With the incredibly popular and growing importance of Electronics and Internet it's only a matter of time before your children start browsing the web. A lot of Kindergarten and Elementary Schools now have Computers in their classrooms and even teach keyboarding and internet lessons to help the kid's grow in this super fast & changing world of technology.

"You don't know how good you got it kid, there are children without clothes, food or toys, yet you seem less than grateful for all the things we have provided for you!" - If these are words you remember your parents telling you and you are not repeating to yours kids, I have a way to stop this from continuing onto the next generation. There are plenty of ways to help show and teach our children to understand the world outside of their luxuries and comfortable lives, such as volunteering.

Volunteering has always been an important part of my pastime, ever since I was 8 years old I have been volunteering in my community and helping out my fellow man. Volunteering instills some of life's most important skills such as compassion, caring, and responsibility. These are all traits that I wanted my son to learn and carry throughout life so we started his volunteering at a very young age.

That is the point of this blog post, I wanted to share some volunteering ideas for younger children. Everyone knows there are numerous volunteer opportunities for teens and adults, which are still very important, but I always like to involve the youngin's. They say a child learns the most between ages 3 to 5, so why not instill the volunteer bug early? :)



Volunteering Ideas:

Exchange a Toy: This is something we have done with our son since he turned 2nd Birthday. We have a rule in our house, for every new toy purchased or received (birthdays, holidays, etc.), he must choose on old toy to donate to a local shelter or business like Goodwill. It must be around the same size toy, so if he receives a larger toy he can't donate a Hot Wheels car. We try to trade apples for apples - which also makes it easier on us to find space for all his toys. When we are coming up to a big Holiday like Christmas or his Birthday where we know he will get a large amount of toys, we make sure to go through his toy boxes and clean out all the old or broken toys separating by "donation" and "trash" before the big event.

Coupon Clippin' & Collectin': When your child reaches the age where he or she can use scissors and cut a straight line (kindergarten age 5-6) put them on coupon' clippin' duty! We do this every Sunday where we work together to clip coupons in the local newspaper as well as online, printer coupons. Any of the coupons you will not be personally using think about donating to a shelter or food bank to help lower their costs or join a coupon train to  NOTE: When cleaning out your coupon collection, if you find any that are expired (no more than 2 months out) you can always mail them to Military Bases around the world, as they can use coupons for another 6 months after their expiration date).

Bedtime Snack Sacks:
While most kids enjoy a nice bedtime snack, children living in homeless shelters or transitional homes very rarely get this simple, but special, treat. With your kiddo's, decorate brown paper lunch sacks using markers, stickers, glitter, etc. Once decorated fill the snack bag with a Juice Box or Bag and place a non-parishable food item such as pre-packaged fish crackers, a granola bar or trail mix. Place a  small "Kids Meal" type toy or a fun treat from Dollar Tree for an extra special surprise. Deliver the Snack Packs to a local children's or woman's shelter - Make sure to call ahead and ensure that they will accept them.

Blankets for Animal Shelters:
At the end of Winter Season hit up a local fabric store and purchase discounted fleece fabric, can be any color or theme, the puppies & kitties aren't picky, although the Animal Prints are pretty cute!! Even the littlest of helpers can pick out fleece. Follow These Super Simple Directions and make a No Sew blanket. Once you have a few blankets put together, head on over to your local animal shelter and donate to the puppies and kitties, I know they will appreciate all your hard work & time! Who knows, you may end up finding a new member of the family there! :)

Decorate Holiday Cards:
Even the youngest of Picasso's can help with this project! If they are old enough to hold a crayon, they are old enough to help decorate Holiday cards for Seniors or Military Men & Women. Gather up construction paper, crayons, markers, colored pencils, glitter, cotton balls (for snowmen!) and stickers to decorate a "Happy Holidays" card. The older kiddo's can practice their writing, too! Once all the cards are complete, load up the kid's and have them drop off their cards. It's really important that they get to see (if possible) how those cards really brightened someone's day and how much they helped.

Get Well Cards:
On the same note as the Holiday Cards, ask a local Children's Hospital if the kiddo's would be able to create and deliver "Get Well" cards for other children in the Pediatric Unit. Make sure to ask how many you would need and where you should deliver them. Your children may not be able to see the children in the pediatric unit, so really make sure to explain how these are going to really brightens someones day.

Make Pet Friendly Goodies:
I know one thing my son loves to help me do is cook! He loves to help measure, pour and mix all the ingredients together - he likes to think of it as a science experiment. You could find an easy, pet friendly treat recipe like this one or this one and spend the afternoon creating Animal Goodies. As a treat for doing a good deed, you could always whip a quick batch of "Puppy Chow"for a job well done.

Bake Sales:
Along the same lines as the Pet Goodies, have the kids help whip together a few batches of cookies, help decorate cupcakes, or mix ingredients for brownies for a good cause. The children will get a quick lesson in cooking and measurements and a life long lesson how easy (& fun) it is to help bake for a good cause. Have the kids pick out a charity that means something to them (Cookies for Kids Cancer is a Favorite of ours) and help them organize a Bake Sale in front of a Grocery store to "sell" their creations. Put them in charge of decorating the table sign, picking out decorations, etc. They can help man the table and ask for donations as well!


These are just a few (of many!) ideas to help get younger kids involved in volunteering and to help them gain and learn some of life's most important skills and attributes. So ask your son or daughter how they would like to give back to their community and get started! It only takes an idea and a plan of action to give back to our community!

How do you and your children give back to your community? Do you have a story or "brag" you would like to see posted on our blog? Please comment below!

Imagine starting off your first day of school without a pencil, a notebook or even a backpack. Unfortunately, this is the sad reality for more than 90,000 St. Louis area children who can’t afford the most basic school supplies.

But there is a solution — you!

For the second year StLouisMommies is participating in KidSmart Push for Pencils school supply drive. From July 1 - August 13 you can donate school supplies or make a financial contribution to KidSmart on our team page at http://www.kidsmartpushforpencils.org/stlouismommies

KidSmart helps more than 45,000 local kids in need succeed in school by providing them with free school supplies. The organization operates a free educational supply store in Bridgeton. It is filled with supplies donated by individuals, businesses and organizations across the St. Louis area. Since opening in 2002 KidSmart has distributed more than $21 million in school supplies to tens of thousands economically disadvantaged children in our community. For more information about KidSmart visit http://www.kidsmartstl.org/.

You can drop off school supplies with either Meg (justanothermanicmommy) or Kimmie (AlmightyQueenKimmie) at any playdates or meeting where we are present or if you want to send either of us a PM we would be more than happy to meet up with you to collect the donations!

If you would like to make a financial donation you can visit our team website and click on "Make Donation" or write a check to Kid Smart and we can turn it in with the school supply donations on August 31. http://www.kidsmartpushforpencils.org/stlouismommies
Your help will truly make a difference in the lives of local kids in need and give them the chance for a successful start to the school year.

Last Year's Results:

In the 2010-2011 School year, StLouisMommies worked together to collect over 35 notebooks, 20 bottles of glue, 500 ink Pens, 400 Pencils, 40 Folders, and 8 compostion notebooks. I would say we were pretty successful for our first year! We didn't get the opportunity to run a supply drive in front of a Store - this was strictly from the ladies of StLouisMommies.com!

This Year's Goals:
Our goals this year is to double the numbers from last year! We really want to focus on helping local children get the tools needed to succeed this school year! We are even running a contest for those intersted in donating just $5 out of their pocket! Click here for Details!





Quick Reference:
StLouisMommies Forum: Click Here
Our Team Website: Click Here
Push for Pencils: Click Here
KidSmartSTL: Click Here