Helping kids to understand donating to others

I firmly believe that we should all help others - period.  It doesn't have to be someone less fortunate than us.  Everyone needs help sometimes. In the Fall there are many opportunities for helping children learn to help others, then we can continue through the rest of the year looking for ways that they can be helpful to the community.

In November, we start with collecting for Operation Christmas Child.  The children understand that they like toys, and that other children will like getting toys, clothes, etc. as well.  So we begin bringing in toys, clothes, or toiletries for the boxes.  We sorted the toys, clothing, and toiletries into the 6 boxes (the number they chose this year).  We could see that we needed a little more.  I take the older children shopping to add a few more items to the boxes, and after $$ we have more to add to the boxes. 😏 This morning we packed the final time making sure that all the OCC boxes have enough items in them to make it fun, and have a "wow" item.  We prayed over the OCC boxes asking God to direct the right box to the right child.  Perhaps a child has been wishing for dinosaurs, or playdoh, or a new shirt, or a for a doll.  We drove them to the collection location - Horizon Church - so they can be taken to the big warehouse and then shipped out to where ever they are going. 

We purchased tracking labels so we will be able to see where they are going to.  That was all that was originally planned for today.  Dropping off the OCC Shoeboxes was busy enough I thought, until I heard that the T-Shirts for Turkeys pick up location for Brandon was going to be at the Bloomingdale Publix.....

Every year we have taken the children to purchase frozen turkeys 🦃and donate them when The Joy FM has their drop off locations.

They are shared with local food banks so that people can have turkeys with their Thanksgiving.  It is another easy way to share with children the idea of sharing with others.  After all, children by the age of 3 or 4 already know that they are going to have Turkey for Thanksgiving!  So as we were loading the Turkeys into the basket from the freezer at Publix, so easy to talk about how we want others to be able to have Turkeys for their Thanksgiving meal.  You should have seen their excited grins as they helped put the turkeys in the basket so we could go pay.  They also were excited to share that their parent helped buy the turkeys. So thankful that we have child care parents who are showing their children by example how to share with others. We purchased and dropped off the turkeys - 6! - before taking the OCC Shoeboxes simply because of windows for the Joy-FM and OCC Shoebox drop offs.

Our next donation for the month of November will be for Metropolitan Ministries.  They collect tons of food in their holiday tent to feed the homeless, or those that don't have enough income to feed their families, pay their bills, or whatever.  I have visited Metropolitan Ministries and seen the good work they do with the families that live there.  They train them to have better paying jobs so they can support their families, but they also have to attend parenting classes and other classes to help them.  Papa Joe and I toured that last year while taking an Infant Mental Health course.  Very inspirational to see all that they are doing.  We are collecting can foods and other non-perishables to take to Metropolitan Ministries next Tuesday.  We will take another trip in December to donate as well.

This is all we have collected as of this moment.  If anyone would like to contribute you are more than welcome to do so.  The table and box are directly inside the door.  

Now that was a lot to ask these toddlers and preschoolers to be kind of quiet, and kind of still going through stores and riding in Clifford (the big red van). 

So we returned to Nana's Learning Post for a short story time and lots of outside time to run off our energy. During story time I tried to bring out that warm feeling you get when you help others, to help them remember how it felt.  So I asked them, how did they feel when they brought the OCC shoeboxes to donate.  A few of them answered and said they felt sad.  When I inquired why they replied they wanted the toys.  What a good lesson 😉 that we don't have to have everything we want, and that we can share it with someone else.  We talked about how many toys they have at home, and the children these are going to may not have any toys at all.  Such a tough concept for American children! They all agreed that they wanted the other children to have some toys.  Then they started piping up that they felt good on the inside, and felt a warmth in their heart.  Which is what I had expected really since they were all excited and smiling when we dropped off the boxes.  Obviously they were conflicted when they dropped the OCC Boxes off.  So proud of them for working through the feelings and finding the good inside. Here is the tracking # so later you can track it on the OCC website. 000048535164 

A much needed wiggle break!  They had a great time "cooking or baking" in the mud kitchen, working in the sandbox, and making music in the music area -  we added a new deep tone wind chime 😁

They rode trikes, sometimes pulling someone in the trailer, worked together to fly the airplane teeter totter, and played chase, lots of chase!  So busy.

Yes, they are sleeping very well for rest time. 😴😴  Just about to wake them up.  

Menu for today is: Breakfast:  Multigrain Cheerios, Apples, Milk.  Lunch:  Homemade Macaroni and Cheese, Peas, Carrots (cooked for younger), Milk.  Snack:  Yogurt and Blueberries.