The Great Kindness Challenge

• Host a student-led KINDNESS MOVES! Kick-Off Assembly.
• Produce a school-wide unifying music video.
• Inspire a kindness flash mob.
• Choreograph a TikTok-style kindness dance and share it on social media.
• Empower students to teach the above-mentioned kindness dance to adults including teachers, administrators, parents and civic leaders.
• Lead a school-wide kindness dance parade.
• Coordinate a class-to-class dance relay.
• Highlight “Entertain someone with a happy dance” – a kind act on our checklist.
• Integrate a KINDNESS MOVES! theme to one of your spirit days featuring students in active wear.

• Invite a local Jazzercise studio to lead a fun 15-minute dance workout during the KINDNESS MOVES! spirit day.
• Incorporate cooperative games into PE time.
• Encourage giving compliments during recess and PE time.
• Host a compliment relay, where students divide into teams and run while giving compliments.
• Start each day with a positive & uplifting dance song.
• Display KINDNESS MOVES! posters throughout the school.
• Launch a KINDNESS MOVES! essay contest using the prompts “How has kindness moved you?” or “How will your kindness move others?”
• Organize a KINDNESS MOVES! door decorating contest.
• Invite each class to create a KINDNESS MOVES! sidewalk chalk design

Whether you’re a student, teacher, parent, or community leader, there are many ways to participate in the Great Kindness Challenge!

• Complete the Kindness Checklist: The challenge provides a checklist of kind actions that participants can complete during the week. The checklist includes simple acts like smiling at 25 people, helping someone in need, or giving a compliment.
  –  English Version
  –  Spanish Version
  –  Junior Edition
  –  Family Edition
  –  Create Your Own Checklist: Add unique actions that are specific to your school or community, making the challenge more personalized and impactful.

• A Home For Bird by Phillip Stead
• A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Phillip Stead
• Angelo by David Macaulay
• Because Amelia Smiled by David Ezra Stein
• Beyond The Laces by Bob Salomon and Rick Young
• Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson
• Evan Meets Bucky Lee by Julie Van Elswyk
• Fill a Bucket by Carol McCloud
• Fly Free! by Roseanne Thong
• Good People Everywhere by Linea Gillen
• Have You Filled A Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud
• Hey Little Ant by Phillip Hoose
• How Dinosaurs Play With Their Friends by Jane Yolen
• How Kind by Mary Murphy
• I See Kindness Everywhere by Shelley Frost
• I’m Gonna Like Me by Jamie Lee Curtis
• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
• It’s Time to Stand Up and Speak Up!: For Yourself and Others” by Bob Sornson
• Kindness Is Cooler Mrs. Ruler by Margorie Cuyler
• Let’s Talk about Being Helpful by Joy Berry
• Little Bird by Germano Zullo
• Loser by Jerry Spinelli
• Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe
• One Drop of Kindness by Jeff Kubiak
• Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed by Emily Robinson and Fumi Kosaka

• Pauline Pastrami Achieves World Peace by James Proimos
• Pinduli by Janell Cannon
• Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
• Random Acts of Kindness by Conari Press
• Rebels Of Kindness: How Loving-Care Transforms Self, Others & Planet by Aaron Ableman, Justin Wilkenfeld
• Somebody Loves Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli
• Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun: Having the Courage To Be Who You Are by Maria Dismondy
• Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth
• The Brand New Kid by Katie Couric
• The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins
• The English Roses by Madonna
• The Girl, the Fish and the Crown by Marilee Heyer
• The Golden Rule by Ilene Cooper
• The Great Kapok Tree by Lynn Cherry
• The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
• The Invisible Boy by Tracy Ludwig
• The Kindness Quilt by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
• The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
• The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
• The Nice Book by David Ezra Stein
• The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
• Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts
• Three Strong Women by Claus Stamm
• Under The Lemon Moon by by Edith Fine and Rene Moreno
• Wonder by R.J. Palacio

“Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.” (Anne Frank)
“How wonderful to think that no one need wait a moment before starting to improve the world.” (Anne Frank)

“No act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted.” (Aesop)

“A little consideration, a little thought for others, makes all the difference.”(Eeyore)

“The ideas that have lighted my way have been kindness, beauty and truth.” (Albert Einstein)

“When words are both true and kind they can change our world.” (Buddha)

“Love is the only force capable of turning an enemy into a friend.” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)

”Life’s most persistent and urgent question is “What are you doing for others?” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” (Desmond Tutu)

“To be kind is more important than to be right…many times what people need is not a brilliant mind that speaks but a special heart that listens…” (Unknown)

“Treat everyone with kindness and respect, even those who are rude to you…not because they are nice, but because you are.” (Unknown)

“Choose to be kind over being right and you’ll be right every time.” (Richard Carlson)

“Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” (The Little Prince)

“There is no greater joy nor greater reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone’s life.” (Sister Mary Rose McGeady)

“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” (Mother Teresa)

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars and change the world.” (Harriet Tubman)

“Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.” (Minor Myers, Jr.)

“Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” (Rumi)

“Nothing can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness.” (Leo Tolstoy)

“It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving. But like morning light, it scattered the night, and made the day worth living.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” (Dalai Lama)

“Just one act of kindness that you perform, may turn the tide of another person’s life.” (Unknown)

“The common mistake that bullies make is assuming that because someone is nice that he or she is weak. Those traits have nothing to do with each other. In fact, it takes considerable strength and character to be a good person.” (Mary Elizabeth Williams)

“The majority of us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor. But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give.“ (Leo Buscaglia)

“Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will live as one.” (John Lennon)

“Let today be a day to let Kindness rule all your actions.” (Jonathan Lockwood Hui)

“Seek to do good, and you will find that happiness will run after you.” (JamesFreeman Clarke)

“Kind words will unlock an iron door.” Turkish Proverb

“The greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being.” (Dalai Lama)

“Simple kindness may be the most vital key to the riddle of how human beings can live with each other in peace and care properly for this planet we all share.” (Bo Lozoff)

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” (Mother Teresa)

“In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy.” (Karl Reiland)

“If someone listens, or stretches out a hand, or whispers a kind word of encouragement, or attempts to understand a lonely person, extraordinary things begin to happen.” (Loretta Girzaitis)

“Whatever you say, say with kindness.” (Jonathan Lockwood Huie)

“Kind hearts are the gardens. Kind thoughts are the roots. Kind words are the flowers. Kind deeds are the fruits. Take care of your garden and keep out the weeds. Fill it with sunshine, kind words and kind deeds.” (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” (Helen Keller)

“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.” (Audrey Hepburn)

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” (Mohandas Gandhi)
“A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.” (William Arthur Ward)

“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” (Princess Diana)

“There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be to treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity.” (Nathanial Branden)

“A smile is the beginning of peace.” (Mother Teresa)