5 Easy Ways to Encourage Kids to Do Good

From brushing teeth to recognizing letters, preschoolers pick up a remarkable amount before kindergarten. Softer skills like kindness and the motivation to “do good” are just as important, but can feel challenging to tailor to a young crowd. Good news! The title characters of Corn & Peg  produced by Nelvana Studios and the latest show from Nickelodeon, are always up to good in their community of Galloping Grove. For more inspiration, we rounded up 5 easy ways to get the good deeds going early and often in your family and community.

1. Help Out At Home
Home really is our first community. There are different people to consider, common spaces to share, and rules to make everything run smoothly. And because preschoolers nearly always want to be involved with what you’re doing, make a fun activity out of it when you can. Ever seen a kid’s glee with a spray bottle? Let them wash the windows! Finding those ways to let them help gives them feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment—wonderful rewards for doing good that might just make them feel like little superheroes, too, the way Corn and Peg, do.

2. Volunteer Together
Whether it’s a neighborhood garden project or an informal beach cleanup day, keep your eye out for activities you and your kiddo or the whole family can participate in. The experiences enrich the young lives you’re raising and show them the fruits of their labor, like a cleaner beach for all to enjoy. By the time community service is expected of them later in school, it will already be second nature.

3. Express Appreciation Wherever You Go
In Galloping Grove, for instance, Corn and Peg’s good deeds might help out a postal worker, the sheriff, or the mayor. Similarly, get kids in the habit of thanking those who serve the community at large. Let them help pick out gifts for Teacher Appreciation Day, bring a drawing to that next doctor’s appointment and simply say “thank you” to whomever lends a hand throughout your day.

4. Trot the Talk
The phrase “food insecure” has come to the forefront, so go ahead and teach it to your kids, who may share the lunch table with kids who don’t have as much as they do or run up against food insecurity themselves at some point in their schooling. Raise the topic organically, as you involve a kid in meal prep. Or, the next time a picky toddler rejects a homemade meal, talk about “food waste” and what can be done with food we don’t finish.

5. Be on the Litter Lookout
Kids notice everything! Whether you’re at the playground, out on a soccer field or hiking a trail, they can pretend to be little litter police and have fun while doing good, just like Corn and Peg. Make it a habit of carrying an extra bag for some trash pick-up from time to time. Leaving common spaces a little cleaner than you found them benefits—and respects—everyone.

Get excited about Corn & Peg by watching this fun video:

Tune in weekdays to Nickelodeon to catch fun-filled original content your kids will love. Catch clips of “Corn & Peg” here anytime!

—Jennifer Massoni Pardini