Do you remember the Acts of Kindness project we did with the Kindergartner class and seniors at Atria Senior Living Community back in April? First the Kindergartners made gifts for the seniors and then the seniors made thank you cards for the kids. It was a magnificent project, creating a bridge of love and kindness between the generations.
In our Acts of Kindness – The Seniors post, we promised that the seniors would be taking a field trip over to visit the Kindergartners in Ms. Fitzgerald’s class at Bicycle Path School. And this past week, they did! Finally the kids and the seniors could put a face to the wonderful treats they exchanged back in April.
Ms. Fitz’s class had a great surprise waiting for the seniors when they arrived. After the seniors were seated, filling up the school cafeteria, the children took to the stage singing songs especially chosen for their new friends. The kids opened their concert with “You Are My Sunshine” and “This Land Is Your Land” as the Atria residents tapped their feet and clapped to the rhythm. Then the kindergartners encouraged the seniors to join in singing. The concert ended with “The World is a Rainbow” and “One Small Voice”. After the performance, young and old alike were uplifted and ready to get to know one another!
While Linda, Madeline and Ms. Fitz handed out cupcakes and drinks, the kids paired up with the seniors. Moving their chairs close together, the kindergartners and seniors traded stories and conversation. Laughter, smiles and hugs were exchanged and new friendships were born.
Before the party was over, the kids had one more surprise in store. They broke out in a funny dance and the seniors were delighted. “We had a great time. We were dancing in our seats!” Mary, one of the seniors commented.
As the seniors filed out, all smiles, we noted their comments.
“The songs were wonderful! They put a lot of hard work into it.”
“It’s a nice treat. It gives you a lift. We don’t often get a chance to hear music played like that.”
“This was the best concert I’ve ever been to,” added James from Atria. “The event was so well organized. The time allotted in for treats and conversation was priceless.”
The parents of the kindergartners were grateful for this experience as well. Before the event, Ms. Fitz got several notes of gratitude from the parents explaining that they loved this lesson on kindness and that their children were so excited about meeting the seniors.
It was a lovely project for everyone involved, especially to the Chocology team. We are so grateful for this experience and are excited to announce that we will be working with the Kindergarten class each month next year to help them learn more about chocolate and how to cultivate kindness.
Applying the #ChocologyCares principals in your home or classroom is easy. The goal is to help kids become more aware of how they feel when they extend gratitude and kindness. We always feel uplifted when we are kind to someone else and helping children realize this is such a wonderful lesson on life.
Here are four steps you can take with your young ones to help them to become givers of kindness. The effort put into this is returned a thousand fold.
- Help them to understand the importance of extending kindness.
- Create a Kindness Project. There’s so many ways to do this. Cleaning up litter in your neighborhood park, taking a meal to a sick person or going to a senior living home and just visiting are all ways that you can help children learn that they can make a difference.
- Take Time to Share. Share your smile, your time and your kindness.
- Practice! Practice! Practice! Practice makes perfect and when we practice kindness it becomes a part of who we are. What a wonderful thing for kids to learn.
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Chocology Today 