What’s inside this article: A review of The Kindness Elves, an elf on the shelf alternative. Check out how you can implement a family Christmas tradition that teaches children to be kind, show empathy and gratitude.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.
If you’re looking for a new family tradition for this upcoming holiday season, why not try the kindness elves?
These adorable wooden elves are an alternative to the Elf on the Shelf that actually give kids life lessons in empathy and gratitude.
Are you a teacher? There is also a classroom bundle!
Join thousands of other teachers in using our Kindness Elves resources to promote positivity, empathy and cooperation in the classroom, curriculum and school community.
Let’s make this world a kinder, more considerate, and tolerant place, one classroom at a time! Let the Kindness Elves be part of the story by bringing the magic of kindness to everyday life at school!
Build Empathy and Gratitude this Holiday Season with Kindness Elves
Helping Others & Kindness Matters
Every Friday, my 8-year-old finishes up for the week at noon, and he’s sent home with a brown bag lunch. It’s the same lunch every week – a turkey sandwich, with mayo and mustard on the side, a small carton of milk, a banana, and an oatmeal raisin cookie.
It just so happens, that we also have a mother-son lunch date every Friday since it’s the perfect opportunity for some one-on-one time. Plus, he’s not much of a sandwich eater anyways. So, the paper bag lunches were going to waste.
Then one Friday my son came up with the perfect idea. He said, “Can we stop on the way home and give my lunch to one of the homeless?” And that began our new tradition.
Every Friday we find someone to give his lunch to before we head out for our mother-son time.
That very first day he gave away his lunch, he talked non-stop for the rest of the day about how good it made him feel to help somebody else and how he hoped it made the man we gave the lunch to feel good, too.
He also insisted that from now on, he wanted to do as much as possible to help other people.
I began searching online for other ways we could incorporate acts of kindness into our lives, and this is when Google introduced me to the Kindness Elves.
What Are The Kindness Elves?
Similar to Elf on the Shelf, Kindness Elves arrive in December.
Only, unlike their mischievous counterparts, they encourage kids to take part in daily acts of kindness for their family, friends, and community.
Each day, kids wake up to find their Kindness Elves hiding somewhere around the home. They’ll be hiding with a suggestion for an act of kindness for that day (included in their Christmas bundle)
The elves even have their own magic house that has a room where they create their act of kindness cards, a room for mixing kindness potions, and a working mailbox where your child will send and receive Kindness Elf mail.
P.S. They ship internationally!
The Kindness Elves Christmas Bundle
The Christmas bundle comes with two kindness elves of your choice – they all have different personalities that you can read about on their website.
Plus, their magic house, the Story of the Kindness Elves, a digital Christmas download, and the Kindness Elves accessories pack.
The whole set is adorable.
The Christmas ePack
- 12 Fun Christmas Activities to do with the children
- 12 Acts of Kindness
- A Kindness Diploma
- 12 Printable Acts of Kindness Heart Cards
- Printable Kindness Elves Writing Paper and Envelopes
- The Complete Set of Printable Kindness Elves Cards
- 20 Extra Christmas – themed Activity Suggestions
The Kindness Elves Accessories Pack
- 50 Acts of Kindness Cards
- The Little Book of Big Kindnesses
- Mini Postcards for the Kindness Elves to write to the children
- 8 Sheets of Stickers
- Bottle of Magic Sprinkles
Kindness Elf Advent Calendar
The kindness elf advent calendar comes free with every purchase. It includes a random act of kindness for each day of December as you count down to Christmas.
More Kindness Elf Ideas
Even though your Kindness Elf will come with tons of ideas for acts of kindness – you can make up your own, too!
If you’re stuck for kindness elf ideas check out these 50 kindness elf ideas from Teaching Mama
More on Kindness
Looking for more resources to help you teach your kids about kindness?
Read: 10 Ways to Teach Kindness to Children
Still Christmas Shopping?
Before you go – check out this list of gift ideas I curated for autistic children.