The young lockdown legends

The events over the past year have truly shaken up a lot of our “normal” lives, and the various lockdowns seem to have boosted everyone’s community spirit. We’ve all heard the inspiring stories about lockdown legends like the millions of people signing up to volunteer in their local communities, and the efforts some of the nation’s children have shown to help others have blown us away: from raising thousands of pounds for local foodbanks, to creating workout videos to help keep other kids active, our hearts have been well and truly warmed by their amazing altruistic acts.

Take 12-year old Noah (perhaps better known on Instagram as @background_bob), who has collaborated with artists from around the world to create an artwork auction, raising money for his local hospitals’ charity, and 14-year-old Oscar, who has been helping out younger children missing out on school by organising online reading sessions.

We’ve also been totally inspired by the stories some of our nimbl users have shared with us about how they are helping to make a difference in their communities – from those who have helped vulnerable neighbours with collecting shopping and with their gardening, to those who have used their pocket money to help a charity close to their heart.

If your children are eager to make a difference in your community, or if you want to help teach them the value of helping others, here are some of our top suggestions for getting involved:

Putting pocket money aside

If your kids have a particular charity they want to support, why not encourage them to keep a portion of their weekly or monthly pocket money aside to save up as a donation to the charity? Encouraging them to divide their pocket money into thirds for spending, saving and charity will not only teach them a good budgeting technique, but will help them help others too!

Have a go at fundraising

For any larger fundraising efforts that your kids may be keen to get involved with, have a go at setting yourselves a lockdown-friendly challenge for which your kids could be sponsored – whether it’s a run or a walk, or a virtual cooking competition, sponsored activities are a great way to involve friends and family in the fundraising fun!

Try out a litter walk

Why not teach your children to help look after your local outdoors spaces by going litter picking together on your daily outdoor walks? All you need is a litter picker and a rubbish bag, and you and the kids can all get out and about to help keep your nearby nature tidy.

Rewarding their altruistic behaviour

If your kids need a little extra encouragement to help out vulnerable or elderly neighbours with tasks such as shopping or even car washing, consider agreeing to supplement their pocket money when they help others – after all, it’s a great way to teach them that acts of kindness can pay off!

Find your local foodbank

For those kids who are eager to help out people and families relying on foodbanks, The Trussell Trust has loads of information on the various different ways they can help nearby foodbanks. From collecting food from supermarkets and fundraising, to volunteering, there are so many ways you and your kids can get involved to stop UK hunger.

No matter what your children are able to do, even the smallest acts of kindness in these tricky times can make a huge difference – and we’re so proud of all of nimbl’s incredible lockdown legends!

If you or your child would like to tell us about the incredible altruistic acts they have done, we’d love to hear from you – simply send us a tweet or message on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook!

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