More Community Service Projects with your Kids and Grandkids

Police Appreciation Bags!

I've done this subject before in my blog and with my grandkids, but I can never cover community service enough in my blog. Besides being a great activity to do indoors with your grandchildren in this oppressive heat, you're teaching these impressionable youngsters the importance of appreciating and showing gratitude to our community helpers.

Talk with your kids about all the things these men and women do for us. They often only think about the police as monitoring our roads and highways for speeders. They don't realize all the other jobs they do as far as keeping us safe and intervening in difficult situations. 

I like the above quote by John Kennedy. And I need to be reminded of this myself. In these difficult days of our nation where there is so much hate,  it is often not enough to just voice our appreciation, but show it by our actions. Do something good for those unsung heroes around us!

This community service project is pretty much straightforward. After you've had the talk about what these members of our community do for us, then plan out what you want to include in their individual bags. You want your grandkids to have ownership of this project too!

I printed out a thank-you card to put inside each appreciation bag.

My grandson helped me cut them out. Added bonus--he's learning how to use primary scissors!

I'm glad to send you a copy of this thank-you card. Just use my "Contact" page to get in touch with me.

We put some granola bars in the bag as well as favorite chips.

We talked about putting gum in the bag, but grandson picked out these mints instead. And they seemed very appropriate for our police officers!

And in this Texas heat, we had to put plenty of water bottles in the bag!

We bought some plastic zip-lock bags, laid out all our goodies on the dining room table and began to fill our bags. Of course my grandson helped. Then we invited a cousin to join us when we delivered our appreciation bags to our local police station. 

He helped me assemble the bags.

A fun part was the actual delivery. We got his cousin to help.

Seriously, this is a great activity to do with your kids and grandkids, We're often looking for things to do with them on these long, hot summer days. It does involve a trip to the grocery store to get the supplies, but it's well worth it to model SHOWING appreciation and not just mouthing the words. "Actions speak louder than words."

And for you grandparents who don't have visiting grandchildren, you can still do this activity. So many of my peers are bakers and lament not having anyone to bake for anymore. Bake some treats for your neighborhood police department. It will absolutely make their day. And yours as well!!

Thank you for reading my blog. Please share it with others. And please share any community service projects you have done with your children and grandchildren. I love to hear and quite often share on this blog.

​Until next week: Be the GOOD you wish to see in this world!

Added note: You can get online to find lists of items to include in your bags. It's always helpful to get other ideas and suggestions I know.