Seasonal Projects

December

• Tales for Tots - Collect new or gently used books to provide for kids in homeless shelters or children's hospitals.
• Letters from Santa - Coordinate with elementary school classes in your district to have students write letters to Santa that will be delivered to your group. Have group members write individualized responses to the children from Santa and deliver them back to the school to be distributed.
• Deck the Halls - Assign each grade level a hallway and sponsor a holiday hall-decorating contest. Award a treat of some kind to the class with the best decorations.
• Warm Fuzzy Drive - Collect hats, coats, mittens, scarves, sweaters, and blankets and donate them to a local shelter to help the homeless survive the cold winter months.
• Food Fight - Challenge a rival school to match or beat the number of cans your school can collect in a holiday food drive. Create a plaque or trophy for the winning school out of recycled cans and empty food boxes.
• Snowman Contest - Celebreate Build a Snowman Day on December 19th with a snowman building contest. No snow? Have individuals or groups create "snowmen" out of non-snow materials such as Styrofoam balls, felt, pillows, white plastic trash bags, or other materials. Award prizes to the most creative.
• Winterfresh Teaching - Present teachers with an appreciation note reading "Although it's winter, thank you for staying fresh with your teaching!" Attach a package of Winterfresh chewing gum.
• Gift Wrap Service - Set up a gift wrapping table - with permission, of course - at a local mall or department store. Wrap holiday packages as a fundraiser by charging a small fee per package, or get into the spirit of the holidays and perform the wrapping as a service project.
• Pictures with Santa - Have members of your group dress up as Santa, Mrs. Claus, or an elf. Create a holiday background in the lunchroom or commons area and charge a small fee for students to get their picture taken with Santa and friends.
• Singing for Seniors - Visit a local retirement home or nursing home and sing holiday songs for the senior citizens. Bring some board games and spend some time visiting with the residents.

January

• Souper Bowl - Work with art students or local artists to create ceramic bowls that will be used for a soup and bread dinner to raise money for a food shelter. Paricipants pay for the dinner - or donate a designated amount of nonperishable food - and get to keep the handmade bowl.
• Freshman Care Packages - Help freshmen survive their first round of midyear exams by preparing care packages with snacks, pens, and other goodies. Deliver one to every freshman in the school with good luck wishes for their exams.
• Not a Zero - Present teachers with an appreciation note reading "When it's zero outside, you add warmth to the classroom. Thanks for all yu do!" Attach a Zero canddy bar.
• Kindness and Justice Challenge - Promote the idea of performing acts of kindness (helping others) and justice (standing up for what's right) by planning activities for the Kindness and Justice Challenge (www.kjchallenge.org) during the two weeks followin the King National Holiday.
• Leadership Lock-In - Spend a night at school with the members of your organization. Provide refreshments, leadership training sessions, teambuilding games, and plan ahead for the rest of the year.
• Software Drive - Conduct a drive to collect software that students have outgrown or grown tired of. Work with elementary teachers to redistribute the programs to students who have computers at home or set up a check-out system for kids to use the programs as a reward for completing all their work.
• Walk for Warmth - Organize a winter walkathon to raise money to help pay for the fuel bills of needy people in your community.
• Senior Greeters - To help build more positive relationships between teens and senior citizens, invite seniors to come in one day a week to serve as greeters in the morning for students as they arrive on campus. Provide refreshments for the senior greeters once the bell rings.
• Stress-Free Week - Plan a week of activities after semester finals that focus on fun and allow students to de-streess from the rigors of exams.
• Dash for Cash - After selling chances for one dollar, draw the name of the person who has 15 seconds to pick up as much money as he or she can from the $100 that has been spread out on the basketball court at halftime of a game.

February

• Seniors Valentines - Send a letter to all teachers in the district asking students to create Valentines to send to people in nursing homes and hospitals. Student council provdie each teacher with 10 sheets of red and pink construction paper to use for cards.