21 Random Acts of Kindness to Inspire San Diego Kids

1. Visit Children’s Nature Retreat to feed over 140 rescue animals. Kids will practice kindness while interacting with amazing creatures including zebra, horses, camels and pigs.

2. Incorporate Meatless Mondays into your family’s dinner plans. Here’s our great list of plant-based recipes to get you started.

3. Even the youngest tots can learn animal empathy at San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum’s Fun Animal Fridays. This month they can meet a gecko and a python!

4. Donate pet food to AniMeals. Your donation will help local pet owners who need assistance paying for their pet food. Find a drop off location for donations near you.

5. Make ‘Welcome Duffle Bags’ for San Diego Center for Children so kids and teens placed in foster care will have some items to call their own.

6. Visit one of our favorite donut shops with the little ones… and buy an extra dozen to give to the administration office at your kid’s school.

7. Eat locally-grown foods and shop at one of San Diego’s Farmer’s Markets to support local growers. 

8. Go thru a local coffee shop's drive thru with your kids and buy drinks for the people in the car behind you.

9. It’s Girl Scout Cookie time. Donate a box to troops via San Diego’s Operation Thin Mint when you order your cookies.

10. Volunteer as a family at one of these San Diego charities and non-profit organizations.

11. Get a jumpstart on your spring cleaning and donate your kids’ gently used toys and outgrown clothing to a local charity.

12. Leave some healthy and delicious packaged snacks and drinks and a thank you note in your mailbox for your mail carrier or at your front door for Amazon delivery drivers.

13. Join forces with local organization Surfrider Foundation to protect the ocean and beaches. See how to volunteer here. 

14. Not enough time to garden? Order up a weekly CSA box of farm fresh produce and know that your veggies are fresh, sourced locally, and helping farmers in the community make a living.

15. Teach your kids to be kind to themselves and practice mindfulness and meditation through the practice of yoga. This creates an outward ripple effect for them to create love and joy in the world.

16. Drop off flowers or a lovely plant for a neighbor or family member who is feeling isolated.

17. Help an elderly neighbor weed their garden––or mow their lawn or start them a garden featuring their fave vegetable.

18. Check out the San Diego Humane Society's Wish List and donate an item or two to help animals in need.

19. Plant a fruit tree in a communal area of your neighborhood so everyone may reap the rewards of fresh picked fruit.

20. Lend a hand to San Diego North Coast Knitters Guild by knitting a hat, scarf, mittens or slippers, etc. for a variety of worthy recipients who cherish the items.

21. Adopt or foster an animal. Here are some great places to adopt a pet, and most organizations need foster parents for pets too.