Involving Your Kids in Giving + IKEA Soft Toys for Education Give Away
In the past two weeks my kids have been receiving gifts, big and small, with much joy and excitement. They have also been making and wrapping and giving gifts, to family and friends, to teachers and people who have helped us through the year, but we have also been giving to people we don’t know, people we will never know…
I try to involve my kids in giving to charities and helping others year round, but the magic of Christmas just seems to make the idea of giving to others much more tangible for my kids, and it seems important to balance the getting of gifts with giving.
Here are two ways we try to make ‘giving back’ meaningful and understandable for our kids…
Make it Relate-able.
My kids have never experienced real hunger, or homelessness, and they can not really imagine what it would be like to have no where to live or not have enough food to eat. But they can imagine what it would be like to go without dinner, or to not get any presents for their birthday or Christmas. And thinking of those things my boys are able to choose a packet of their favourite biscuits at the supermarket and put them in the collection box for the food bank, and my girls are able to pick gifts they would like to receive and wrap them to put under the giving tree.
These small connections are teaching my children that the people they are giving to are just like them, they like the same sort of things they like, they have the same hopes, and dreams. I hope by making these connections my kids will grow up understanding that everyone deserves the best in life, regardless of their circumstances.
Involve them in the Doing.
I donate a portion of my blogging income to a couple of charities that choose to support, and giving money is wonderful, but little kids don’t understand the concept of money, let alone how it whizzes over the internets, so it is not a very meaningful way to involve our children in giving. Instead I try to find small things that they can actually do, giving they can actually see.
My big kids get online and choose a charity card that matches their teachers’ interests to give as thank you gifts. All four kids are asked to go through their toys and clothes and help me select items they no longer want, to give to the op shop. And even my three year old can put a few gold coins in the donation bucket as we talk about how the money might help someone else.
IKEA Soft Toys for Education and a Give Away
There are lots of organisations and companies that make involved your kids in giving easy.
IKEA has been running their annual Soft Toy Campaign since 2003 and has donated €57 million, to help children in 46 countries to enjoy their right to a quality education.
All you need to do is buy any soft toy or children’s book from the IKEA range till January 5th 2014, and the IKEA Foundation will donate €1 (approx. $1.50 AUD) to children’s education through UNICEF and Save the Children.
You can also ‘give twice’ by donating the purchased soft toys or children’s books to Save the Children via the boxes located just outside the IKEA cash registers. The donated items are then distributed to Australian children in need.
This is an easy and tangible way for my kids and I to give a little to someone in need.
My three year old is able pick the IKEA toy he likes best, and then leave it in the ‘give twice’ box on our way out. He may not really understand how buying and donating a toy is helping provide education for children living in poverty, but he understands that he is giving something he likes to someone else and this is the beginning of those bigger connections.
Thanks to IKEA we were sent a selection of gorgeous soft toys, a couple for us to keep and a couple for us to donate. We also have two packs of Ikea soft toys to give away!
This give away is not closed and winners have been notified.
Congratulations to Helen who’s winning comment was: “Each year we hold a Christmas party and entry costs a tin of food which we then donate to the local shelter. The minichaps also choose a gift for a child their age to place under the Wishing Tree.”
And Kristie who’s winning comment was: ‘What great ideas! While we are not in a position to give a lot financially, I love doing simple, thoughtful things with the boys to encourage giving. My boys are very happy to donate unused items to the op shop and starting last year (although not specifically charity related) we spend a morning making up some yummy plates of fruit and treats and we head off to the Police station, Nurses, Ambulance officers and fire brigade and hand them out. We will be doing it again this year as the boys still talk about how they all looked so surprised and thankful. Another thing we do is when we see charities selling raffle tickets or small items we tend to just donate rather than actually buy anything. It’s a good lesson for them to learn that we can give without always needing anything in return!’
To win a selection of Ikea soft toys simply leave a comment on this post and tell me how you include your children in giving.
Entries close Sunday December 22nd at 11am and the most interesting or clever answer will win – Unfortunately we can not guarantee delivery in time for Christmas.
Terms and Conditions.
You must be an Australian resident to enter.
You must provide a valid email address and entries are limited to one per household.
Entries close Sunday December 22 2013 at 11am AEDLST.
Prizes include three soft toys from Ikea – toys may differ to the ones shown here.
Two winners will be contacted by email and announced on this post.
The winner must contact me within 2 days or the prize will be re-drawn.
The winner agrees to have their contact details passed on to the appropriate PR company or brand representative who will send out/organise the prizes directly.
Entries will be judged on merit and creativity.
{disclaimer: We were given a pack of soft toys from IKEA. I was not compensated in any other way and the opinions expressed in this post are my own.}
I adore IKEA stuffies. If you explain their are other children in need, I think children are very willing to give up toys. They are inherently giving and caring. I wish I was an Australian resident so I could participate!
What a beautiful post. And a beautiful prize. I’m not entering – we have enough soft toys – but thank you for hosting the giveaway and sharing your thoughts on giving!
What an awesome post, Kate! We use our birthday celebrations to fundraise or collect goods instead of receiving presents. The boys help us pick out a charity and a theme (ie one year we did Clown Doctors and had the theme of clowns). We’ve LOVE it and it’s been great for the boys to really *enjoy* giving… and receive less *stuff* when they really don’t “need” it. Love your ideas, too!
Children nowadays just seem to have and receive so much. Each birthday and Christmas we gather up all their pressies, select out a handful of the extra special ones and put in a box the massive excess. At the end of the following year, when they haven’t missed what they haven’t got, we try to decide if we can fit some things into the shoe boxes that go overseas to the less fortunate, and the bigger things we wrap up for under the Target Christmas tree. That way the kiddies understand the joy of giving and helping others less fortunate out.
I was also involved in collecting for the Red Shield Appeal this year. My son accompanied me as we collected in our street. He then returned to clear out his moneybox and sent his little contribution in as well.
Start them thinking like this from a young age and the compassion and empathy will hopefully stay with them through adulthood.
What great ideas! While we are not in a position to give a lot financially, I love doing simple, thoughtful things with the boys to encourage giving. My boys are very happy to donate unused items to the op shop and starting last year (although not specifically charity related) we spend a morning making up some yummy plates of fruit and treats and we head off to the Police station, Nurses, Ambulance officers and fire brigade and hand them out. We will be doing it again this year as the boys still talk about how they all looked so surprised and thankful.
Another thing we do is when we see charities selling raffle tickets or small items we tend to just donate rather than actually buy anything. It’s a good lesson for them to learn that we can give without always needing anything in return!
Each year we hold a Christmas party and entry costs a tin of food which we then donate to the local shelter. The minichaps also choose a gift for a child their age to place under the Wishing Tree.
I always take my children to the toy shop each year to pick out a special present to wrap and put under the Kmart tree for their charity. This year I was really happy because my 6-yr-old used her own pocket money to buy another gift so we put two presents under the Kmart tree this year.
My children participate in RSPCA cupcake day. When I used to teach I used to organise the day at work and bring my first (and only at the time) child in, so she is used to it from birth! Now I’m not teaching, we make so many cakes to add to my eldest’s cake stall at her school. They are sold and all money raised goes to help sick and abandoned animals. We love that!
Yesterday my little girl and I baked biscuits to give to the residents at a local retirement home. They clearly appreciated it and we got lots from the experience ourselves. It was my little girls birthday yesterday and she received many gifts on the day so it was nice to see (and teach) her value giving to others.
Love this post and reading how you involve your children in giving.
I let them choose which toys they no longer need, either the neglected ones, unliked ones, or one’s they’ve loved like crazy but just don’t any more. And we go together and donate them to the Salvo’s so other kids can have fun with them.
We have a sponsor child, give clothes and tis to charity and help elderly neighbours.
For every toy that enters the house…one needs to leave the house…they get to choose which one and then where it is to go.
I let the kids chose the present that they would like to give.
We started more giving to other this year and it’s been not only wonderful for my kids but for me too. I don’t think we’ll stop at Christmas either, we are going to continue to bring happiness to others all next year and beyond.
The last giving we did was bake and deliver brownies to the house with Christmas lights up down the road. Every time we drive past it makes us so happy and we really wanted to return that happiness to them.
Each year we pick out toys and gifts for those who are in need and give to Anglicare plus we help at the homeless shelter serving meals…the kids love it…the homeless love it and the kids know they have all they need and more…
By involving them in buying or making gifts for those in need. Every year me & my son buy gifts and bake cupcakes for the aged care people and go to see them a day before christmas. Kids learn very quickly by watching us and these habbit of giving others will definitely stay with them for ever.
When we do grocery shopping the kidlets help pick out groceries to give to St Vinnies to make up hampers, and they also pick out gifts to go under the KMart tree. They love knowing that they’re helping somebody have a better Christmas.
Initially, we taught our little one how to share things. When he ate snacks, we told him to ask his friends to eat together. When he played toys, we told him to play with his friends. After he knew how to share, we started to teach him why to give and how to give. Every time when we donated things, we always told him the reason. My little one loves learning whatever we’re doing so it’s easy to teach him. When he did giving, we always praised him to encourage him to be involved in giving.
Too late to enter I know but I simply ask them to choose some toys they don’t play with any more from their play room. We put them in a bag and leave them near the Christmas tree, so Santa can take them and give them to the boys and girls who get no gifts for Christmas. It’s been a hard road to get them to give a single thing but this year we have a whole (small) plastic bag full and I am very proud of them!
Since he was a toddler my son has liked the guide dogs collection statues as they look just like our Lab, Bob. So whenever we see one we pop a few coins in. Plus our local shopping centre has a fun spinning coin device that you pop any denomination of coin in and it spins around and around and around, is a bit of fun, then the money goes “to the poor people”. We speak often about being fortunate and what it means to be grateful.