Kindness Supplies for Acts of Kindness Road Trip

By Sheila @ Pennies of Time
March 31, 2015

This Spring Break, we took on a Kindness Quest Road Trip.

The purpose: spread acts of kindness wherever we were.

To do that more easily, I put together some basic, inexpensive supplies.

We did dedicate part of our budget for acts of kindness. This way, we were prepared to give more to those in need, add special bonuses to tips, pay for people behind us in line, or buy a special item on the spur of the moment to help someone else. And, you know what? We didn’t miss that money at all. We had more fun completing the acts of kindness than we could have with anything else we did with that money. Totally well spent!

We always have on hand a Kindness Kit. This is like having a snack bag ready to go at all times, except it is filled with oodles and oodles of kindness fun, supplies for acts of kindness (notecards, balloons, stickers). For us, this really works because if it is fun for us, we’ll be more excited about spreading acts of kindness. And, for real, if we are having fun, then our acts of kindness will be that much more effective in spreading fun and joy.

For our recent Kindness Quest Road Trip, we added a bit more. We added small toys to give away to distract cranky kids at restaurants, nice candles as thank you gifts, and other fun items like moustaches!

We also created a Kindness Meter based on the idea of a thermometer. Each time something kind was done, the meter went up. It worked VERY well in keeping motivation for kindness going and was easy to use and keep in the car. (see more about the Kindness Meter in Acts of Kindness Road Trip)

Supplies:

2 colors of ribbon
Poster board (I used foam board)
Scissors
Hot glue gun
Marker
Your own decorative elements

Directions:

Determine how tall you want your meter you want to be. My Kindness Meter was 18 inches from edge to edge of the foam board. I decided that the rising “temperature” should be about 12 inches.
After determining the height, cut holes or slits, on the ends of that length for the ribbon to slide through when the meter needs to rise or fall. I cut holes 3 inches from the top and 3 inches from the bottom.
Cut two lengths of ribbon (one of each color) slightly longer than the meter’s “temperature height.” The height I wanted was 12 inches. So, I cut my ribbons 14 1/2 inches long. (some overlap for space for glue)
With a glue gun, glue the ends of ONE side of the ribbon to another (as seen in the picture on the right below). DO NOT glue both ends of each ribbon together, yet. If you do, you won’t be able to slide the ribbon onto the meter.
Draw marks across the “rising” temperature area with a marker. I just did this randomly. You can be more scientific or exact. I just wanted enough to help us all see the progress of the meter as the kindness level increased.
Slide the ends of the ribbon into the slits, making sure that the part of the ribbon you want seen is facing outward.
Turn the Kindness Meter over and glue the remaining two ends together. Practice making the meter rise, making sure that the ribbon slides smoothly through the slits.
Optional: On the back, tape paper over the ribbon area to make sure that the ribbon doesn’t get caught on the backside.

Decorate it as you want. I used hot glue and GLITTER that matched the ribbon.

Kindness Quest Armor and Tools

For the rest of the supplies, I found a few things to jazz it up with a bit more fun.

“Key” bags filled with acts of kindness supplies, which I called “magical tokens.”
For the King Dad and Queen Mom: I used an old crown I had and a curtain for the Royal Robes.
For the Kindness Knights: I happeneduponaknight costume at a local party supply store. Here is how we tied the costume into the Kindness Quest.
- Sword of Generosity
- Helmet of Discernment
- Shield of Anti-Negativity

Of course, you do not need a knight costume to have a Kindness Quest, but if your kids are into this, and you are handy with homemade things, try these sites:

Homemade Knight in Shining Armor Costume by SavingsLifestyle.com
Armor Tutorial from Some of a Kind
Knight Costume by P-ART-Y

Kindness Car

I also outfitted the car with Kindness. You can use window markers or shoe polish. I tried using a chalk based window application. It worked pretty well. Washed right off with the first rainstorm on the trip.

For all the articles related to the Kindness Quest Road Trip: