Donate a book to the pediatrician’s waiting room
7. Give a teacher a gift (with one of these teacher gift tags)
8. Offer to walk a neighbor’s or friend’s dog
9. Say thank you to the grocery store bagger or trash-man
10. Hold the door open for someone you don’t know
11. Rake someone’s leaves or shovel their driveway
12. Let someone go first
13. Call a friend or loved one out of the blue
14. Bring someone a treat. I recommend these snickerdoodles or these cookie Oreo brownie bars.
15. Clean the house
16. Give someone a thank you card
17. Paint someone a picture
18. Give someone a hug
19. Read a book to a younger sibling
20. Visit an animal shelter
21. Donate old blankets or towels to an animal shelter
22. Make kindness rocks and scatter them throughout the neighborhood
23. Donate old toys
24. Go to the fire or police department to say thank you with a yummy treat. This chocolate chip cookie pie is always a hit!
25. Give someone a “just because” card to let them know you care
26. Adopt an elderly person at a residential facility to visit regularly
27. Draw encouraging messages in chalk around your neighborhood
28. Clean without being asked
29. Pick up trash at a park or around the neighborhood
30. Make a care package. If you need ideas, this college care package post has lots!
31. Offer to pick up groceries for a friend or neighbor
32. Pack extra snacks for the playground to share with friends
33. Write a thank you note to the mail carrier
34. Donate items to a homeless shelter
35. Make and send care packages to soldiers overseas
36. Make a get-well card for someone
37. Make dinner for a new or lonely neighbor. This homemade taco meat with taco fixings is always a hit!
38. Donate last year’s winter gear to a child in need
39. Buy the meal for the person behind you at the drive-thru
40. Invite a friend or co-worker who doesn’t have family local over for dinner
41. Carry groceries for someone who has their hands full
42. Pack lunches for the homeless and hand them out
43. Set up a free hot chocolate stand on a cold day. This homemade hot chocolate is perfect for a crowd!
44. Bring soup to a sick friend. Homemade chicken noodle soup is always appreciated!
45. Send a photo collage to a friend or relative far away
46. Tip your server extra
47. Bring a bottle of water or a warm drink to the school cross guard. I know ours love this spiced apple cider!
48. Leave encouraging sticky notes around town
49. Send thank you note to community worker
50. Take a friend to the movies
51. Donate diapers to a women’s shelter
52. Zoom with a grandparent
53. Donate holiday decorations to a shelter
54. Bring treats to a soccer game- without being asked
55. Buy school supplies for a child in need
56. Donate gently used toys to a women’s shelter
57. Offer to bring dinner for a family with a new baby. Make it something easy that can feed them for a day or two like this baked ziti.
58. Have a yard sale and donate the proceeds
59. Play board games with the elderly at a residential facility
60. Host a neighborhood cookout
61. Fill someone’s expired parking meter
62. Give your seat to someone else
63. Buy extra groceries to donate. Make it even more fun by doing this supermarket sweep game!
64. Plant a tree
65. Share your lunch
66. Return someone else’s shopping cart
67. Give new crayons to the children’s hospital
68. Donate toothbrushes to a local daycare or shelter
69. Watch a friend’s or relative’s kids so they can go out
70. Help fold laundry
71. Send a gift card to a young family
72. Leave small businesses a positive review
73. Like your friend’s posts on social media
74. Write a positive little card for a family member
75. Leave money on a vending machine
76. Write an appreciation email for a staff member
77. Fill a friend’s locker with a fun surprise like this out of the blue gift or one of these orange gift ideas.
78. Volunteer at a soup kitchen
79. Write a thank you note to an old teacher
80. Recycle old grocery bags

Free Printable Random Acts of Kindness Cards

I even made a cute printable to go along with the list above. I made the list into free kindness cards that can get put into a bucket or jar (kind of like this boredom busters jar). Grab one a day or try to complete the whole jar as a family during kindness week.

You can get the free download at the bottom of this post.

Random Acts of kindness just for kids

While some of the things on the list above kids can do by themselves, I wanted to make sure that there was a list specifically for kids. This is great if you want to do a kid’s jar or want to put them into school.

Here’s a good place to start on a kid’s act of kindness list.

1. Smile at a stranger
2. Eat lunch with someone new
3. Offer to help someone with homework
4. Play with a sibling
5. Pick up toys
6. Hold the door open for a stranger
7. Ask someone how they are doing
8. Help someone practice a sport
9. Write a card to an older relative
10. Help cook dinner
11. Clean your room
12. Facetime a friend
13. Like a friend’s post
14. Follow different people in your grade
15. Help a teacher clean up
16. Donate old toys to younger siblings or friends
17. Put away your clothes
18. Buy mom flowers or draw her a picture
19. Say thank you to your teachers
20. Say hi to someone new at school

Random Acts of Kindness That Do Not Cost Money

If you’re looking for random acts of kindness that don’t cost money, just remember they don’t have to be huge acts to still make someone’s day!

Here are some of our favorite ideas:

1. Give someone a compliment
2. Offer to walk a neighbor’s or friend’s dog
3. Say thank you to the grocery store bagger or trash-man
4. Hold the door open for someone you don’t know
5. Rake someone’s leaves or shovel their driveway
6. Give someone a thank you card
7. Adopt an elderly person at a residential facility to visit regularly
8. Pick up trash at a park or around the neighborhood
9. Write a thank you note to the mail carrier
10. Carry groceries for someone who has their hands full
11. Give your seat to someone else
12. Return someone else’s shopping cart
13. Watch someone’s children so they can go out
14. Leave small businesses a positive review
15. Like your friend’s posts on social media
16. Write an appreciation email for a staff member
17. Write a thank you note to an old teacher
18. Recycle old grocery bags
19. Make a get-well card for someone
20. Draw or paint someone a picture

How to Make Your Random Acts of Kindness List

Best part about these lists is that they are just suggestions, or a starting point. You can add to or take away any of them to make it perfect for your situation. I’ve given 80+ ideas to get you started.

You know your situation better than I do, so while my list is pretty generic to cater to the masses, your list can be specific to you and your family.

So if you have teenagers maybe they can say nice things on social media or befriend someone lonely at school. Or preschoolers who can draw a picture for their teachers.

Whatever your situation is you can decide for yourself what works best!

FAQs

More Fun Family Activities

If you need more things to do as a family, check out these great family activity ideas!

• Family interview questions – fun questions to ask your immediate and extended family to get to know them better!
• Family night ideas – tons of great family night ideas including ideas from A to Z!
• Gratitude jar ideas – creating a gratitude jar is a great idea for a family night or month!
• Scripture cookies – use this fun activity to do a scripture scavenger hunt and make cookies along the way!

Get the Free Printable Cards

As I mentioned, I made a printable that has a whole sheet of good deeds that you can do as a family (or on your own). Simply print on white card stock, cut, and then use the free printables whenever you want to encourage your family to do something nice for others!

Enter your first name and email address below to get the free printable.

If you’d prefer to not provide your email address, you can get a copy in my shop here.

You’ll receive a copy to your email shortly after that includes a 5-page PDF:

• Two sheets of random acts of kindness cards with a green background (shown below)
• Two sheets of kindness cards with a pink background (shown in the images above).
• Use policy – personal use only, no commercial license

If you can’t see the form below, click here to get to the form to enter your info.