40 Winter Acts of Kindness for Kids, Plus a Free Winter Kindness Bucket List

Good winter acts of kindness for kids are small, cold-weather jobs they can actually do: clear a neighbor’s steps with a grown-up, hang a bird feeder, write a snow message on a car windshield, carry a warm drink to the crossing guard, or call a grandparent on a dark evening. Winter gives kids more reasons to help than any other season, because the weather makes everyday things harder for the people around them.

Below are 40 winter acts of kindness for kids, grouped by the parts of winter that actually happen: snow days, cold snaps, winter break at home, the long January stretch at school, indoor days when nobody can go out, and the February run-up to Random Acts of Kindness Week. After the acts there is a 30-item winter kindness bucket list you can print, free for home and classroom use. Every act has an easier version, and the easier version counts.

This list picks up where December leaves off. For one act a day from December 1 to 24, use the kindness advent calendar, and for holiday-specific ideas, the random acts of Christmas kindness list has 60. Everything here works from the last week of December through the end of February, holiday or not.

One rule for the whole list: the kid does the act. A grown-up can drive, hold the ladder, and supervise the shovel, but the child should be the one knocking on the door, writing the note, or handing over the cup. That is how it sticks.

Snow day acts of kindness

School is canceled, the street is white, and everyone is home. These turn a snow day into something a kid can be proud of by lunchtime. Shoveling and salting always happen with a grown-up outside too.

1. Shovel a neighbor’s walk with a grown-up. Pick the older neighbor, the one with the new baby, or the house where the car never leaves. Do their steps and the path to the mailbox before your own driveway. Kids can use a small shovel and stick to the light snow; let the adult take the heavy, wet stuff. Easier: Clear just their front steps.

2. Salt or sand someone’s steps. Once the walk is clear, a kid can scatter ice melt or sand on the steps and the slick spot by the car. Use a pet-safe ice melt if the neighbor has a dog. Easier: Leave a small bag of salt or sand on their porch with a note.

3. Write a snow message. Use a stick or a gloved finger to write “Hi!” or “Have a good day” in the snow on a neighbor’s lawn, or in the frost on your own car for whoever walks by. Easier: Draw a big smiley face in the snow facing the street.

4. Build a snowman for someone who can see it. Put it where the neighbor who stays inside can see it from the window. Give it a sign: “Made for you.” Easier: A small one on their porch railing.

5. Make a pine cone bird feeder. Spread a pine cone with shortening or sunflower seed butter, roll it in birdseed, and hang it where you can watch from inside. Birds have a hard time finding food under snow. If you start, try to keep it stocked until the cold breaks. Costs money, about $5 for birdseed. Easier: Scatter a handful of seed on a cleared patch of ground.

6. Clear the snow off the mailbox and the path to it. The mail carrier is out in this too. Dig a path wide enough for them to reach the box without wading. Easier: Brush the snow off the top of your own mailbox.

7. Dig out the fire hydrant on your block. If firefighters need it, they need it fast, and a buried hydrant costs them time. Do this with a grown-up and stay off the road. Easier: Clear enough that the top is visible from the street.

8. Bring a sled to share. If you have two sleds and a kid at the hill has none, offer one for a run or two. Easier: Offer a turn on yours.

Cold snap acts of kindness

Some winter weeks are not pretty, just cold and dark. Since the clocks fell back on November 1, it is dark by five in a lot of the country, and that is when people who live alone feel it most. These are for those weeks.

9. Check on an older neighbor. On the coldest day of the week, knock with a grown-up and ask: “Is your heat working? Do you need anything from the store?” Write down your phone number for them. For more ways to look out for the people on your street, see acts of kindness for neighbors. Easier: Wave at their window and make sure they wave back.

10. Make the “it’s dark at 5” call. Pick one grandparent or older relative and call them at five o’clock, when the evening gets long. Ask what they had for lunch and what they are watching. Ten minutes is plenty. Easier: Send a short video saying good night.

11. Bring a warm drink to the crossing guard. They stand in the cold twice a day for your safety. A cup of cocoa or tea from home, in a cup they can keep or toss. Costs money, about $1 from your kitchen. Easier: Say “thank you, stay warm” by name on your way past.

12. Give the bus driver a hand warmer and a note. Drivers warm the bus before you get on. A pack of hand warmers with “Thanks for driving in the cold” written on it. Costs money, about $2. Easier: A thank-you card on the first freezing morning.

13. Collect hats, gloves and socks. Go through the family closets for warm things that still have life in them and wash them. Call a local shelter or coat drive first to ask what they need most. Easier: Give one pair of new socks. For a fuller kit, read what to put in a blessing bag and build one together.

14. Put out a water dish for animals. When ponds and puddles freeze, birds and outdoor animals cannot find water. A shallow dish of fresh water, refilled when it freezes over. Easier: Refill it once a day before school.

Winter break acts of kindness for kids at home

The gap between the holidays and the first day back is long, and the house can get loud. These keep kids busy and give the grown-ups a breath. Most take less than an hour.

15. Write thank-you notes for gifts, the real way. One card per giver, with one sentence about how you are using the gift. Grandparents keep these. Easier: Draw a picture of you using the gift and send a photo of it.

16. Sort out toys to give away. Now that new things have arrived, pick out toys in good shape that you have outgrown. Check with a shelter, a children’s waiting room or a family you know before dropping them off. Easier: Pick three.

17. Do one chore nobody asked for. Unload the dishwasher, match the socks in the laundry basket, or put the boots by the door in pairs. Then don’t mention it. Easier: Make your bed without being told.

18. Take the recycling out after the holidays. The boxes pile up in late December. Break them down and carry them out with a grown-up. Easier: Flatten the boxes and stack them by the door.

19. Plan a “family kindness day.” Kids pick three small acts from this list, write them on the calendar, and lead the family through them on one day of break. Easier: Pick one act for the family to do after dinner.

20. Help a younger sibling or cousin with something hard. Zipping a coat, tying boots, building the snow fort. Show them how instead of doing it for them. Easier: Read them one book.

21. Start the new year with one kindness goal. Write down one small thing you will do for someone every week in January. The New Year kindness challenge has a ready-made January calendar if you want one. Easier: Say your goal out loud at dinner on January 1.

The January lull at school

After break, school feels long. The holidays are gone, recess is cold or indoors, and spring is far off. These are for kids to do at school during the gray weeks, and teachers can use them as a class.

22. Hold the door in coat season. Kids come in with backpacks, boots and armfuls of gear. Stand at the door for a minute and hold it for whoever is behind you. Easier: Hold it for one person.

23. Help someone with stuck zippers and boots. In younger grades, getting dressed for recess takes forever. Offer to help the kid struggling with a zipper or a glove. Easier: Hand them the glove they dropped.

24. Invite someone into the indoor recess game. Indoor recess means small groups in a small room. Look for the kid without a group and ask them to play. Easier: Make room at your table.

25. Thank the custodian on a snow day back. After a storm, they were in early clearing the walks and drying the floors. A note or a drawing, delivered to the office. Easier: Say thank you when you pass them in the hall.

26. Write a note to a classmate who was out sick. January is a sick month. A card saying “We missed you” on their desk when they come back. Easier: Say “Glad you’re back” at the door.

27. Clean up the boot area without being asked. The cubbies and mats by the door get wet and messy fast. Line up boots, hang up a dropped scarf. Easier: Pick up one thing on the floor.

28. Tell a teacher what you liked this week. A sticky note on their desk on a Friday: one thing you liked from class. Teachers feel the January slump too. Easier: Say it as you leave.

Indoor kindness for stuck-inside days

Too cold, too icy, or too sick to go out. These can all be done from the kitchen table, and many end up in the mail, which gets kids outside for a minute anyway.

29. Make cards for a nursing home. Bright colors, big letters, a simple message like “Thinking of you this winter.” Call the home first and ask how they like to receive them. Easier: Make one card for one person.

30. Record a video for someone far away. A song, a joke, a tour of the snow fort through the window. Send it to a grandparent, aunt or old neighbor. Easier: A ten-second “hi, we miss you.”

31. Bake something for a neighbor. Cookies or muffins with a grown-up, packed on a plate with a note. Ask about allergies before you drop them off. Costs money, about $5 in ingredients. Easier: Decorate a store-bought cookie with your own frosting and a name.

32. Write a kindness note for the family. Hide notes in coat pockets, lunch boxes, or under a pillow. “You were funny today.” “Thanks for the cocoa.” Easier: One note on the bathroom mirror.

33. Make a winter kindness jar. Write small acts on slips of paper, fold them, and put them in a jar. Pull one every stuck-inside day. Easier: Write five slips and start there.

34. Let someone else pick the movie or game. On a long day inside, that matters more than it sounds. Easier: Let them pick first for one round.

35. Sort the coat closet for donation. Coats that are too small, gloves without a match (save those for crafts), boots still in good shape. Wash and bag them for a coat drive. Easier: Sort one shelf.

February: getting ready for Random Acts of Kindness Week

By February, kids are ready for something to look forward to. Valentine’s Day leads straight into Random Acts of Kindness Week, February 14 to 20 in 2027, with Random Acts of Kindness Day on Wednesday, February 17. These get kids warmed up.

36. Start a 14-day countdown on February 1. One act a day, ending on Valentine’s Day. The 14 days of kindness post has a ready-made calendar kids can follow. Easier: One act every other day.

37. Make a valentine for someone outside your class. The lunch staff, the bus driver, the librarian, the neighbor who lives alone. Easier: One card for one grown-up at school.

38. Plan one act for RAK Day with a friend. Pick something together, like leaving thank-you notes on every classroom door. Doing it with a friend makes it easier to follow through. Easier: Pick one act each and tell each other how it went.

39. Make a “kindness wall” at home or school. Tape up a big piece of paper. Every time someone does something kind, they write it down. By the end of February it should be full. Easier: A list on the fridge.

40. Look back at what you did this winter. Count how many acts from this list your family or class finished, and pick the one you want to do again next year. Easier: Tell someone your favorite one.

The winter kindness bucket list (free to print)

Thirty winter acts in a single page. Print this section for the fridge or the classroom wall and tick them off from late December to the end of February. It is free for home and classroom use, no sign-up needed. Share it with other families and teachers too.

Snow and cold	At home	At school and in the neighborhood
☐ Shovel a neighbor’s steps (with a grown-up)	☐ Write a thank-you note for a gift	☐ Hold the door in coat season
☐ Salt or sand someone’s walk	☐ Give away three toys you’ve outgrown	☐ Help someone with a stuck zipper
☐ Write a snow message	☐ Do a chore nobody asked for	☐ Invite someone into an indoor recess game
☐ Build a snowman someone can see	☐ Help a younger kid with something hard	☐ Thank the custodian after a snow day
☐ Hang a pine cone bird feeder	☐ Bake something for a neighbor	☐ Write a “we missed you” note
☐ Clear the path to the mailbox	☐ Hide a kindness note in a coat pocket	☐ Tidy the boot area at school
☐ Dig out a fire hydrant (with a grown-up)	☐ Let someone else pick the movie	☐ Thank a teacher on a Friday
☐ Share your sled	☐ Call a grandparent at 5 o’clock	☐ Bring the crossing guard a warm drink
☐ Put out water for birds	☐ Make cards for a nursing home	☐ Make a valentine for someone outside your class
☐ Donate hats, gloves or socks	☐ Start a winter kindness jar	☐ Do one act on Random Acts of Kindness Day

If you finish all 30, write your own row. Kids are good at this: give them a blank line and see what they come up with.

Staying safe while being kind in winter

Winter kindness happens outside, in the cold, near ice and cars. A few rules keep it fun.

• A grown-up is outside for every shovel, salt and hydrant job. Kids shovel light snow with a kid-sized shovel. Adults take the heavy, wet snow and anything near the street or a plow route. Take breaks.
• Know the cold limit. If your school keeps recess inside because of the cold or wind chill, that is a good rule for outdoor kindness too. Hats, gloves, dry socks, and come in when fingers or toes start to hurt or go numb.
• Never on roofs, ice, or the road. No climbing to clear gutters or porches, no walking on frozen ponds, no digging out cars from the street side.
• Knock with a grown-up. Kids checking on neighbors should always have an adult with them, and only go to houses the family knows.
• Check allergies before food. Ask before giving anyone treats, and use seed butter or shortening instead of peanut butter for bird feeders made at school.

What to skip

Some winter kindness sounds nice and goes wrong. Leave these out.

• Shoveling without asking. Some neighbors want to do their own walk, or have someone coming. Knock first or ask the day before.
• Doing it for the photo. If the kid is posing with the shovel instead of using it, the act is about you. Take the picture after, or skip it.
• The adult doing all the work. If the parent writes the card and the child signs it, it is the parent’s act. Let the drawing be messy.
• Donating what nobody can use. Single gloves, stained coats, broken boots. Call the drive first and bring what is on their list.
• Feeding birds for a week and stopping. Birds come to rely on a feeder in the hardest weeks. If you start, keep it going through the cold.
• Turning it into a contest. Counting acts is fun. Comparing siblings on who did more is not.

Frequently asked questions

What are some winter acts of kindness for kids?

Shoveling a neighbor’s steps with a grown-up, hanging a bird feeder, writing a snow message, bringing the crossing guard a warm drink, calling a grandparent on a dark evening, and making cards for a nursing home. The list above has 40, grouped by snow days, cold snaps, winter break, school and indoor days.

What is a winter kindness bucket list?

It is a checklist of small, kind things to do over the winter, usually 20 to 30 items, that kids tick off from late December to the end of February. The one on this page has 30 items in three columns and is free to print for home or classroom use.

What can kids do for kindness on a snow day?

Clear a neighbor’s steps or the path to their mailbox with a grown-up, dig out a fire hydrant, build a snowman where someone stuck inside can see it, make a pine cone bird feeder, and share a sled at the hill. Keep shoveling light, take breaks, and come in when fingers get cold.

How do you do a winter kindness challenge with a class?

Print the bucket list for each student or post one big copy on the wall, and tick off a few acts a week from January through February. Indoor recess and the boot area are good places to start. Finish with Random Acts of Kindness Week in mid-February.

Where to go from here

Pick one act for the first cold morning this week: a warm drink for the crossing guard, or a five o’clock call to a grandparent. If you want the choosing done for you, the free daily kindness challenge gives your family one small act each day, all winter long. When December arrives, start with the kindness advent calendar, then come back here on December 26. For year-round ideas sorted by age, the kids’ kindness hub has more acts kids can do on their own.

Get one small act a day

Reading a guide is easy; changing your habits is hard. The free daily kindness challengesends one small act at a time so kindness becomes a practice, not a bookmark.

Start the daily challenge