The Choose Kindness Game 2017 Update

My family lived in London during the summer of 2014 and we looked for creative ways to entertain ourselves on days when we needed a break from sightseeing. One afternoon, my 8-year-old daughter and I sat on the floor of our Greenwich flat and created a game for the family to play. We brainstormed ideas and made a fun game for kids 10 and under called  The Choose Kindness Game that teaches families how to choose kindness daily. I created game cards for my family to print and use and decided to share them on The Inquisitive Mom blog on a whim.

The original post with my mediocre graphics, spelling errors, and single jpg printing options ended up being shared over 1800 times on Pinterest. Over the past couple of years, readers have kindly praised the game, but consistently request easier printing options. I decided to create a The Choose Kindness Game 2017 Update to fix errors, improve graphics, and, most of all, make printing easier. Now that PicMonkey has a Hub to save and edit pictures, this became much easier. I’m still no graphic artist, but I hope you enjoy this update as much as I enjoyed creating it!

How to Play The Choose Kindness Game

1. Print and Cut the game cards.
2. Create additional cards using the blank templates if you want to add your own.
3. Print a game board or borrow one from another game you have on hand, such as Candy
   Land or Monopoly.
4. Gather 2+ players and play individually or on teams.
5. Gather game pieces to represent each player or team. These can be coins, buttons, or borrowed from a game such as Sorry.
6. Share a simple story that illustrates the importance of choosing kindness (Sample below).
7. Play the game and have fun!
8. Enjoy a sweet and sour treat, such as Chewy Lemon Cookies or Sour Patch Kids.

Sample Story (Created by Ella, age 8)

John got his own new truck. It was a red dump truck and remote controlled. One day, when he was playing trucks, he got very thirsty and went to get a drink of water. While he was getting a drink, his little brother, Tim, broke a wheel off of his truck. When John came back, his black race car, his green crane, and most of the wheels off of his red dump truck were scattered on the floor.

John saw this and yelled, ‘You’re stupid!” to Tim. His mom heard this and sent John to his room for using unkind words.

John went up to his room, thought about what he said, and told Tim “I’m sorry.”

Sample Discussion

We used this story as a way to talk about alternative choices John might have made in the beginning to choose kindness. We discussed how it is normal and okay to feel angry about something. What we choose to do with that anger matters. Some children can redirect that energy easily in a positive way. Others might need to count to ten or walk away to calm down. Some children are ready to solve the problem on their own, while others might need to know they can go to a trusted adult for help coming up with a solution after they calm down. The Choose Kindness Game offers a variety of choices to meet the needs of unique kids. The option to share your own idea for choosing kindness is also available throughout the game to encourage individuality and problem solving.

The Choose Kindess Game Printable Game Cards

I recommend printing the game on 8 x 10 white cardstock so that it can be used multiple times. The game is set to print four game cards per sheet on 10 pages. I have added a jpg document with all game cards, as well as individual jpgs. When printing, be sure to select the following print options to print properly:

1. Photo/Page Size: 8 x 10
2. Fit: Shrink to Fit

PDF File

Click on the PDF file graphic below to access in Google Drive.

Individual JPG Files

The Choose Kindness Game is free for personal use only. I hope you enjoy playing our game!

Disclosure: Affiliate links are included in this post. Proceeds go to support my blog.