Volunteer opportunities with preschool-age children

[ourbabygirl]

I'm looking for some things I can do with my kids (ages 3 and 5) to help encourage them to help others and pay it forward. We have an organization called Feed my Starving Children where we can go and pack meals for people in other countries, and the minimum age for a child to participate is 5, so I'll probably do that a few times with DD while her brother is in daycare. I was also thinking of volunteering at a local food shelf, maybe putting items on shelves, but I'm not sure if they generally allow kids this young to help (with me, of course), and it also looks like the minimum time required is 4-12 hours a month, with a year-long minimum.
I'll also look into signing her up for Daisies or Brownies when she gets into kindergarten next year, as I believe they do some service-based activities. Unfortunately our church doesn't have anything organized to get kids this young to volunteer and help out in the community. I've also thought of having our family go and serve meals at a soup-kitchen type place, but I'm not sure my 3 year old would be able to help/ wouldn't be more of a distraction.

Are there certain things you do with your kids to encourage them to serve and help the less fortunate in the community?

Thanks for your help!

[abh5e8]

i've found packing type projects are great for that age. think Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes and expand from there. we pack bags to hand out to homeless people from our car, boxes to send to soliders currently deployed, angle tree (shopping for a child with incarcerated parent) and also buy food and take to food bank donation stations.

you can do these things just with your family or invite friends to get together and help. like everyone brings items and you pack and deliver one day.

another good option is nursing home visits. we adopted a grandma that we visited every wed night. we were quite sad when she passed and have not yet resumed this exactly, but may in the future. other options would be just going to visit. they love to read books (and my kids love to listen!) or make and take them cards and other art work. or sing songs or preform skits, as they get a bit older.

[hellokitty]

At that age, I think it is too young for an organized volunteer group like that. We do social service projects through our moms club, and I am happy for the exposure through that. My older kids are in school, they they often have special projects/fundraisers for the needy as well. We do things like donate things on our own for local needy families.

[cookiemonster80]

Dd1and I go to a nearby assisted living/ nursing home fairly frequently. I dressed her up at Halloween and we passed out oranges, Christmas made cards to pass out etc. it's something she can do that makes a perhaps lonely persons day a bit brighter. I do a lot of prep with her so she's not sacred of wheelchairs, etc and knows exactly what to expect although now that we ve been a few times she walks right in and finds someone to 'pat' and say hi to.


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[american_mama]

I knew a mom who delivered meals through Meals on Wheels with her preschooler. She had only one child, though. She brought meals to the doors of various housebound people, usually elderly, and I believe interacted with them briefly at the door (i.e. she didn't just leave the meal outside the door). She had some apartment complexes, so there was some climbing of stairs involved.

I would think some homeless shelters locally might need hygenie kits (travel size toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, washcloth). The Red Cross might also need them for victims of fire or natural disaster. You might even combine it with a drive to collect the travel size items from friends or family who travel often or just want to contribute. A drive and the packing of kits would be pretty easy for the kids.

For Girl Scouts, a kindergartener would be put in Daisies. In my experience, that age group does not typically do tons of community service. I'd rely more on the other suggestions given here. I did know a 4th grader in Girl Scouts who did a range of informal service tasks, like walking a dog for an elderly neighbor. Raking leaves or shoveling snow are other neighborly tasks for someone sick, elderly, etc. However, those are jobs that would be mostly you doing the work with your 3 and 5 year old "helping."

[wellyes]

I think by far the most valuable thing you can do is to do a lot of volunteering yourself. Be a role model. My kids know that I go to meetings at least one night a week with this organization or that one- I talk about the things we're doing - they see it's a priority that is an important part of our family's identity.

My daughter is in Daisies and they do some service type projects. Coloring pictures to be distributed at the elderly home, planting flowers at the playground. Most of them are too young to reliable count on to act calm and polite and poised around adults they don't know for any length of time. I am a troop leader and will be with these girls for years, and I have plenty of ideas for what they'll do down the road. But at this age, most of the projects we do are "explain who we're helping, make something, it gets delivered" versus hands-on help.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I agree w pp that it's great for them to know you are volunteering vs them having to volunteer with you. I do most of my volunteering at school and was fortunate enough to be able to take ds2 with me.

Is there anything you could tackle at your church? Repaint the nursery, if you have one? Reorganize the toys (pull out broken ones...)? Organize a social event?

I know you want to help the less fortunate but people do value service projects in many forms.

[infomama]

We always do things for our animal shelter. We have to do these things at home and take them up to the shelter since they have strict rules about age and when they can be with the animals (neither dd is old enough yet). Most recently we decided to make little rice filled socks for motherless animals that arrive at the shelter. Maybe your shelter has some ideas for younger kids.