Engaging Volunteer Opportunities for Kids

Give your daughter a gift she won’t soon forget, the satisfaction and joy that comes from serving others. Finding a cause that your family can work together to support will bring your family together, develop self confidence and empathy in your daughter and strengthen your community at the same time.

Read on to find out about opportunities for volunteering, whether your girls are little, tweens or teens and get involved today.

Ways to Volunteer for Families

• Create a Volunteer Opportunity

If your family already has a cause near and dear to your heart then you can create your own volunteer opportunity and inspire others to get on board. Whether you go full steam ahead and create a family nonprofit and serve the cause in big ways, or you simply create a lemonade stand with a purpose, there is no wrong way to volunteer in your community. Finding ways to support a cause that matters to your family such as foster care, cleaning up a favorite park or providing disaster relief to a country in distress will give your family a chance to be united with a passion for helping others.

• Join with an Organization

Often the easiest way to get started volunteering with kids in your community is to partner with organizations that are already making a difference. Sites like Kids That Do Good can connect you with local volunteer organizations. Sometimes the volunteer opportunity can take place at home, making security blankets for children in hospitals with Project Linus, for example. Sometimes the volunteering will take you to new locations like volunteering with the Special Olympics or providing food to those in need with Feeding America. You’d be surprised at how many organizations exist in your area and are in desperate need of volunteers, including kid friendly volunteer opportunities.

• Be Spontaneous

Serving doesn’t have to mean big time requirements or fundraising. Volunteering can be spontaneous — ask your kids to look out for people and places in their community that look like they could use help and then do something about it. If you notice that your neighborhood has a lot of trash in the curbs, pick a night to go out with trash bags and take care of it! Others will see you and be inspired by your willingness to be a leader in your community. Do you have an assisted living center near you? Call and ask if you can drop by and visit with the elderly or write letters and draw pictures for the residents. To be successful at volunteering as a family it’s important that you can make it work with your crazy schedules and your kids ages so being on the look out for opportunities to serve all around you can be the easiest way to get involved.

The Benefits of Volunteering As a Family

When you start volunteering while your kids are still young, that type of service will become a part of your family culture and your daughter will grow up naturally looking for ways to serve. Volunteering can teach:

• The power of one person! Your daughters self confidence will blossom as she see’s that she is making a difference! It’s empowering to know that even as a child they can make a difference in the world and impact their community for good.
• Volunteering builds self confidence. Your child will learn new skills, try new things and experience the sense of achievement that comes from volunteering.
• Your daughter will gain a heightened sense of responsibility. The responsibility for themselves, knowing that others count on them, and the responsibility of being a part of a community and doing their part to make it better. If you volunteer for a cause that’s far away, your daughter will gain a sense of the responsibility to become a global citizen and what that means to her.
• You will learn how to sacrifice. Whether it is a sacrifice of time or a sacrifice of their own belongings, volunteering reminds our kids that their are things more important than our stuff, our TV schedule and our down time.
• Make new friends! Your daughter will get to meet other families like yours and the friendship that comes from being committed to the same cause is a great basis for true friends.
• Your daughter will learn that volunteering is fun. That service and helping others and even doing dirty work for a good cause can be a fun way to spend their time.

10 Ways You can Volunteer With Kids Today

1. Go through their clothes and toys together. Ask them what they are willing to donate to kids in need and taking them to a local donation spot.
2. Ask an elderly neighbor if you can be their yard care service. Offer to rake leaves, weed garden beds or mow the lawn.
3. Coordinate a garage sale in your neighborhood and pick a cause to donate all the proceeds to.
4. Bring trash bags and go for a walk. Invite friends and make it more fun. See who can collect the most trash.
5. Sign up for a local family 5K that supports a cause you care about.
6. Go door-to-door (to trusted neighbors or family) and collect canned goods to take to the local food bank.
7. Prepare a song, or memorize poems to share for a special program at the assisted living center.
8. Volunteer your family to help at a city festival, a school carnival or a library program.
9. Write thank you notes to police officers or firemen
10. Offer to babysit for a family that could use the help and have your kids help plan fun for the kids they help babysit.

Volunteer Opportunities Near Me

Check out one of these websites for more information on organizations near you that you can partner with to volunteer as a family.

Kids That Do Good

Just Serve

Volunteer Match