Think Your Kids Are too Young to Volunteer? Think Again.
It’s never too early (or too late) to expose children to the benefits of volunteering.
Launch your kids into the world with a desire to give back, and the need to be part of a healthy community. They’ll thank you for it. Below are some developmentally appropriate ways to start fostering a lifelong love of service.
Ages 2 – 4
Tap in to your toddlers’ love of sorting things by size and putting them into containers. At our Thanksgiving Project Family night, kids as young as two help fill bags with nutritious food to help families in need celebrate Thanksgiving.
In the first two weeks of June we’ll be hosting our Community Baby Shower Family Volunteer Night to assemble kits of supplies and resources for families in need. To sign up with your kids, email us at volunteer@unitedwaymassbay.org.
Preschool
At this age, kids are starting to understand that there’s a world outside of their own. They also love to be “helpers”. The crew pictured here worked with UPS to fill backpacks with school supplies for kids.
Assemble kits for kids.
Elementary School
Even kindergartners understand that some kids have more than others. At this age, they also have a strong sense of fairness. Encourage them to donate books and organize book drives to ensure that all kids enter kindergarten excited about reading.
Talk to us about helping your kids start a donation drive!
Middle School
Middle school can be a tough time for some kids. Help build self-esteem with opportunities that utilize leadership skills. At our Family Leadership Volunteer night, kids helped put together bookshelves, cubbies, paintings, and brain building kits to help complete our makeover of the Egleston Square YMCA.
Sign up for an upcoming Family Volunteer Night.
High School
High school is a time when kids are spreading their wings and discovering their passions. This is also the age when they can organize their friends, church groups or sports teams to amplify their contribution, through team events like our Literacy Nights, where we play life-sized board games and read stories to kids, or creating a Giving Box for a family that is struggling in our community. Giving Box Opportunities are available year-round. Click here to sign up.
Kids 16 and older can also start using our Volunteer HQ to find independent volunteer opportunities that interest them, from serving dinner at a homeless shelter to tutoring at an after school program.
For information about these and other volunteer opportunities for your family, contact us at volunteer@unitedwaymassbay.org.