articles

Service Projects For Children

What can we teach them?

January 3, 2011

I was asked by a friend about service project ideas for a 4 year old and I took the idea and ran with it.  It's so essential to teach our children that life is about giving back--- not just at the holidays but every chance one gets.  I searched online and found these opportunities for ages 4 and up! 

Children's Hospital Service Project Program

Many members of our volunteer community develop service projects for the children and families at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

The Service Project Program is a great opportunity for schools, neighborhoods, faith-based groups or a group of friends to volunteer! The next time you get together with friends — make it fun for you and fun for Children’s too.

The information below provides project suggestions that have an appeal throughout the year. You also may choose to create a service project from reviewing our wish list of toy donations.

Please send a sample of your project in advance so that it can be pre-approved for safety. All donated items must be new due to our stringent infection control and safety standards. We may not be able to accept your service project without the required pre-approval.

Service Project Descriptions

  • Activity Boxes – Selection of art/craft items (pencils, colored or plain paper, stamps/ink pad, small boxes of crayons or markers, ruler, etc.) placed in a small box with a cover (plastic shoe box is preferred).
  • Activity Kits – Small paper bags/resealable bags with all of the supplies and instructions needed to make an individual project such as macaroni or beaded necklaces and bracelets, sock puppets with felt features, paper airplanes, key chains and/or seasonal holiday related crafts (Autumn, Halloween, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukah, New Year's Eve/Day, Winter, Valentine's Day, Spring, Independence Day, etc.).
  • Book Drive – New books are always a nice treat for children. Collecting new books (children’s books, teen books, magazines and puzzle books) is a great way to volunteer your time. We also appreciate new or gently used books for parents.
  • Decorated Pillowcases – Decorate king-size pillow cases for our December holiday gift distribution and/or regular-size pillow cases decorated with seasonal/nursery rhyme images to be used for birthday/special occasion gift distribution. Please request a pillow case craft guideline sheet prior to starting this project to ensure a successful result.
  • Treat Bags – Children enjoy non-food item treats such as coloring books, puzzle books, crayons, markers, etc. Likewise, for adult family members who spend an extended period of time at Children’s, hand lotion, emery boards, breath mints, travel-size amenity products, etc. are greatly appreciated.

We suggest that the next time you have a birthday/holiday/graduation party, sleep-over or extracurricular activity, ask all participants to bring new items such as books, cartoon Band-Aids, beanie babies, etc. and have fun organizing the items or making one of the service projects listed above.

 

 

 PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD:  SOCK DRIVE

In conjunction with the RSVP program of Allegheny county the libraries of Pittsburgh participate in a SOCK drive for homeless persons of Allegheny County.  Last year over 4100 pairs of socks were collected and over 40 libraries participated.  The collection month is October but it is NEVER too early to begin collecting those socks yourself!  Perhaps you can run your OWN sock drive in preperation!  Socks of all sizes area accepted as long as they are new.  Perhaps focusing on socks for children will help to make this project more " real" to your little one! 

 

 

RE-USE A SHOE  WITH NIKE

 

 

OLD SHOES: Put out notices and containers—and start collecting!!! 

Ever thrown out a pair of worn-out athletic shoes? Did you know that IT TAKES ABOUT 1,000 YEARS for those sneakers to biodegrade? Wondering what to do with the ones you've already got? RECYCLE THEM.

 

Every year, millions of pairs of athletic shoes are thrown away, not only wasting landfill space, but wasting tons of reusable material. Since 1993 Nike has been running a program called Reuse-a-Shoe. So far they've used 24 million pairs of athletic shoes to create sports surfaces. It’s part of the "Let Me Play" campaign, one of Nike’s longest-running environmental and community programs, where worn-out athletic shoes of any brand are collected, processed and recycled into material USED IN SPORT SURFACES like basketball courts, tennis courts, athletic fields, running tracks and playgrounds for young people around the world.

 

For information visit their website. To keep recycling equipment running smoothly, there are guidelines:

 

Athletic shoes only (any brand)

No shoes containing metal

No cleats or dress shoes

No wet or damp shoes

 

 

 

NATIONAL CRAYON RECYCLE PROGRAM

 

AUGUST 2010 

     Ship Your UNWANTED Crayons to:
    

CRAYON RECYCLE PROGRAM

                                            c/o  Opportunities Unlimited                                             Community Work Center

 2680 Oneida Lane

Rhinelander,  WI    54501

This "recycling" education, community service program has made it possible to stop more than 55,000 pounds of unwanted crayons from going into landfills with the help from schools and organization educators and kids across this country.  Thank you for your efforts to help the Earth.

The CRAYON RECYCLE PROGRAM takes unwanted, rejected, broken crayons to a better place, where they’ll be recycled into fresh, new crayons!

The program has drop-off bins nationally.   

The Crayon Recycle Program and Crazy Crayons, LLC work totally together, but neither one could exist without KIDS THAT CARE ABOUT THE EARTH. 

We employ people with developmental disabilities, working on a positive impact through community service, environmental education and art.

All EARTHLING CRAYONS, ECO STARS, "RECYCLE" Sticks, Earth Worms and CRAZY CRAYON purchases support the CRAYON RECYCLE PROGRAM.

Crayon Prep

You don't have to do anything to the crayons! Just collect, box, and ship them as they are.  *Note ~ Sort them by colors, only if you want to.

Please LEAVE THE WRAPPERS ON THE CRAYONS!   It's hard to sort the black, purple and blue crayons without wrappers.   But we will accept all crayons for recycling, with or without wrappers.  Thank you!

We accept all crayons, but please know that we will sort out and discard crayons made in China and other foriegn countries that may contain lead and plastics.  We ask the restaurants and schools to purchase only American made crayons, although they may cost alittle more, you are assured good quality and not just filling US landfills with foreign waste.  We think of CRAYONS and Solid Waste Management very seriously!

 

 

 

DIAPER DRIVE 

The average cost of diapers for one child - averages about 100$!  Diapers and baby wipes are not covered by the Food Stamp Program or WIC.  ( Woman Infant and Children)  Donate some diapers to your local food bank or pantry.  Surely those few extra diapers or pack leftover in your cubboard will go to good use!