Become a RAKtivist: Random Acts of Kindness Day

happy birthday greeting card on green and red textile

Image: Unsplash free images

September 1st is New Zealand’s Random Acts of Kindness Day and we’ve never needed it more than in these Covid times!

Started in New Zealand in 2005, we are the only country in the world that celebrate a National Random Acts of Kindness Day. There is also a World Kindness Day on Saturday 13 November 2021… but let’s make every day a kindness day!

Random Acts of Kindness have probably never been more important, yet have never been harder to do, than when the city is in a lockdown.

Whether you’re in the full Level 4 and can’t even get takeaways delivered to someone, or in a variation of lockdowns which maybe means no school or no shops are open, there are still little random acts of kindness that are doable. Here are just a few ideas:

  •  Chalk positive, happy messages around your neighbourhood
  • Organise FaceTime or Zoom with friends to check in on each other
  • Play online Scrabble or other board games with friends also stuck at home
  • Play a game with your younger brothers and sisters… even if you think it’s a bit boring!
  • Help your caregivers to order some groceries online and have them delivered to a friend or neighbour
  • Offer to make lunch or dinner – maybe even make one night a week your cooking night
  • Pick up rubbish on your neighbourhood walks
  • Make a video of yourself reading a story and send it to your grandparents
  • Offer to do some housework or gardening
  • Tidy your room without being asked
  • Ring a neighbour that you know is isolating on their own, to check that they’re OK
  • Be kind and loving to your pets. Show them you love them with extra pats, a kind voice, small edible treats
  • Give your bubble buddies a compliment and a hug just for being your bubble buddies
  • Bring you parents breakfast in bed one morning for no reason (other than you love them)!
  • Stop for a moment of quiet and appreciate what a great person you are too!

Being kind is good for you!

There are scientifically proven benefits to being kind! It is contagious, teachable, and raises the levels of serotonin – our body’s “feel good” hormone – in your brain. Being kind can also help people to sleep better and feel more healthy.

Websites that might help you with kindness action ideas:

Random Acts of Kindness NZ

Random Acts of Kindness Foundation

Life Education Trust

Neighbourhood Support

RAK ideas when you can go back to school

Student Volunteer Army for kids

Youth volunteering at City Mission


Wellington City Libraries have a huge collection of books (both physical and digital) that can help with your kindness quest:

Kind / Green, Alison
“Illustrations by prominent illustrators accompany this story on how to make the world a better place through kindness, with an emphasis on welcoming refugees.” (Catalogue)

Do something for someone else / Kirby, Loll
“Meet 12 real-life children spreading kindness with simple acts of everyday activism.” (Catalogue)
All kinds of kindness / Carey Nevin, Judy
“Plant a seed, push a swing. Kindness makes your heart sing. There is so much kindness in the world and this sweet board book celebrates those special differences that make kind acts both individual and similar. Judy Carey Nevin’s bouncing text paired with Susie Hammer’s bright, brilliant art showcases a creative look at how important kindness can be. From optimistic ideas of hope to small acts of goodwill, each scene shares the heart of the story: kindness makes our world a better place.” (Catalogue)


Pete the cat’s groovy guide to kindness : tips from a cool cat on how to be kind / Dean, Kim
“A collection of quotes by famous notables, including Henry James, Booker T. Washington, and Judy Blume, echoes Pete the Cat’s thoughts on kindness.” (Catalogue)
A small kindness / McAnulty, Stacy
“It was like a game of tag, with one small act of kindness spreading throughout a small community of kids and teachers alike. Award-winning children’s book author Stacy McAnulty packs a powerful punch with minimal text, providing a sweet message about all the small ways one can be kind. Illustrator Wendy Leach creates a diverse cast of characters while using colour as a visual cue to how kindness is able to spread, even in a small community like a school” (Catalogue)
The good guys : 50 heroes who changed the world with kindness / Kemp, Rob
“A life-changing book that shows kids it’s cool to be kind. A gloriously illustrated celebration of heroes who have changed the world with kindness and compassion, from David Attenborough to Nelson Mandela, Oskar Schindler to Usain Bolt. What if we celebrated boys for their kindness as well their strength? For their generosity as well as their success? For their loyal friendship as well as their charm? […] The Good Guys celebrates the feats of heroes and everyday men, and will show kids that it really is cool to be kind.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
I like being me : poems about kindness, friendship, and making good choices / Lalli, Judy
“Twenty-five rhyming poems invite children to believe in themselves, learn from mistakes, cooperate, share, help others, solve problems, be kind, tell the truth, make positive choices, and more. The short poems are quick to read, easy to learn, and fun to recite — making them perfect for teaching social skills to young children. Children can memorise their favorite poems, talk about them, act them out, and get ideas for creating their own. Accompanying photographs show children from diverse backgrounds in realistic settings, and back matter provides adults with ideas for thought-provoking discussion, activities, and learning.” (Catalogue)

Kindness grows / Teckentrup, Britta
“It all starts with a crack that we can hardly see, It happens when we shout or if we disagree. But with every kindness that we care to show, something good and magical then begins to grow… Angry words and thoughtlessness cause a crack to open up, but find out what happens when kindness begins to blossom, in this thought-provoking book by award-winning illustrator Britta Teckentrup.” (Catalogue) 

“Everywhere you go, leave a glitter trail of kindness behind you.” (unknown)

 

 

Dive Into Online Activities with Your Favourite Authors!

As we move into Level 3 of the nationwide lockdown, I was curious to know what some authors were doing with their time. I decided to do some online searching, and it was fascinating! Not only are there some very creative authors out there, but I also kept getting side-tracked by all the other groovy stuff that’s being created and shared online at this time. It reminded me of diving into a very deep swimming pool of creativity.

Maybe you could “go swimming” yourself, with a parent or caregiver on hand to keep you safe online of course!

Here’s some of the great activities and webpages I discovered, so this might be a good place to start your swim:

Dav Pilkey – author of Dogman and Captain Underpants books and so much more has created a fantastic lockdown activities page, Dav Pilkey At Home, on the Scholastic Books website. This page is chock full of videos, activities, and things to draw, read and write to keep you occupied during lockdown. While you’re checking out Dav Pilkey At Home, why not read Dav Pilkey’s books online through our eLibrary?

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Fifi Colston is not only an amazing NZ children’s author, but she’s a wonderfully creative artist as well. Check out her Fifi Colston Creative Pandemic Resources page for a huge range of really creative craft activities you can do with stuff you find at home. For example, see below for an incredibly cool project you can do with nothing but empty toilet paper rolls and a couple of other bits and bobs

Image credit: Fifi Colston – Pots of Love

Finally, don’t forget to check out local school websites as well. Wellington’s Raroa Normal Intermediate School library website has a very deep pool of at-home resources and activities to swim amongst, and it was here that I really started to swim down some side streams and waterways! They’ve aptly named their page Rāhui Resources.

Here are just a couple of pages I freestyled my way into from Rāhui Resources:

  • New Zealand Geographic magazine have put together an awesome Together at Home page with something new to explore in this beautiful country of ours for every day of lockdown.
  • And life just wouldn’t be complete without a few comics to enjoy. SJL.com (School Library Journal) have put up some free kids and teen comics for you to enjoy including the popular Cucumber Quest, Ozy and Millie and Wormworld Saga comic books.

Finally, just because… if you’ve got an iPad at home, why not try your hand at some blackout poetry:

Here’s my blackout poem using this Stuff News KEA Kids News article

Celebrating in lockdown,
Special day, cake, video chats
A happy family wish to you.
Our planet healthier
Growing native plants
In this unusual time.

Keep safe, and remember — wash your hands!

Real Time, Real Person, Real Help with your Schoolwork

Note: this Kids’ Blog post is targeted at adults! Kids read on with caution.

In these strange new times, teachers, parents and other educators are looking to the Internet for homework help and educational resources to keep their kids’ brains active while schools are closed. Good news! The library can be an invaluable resource for anybody who is trying online education at this time, above and beyond eBooks and online databases. How? Enter AnyQuestions.

Have any questions? Why not try AnyQuestions!

AnyQuestions is a service run by the National Library and staffed by public librarians from around New Zealand, including Wellington City Libraries. On it, children are able to chat in real-time with a real librarian fully trained in web-based research about any question they might have. The librarian working with your child won’t just give them the answer directly — instead, they guide the student through the process of doing online research, checking their understanding every step of the way.

For the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the service’s opening hours are at the normal settings, with librarians on hand to help every weekday from 1pm – 6pm.

If you prefer to work outside those hours, or just want a place to find great resources, try AnyQuestions’ sister site, ManyAnswers. This is a service also provided by the National Library and public librarians, and it’s a fully searchable, always-available database of reliable information and vetted resources for the most commonly-asked questions we receive. You can even search by year level to make sure you’re getting information that’s curated for the right level.

Both services are available year-round, so why not start making use of them today?

KEA Kids News

Want to know more about the latest news and important issues? Tune in to watch KEA Kids News, which will help explain the tough stuff. KEA Kids News is a twice-weekly video bulletin of new by kids for kids.

Inquisitive kid reporters will pick and peck through local, national, and international news to find interesting stories and ask questions. It’s aimed at 7 – 11 year olds.

Tune in every Wednesday at midday, and Saturday at 9am for the latest video bulletin at stuff.co.nz/KEA

Here’s the most recent episode for you to enjoy.

 

Also, don’t forget about Kiwi Kids News, which is another amazing news site for New Zealand children that has daily updates on all sorts of interesting and inspiring things. Bookmark them both!

Who are New Zealand’s cultural icons?

Here’s a great website to tuck away in your favourites for future homework. It’s called Cultural Icons.

Go here to watch recordings of interviews sharing the histories, stories and experiences of some of New Zealand’s most significant arts and culture contributors.

You may not have heard of many of the New Zealanders features on this site, but they are all fascinating people – artists, mountaineers, activists, environmentalists, writers, poets, musicians, film-makers, dancers and more! Next time you need to do and assignment on a famous New Zealander, why not choose one from here?

You can find a complete list of the cultural icons that have been interviewed so far and watch their videos, and there are some great links to other informative NZ websites.

Cultural Icons

Explore ANZAC day and WW1 with these great websites

Are you looking for reliable online info about World War One? We have created a lit of great websites that you can go to for info on the causes of the war, the treaty that ended that war, ANZAC Day and Gallipoli, New Zealand’s involvement, and websites that provide info on casualties and gravesites.

 

Websites about the causes of World War One

 

 

Websites about the Treaty of Versailles

 

 

Websites about ANZAC Day

 

 

Websites about New Zealand’s involvement

 

 

Websites with ANZAC Poetry

 

 

Websites with casualties, wounded, and graves information

 

 

Websites with primary sources

 

 

General World War One sites

 

You are also welcome to chat live with an online librarian, who will help you with your research and finding online resources. AnyQuestions is a government-funded homework help service for New Zealand School Students. It’s open 1pm – 6pm Monday to Friday. Go to the site, type in your question, and chat to a librarian who will help you with your question and finding online information sources. It’s fun and free!

 

Six cricket websites that step up to the crease

Here at WCL we don’t LIKE cricket, WE LOVE IT! And with all the exciting action happening in the ICC Cricket World Cup (especially here in Wellington) what’s not to love?

Here are SIX resources to help you get padded up for this awesome event.

1. Black Caps classroom resources

Cricket smart is a fun interactive website which takes a uniquely Kiwi look at Cricket. Everything from the rules of the game, to a look at the game all over the world!

 

2. ESPN CricInfo

Cricinfo is a one stop cricket shop. Stats, scores analysis, Cricinfo has it all.

 

3. ICC Cricket World Cup Fixtures

Want to know when the Black Caps are next on the pitch. Check out this full list of games so you never have to miss a single delivery.

 

4. Wellington City Libraries Easyfind Catalogue

The first game of international cricket was in 1844 (that’s over ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY years ago!!) so there’s always more to learn about this awesome game. Check out our online library catalogue for cricket fiction or non-fiction or just bowl on into your local library and ask one of our library staff, we’re always keen to help you OUT!

 

5. Wellington City Summer of Cricket

Wellington has gone cricket crazy, with events running the whole length of the world cup. Even if you’re not a cricket fan (I hear some people aren’t) there’s heaps of awesome opportunities to get out and enjoy the Summer!

 

6. Stick Sports

After all that reading I bet you’re just itching to get out to the crease. Stick Cricket is a fun way to play the game without the risk of sunburn. See how many runs you can get in an over! (I hit a 36 once, ONCE)

Back to school!

So long holidays, hello school. We hope you had a great summer holiday and managed to read heaps of awesome books.

But now that you’re back to school, you’ll need to know about where to go for homework help. Here’s some great starting places:

AnyQuestions.co.nz and ManyAnswers.co.nz

These two NZ websites are designed to help school students find online information for their school work. AnyQuestions is a live service – which means you chat live with a librarian who will help you find helpful websites with the information you need. AnyQuestions in open Monday – Friday from 1pm to 6pm.

ManyAnswers is open 24/7 and has lots of great tips about where to find online info for heaps of topics.

 

Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

In Māori, Te Ara means ‘the pathway’. The Te Ara Encyclopedia will take you on a journey of discovery! Constantly being updated, this site will eventually be a comprehensive guide to New Zealand – its peoples, natural environment, history, culture, economy and society.  The site also includes New Zealand’s last official encyclopedia from 1966. It is published here in full, with all the original drawings, maps and photographs — and there are some very neat illustrations!

 

The following info sources can be found on the Library’s My Gateway page.

Encyclopedia Britannica

This online encyclopedia has more than 73,000 encyclopaedia articles, both short and book-length — and is a great place to start looking for information for all kinds of projects. It also includes a world atlas, thousands of images and videos, an online dictionary and thesaurus and links to helpful websites.

LanguageNut

LanguageNut is a fun way to learn different languages for kids and adults. There are songs, stories and games for each language so you’ll be adding to your vocabulary without really realising it! The non-English languages you can learn include te reo Māori, Indonesian, Mandarin (Pinyin and Hanzi), Italian, Arabic script and many others. There is also an option to learn English if you speak another language.

Online Christmas Craft insipration

Can you believe that Christmas is literally 19 amount of days away?! Neither can we!! It always seems like we get to this time of the year and suddenly have eight hundred and sixty three different things that we need to get done before the 25th of December: decorating, buying presents, doing baking… the list goes on!

So, we thought – why not compile some of our favourite Christmas craft activities that are not only extremely fun – but are also practical in some way! Here are some festive craft ideas for decorating, creating presents, and just having a fun time making stuff.

Why not make your own wrapping paper using some paints and a potato (or two)?

How about tackling the almighty ginger-bread house? This easy design uses Graham Crackers – you can use any plain square biscuits such as Nice or Thins instead.

Or you could make a sequined wreath to hang on your tree.

Speaking of decorations, why not try making some peg angels?

And you could make some Christmas Cookies as a gift for family members.

What about bundling the family up and making stockings out of socks? Just make sure they’re clean first!

You could make some cool keyrings, necklaces, or broaches out of this amazing stuff called shrinky dink as presents too!

We hope this has given you some ideas to help you have a crafty Christmas season – we’d love to hear about the crafts you’ve got planned for the next few weeks!

And did you catch our post about all the Christmas craft books we’ve got?

 

Don’t Forget… We have special Christmas storytimes happening in all our libraries between 9th – 19th December. Check out out kids events page for details.

Friday Fun

Because it’s Friday and the weekend starts at 3pm today, I thought we could check out some fun websites with free online games.

Here are my favs:

Sprout:  Games (scroll down the page for games based on well-known TV shows), videos, colour ins, crafts and recipes – there’s so much to do here.

Nickelodeon: Over 1000 games to play, what more could you want (apart from time to play them all)?

PBS Kids: loads of games based on well known TV shows and book characters. I especially love the Curious George and Cat in the Hat ones.

Mattel: Yes this is the company that makes barbies, but the also have Hot Wheels, Monster Trucks, Bionic Battle and Battle Force 5 (and lots of Barbie games). You can chose between different types of games – arcade, racing, make over, action, sports etc.

BBC: Another TV station web site with heaps of cool games. I really like the look of ‘Wizards vs Aliens’.

Cartoon Network: The home of Ben 10 games, also heaps of cool action adventure, sports and puzzle games.

 

 

Check out our Fun Stuff webpage for more links to awesome sites.