Activity: Random Acts of Kindness

Hold a service scavenger hunt and have fun while serving others.

As a group, work with your parents and leaders to make a list of services that people in your community would appreciate. Include both large and small acts of service, such as taking out a neighbor’s garbage cans, cleaning up a yard, painting a fence, sweeping a floor, reading a book to a child, or writing a thank-you note.

Assign points to each item by level of difficulty, from simplest and fastest (fewer points) to hardest and most time consuming (more points).

Now go serve! Divide into groups, with a leader or parent helping each group. Go to nearby homes, streets, or neighborhoods, and see how many items from your list you can complete in your assigned area. Be sure to get permission from the people you want to serve before entering their property. Set a specific time to meet at the end and count each group’s points.

As you plan this activity, please follow the counsel given in chapter 13 of Handbook 2: Administering the Church (2010) and review “Safety Recommendations for Church Activities.”

Please adapt activities as necessary to ensure all individuals are able to participate, belong, and contribute.

• Leave positive notes or pictures. Earn a point for each note or picture you leave somewhere that can make somebody smile. For instance, you might use chalk to draw a picture or write a positive note on the sidewalk where appropriate and allowed, or you could place a positive note on a car. Make sure that you don’t create any litter or cause damage (for example, don’t attach notes to cars with adhesive tape that could damage paint).
• Leave positive notes or pictures for people the youth know personally. Use the previous activity idea, but encourage the youth to make notes or pictures for people they know and who would appreciate a surprise note or picture. The youth could drop these notes off after the activity or mail them.
• Spend quality time. Serve others by simply spending time with them. Ask family members, friends, or members of your ward and community what activities they like to do. Divide into small groups, and spend time doing those activities with them. You will connect with others, and you may find some new things you like to do as well!
• Go digital. Have you ever stopped to think just how many different ways you can serve with nothing more than a digital device? You can write to missionaries, say something kind on social media, send a friendly text, call and chat or sing a song (anything from a birthday song to a Church hymn) with someone, index and do other family history work, and many other things. Create point systems for various activities, do the activities, and then tally up your points at the end of a week.

Encourage youth to talk about how what they are learning can help them and others grow closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Discussions can take place before, during, or after the activity and should last just a few minutes. You could ask questions like the following:

• Why do you think it is important to serve others?
• When have you felt the Spirit while serving someone else?
• How can you make service fun?

• “Service,” For the Strength of Youth (booklet, 2011), 32–33
• Bonnie L. Oscarson, “The Needs before Us,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2017, 25–27