Ready-to-Use READ — CREATE — REFLECT — SHARE Activity Guides

Flexible Children’s Activities for Libraries, Schools, Homeschool Groups, and Community Programs

Choose an Activity. Adapt It. Make It Your Own.

These guides help partners turn 365 for Kids stories, science content, literature, and virtue resources into meaningful creative activities.

Each guide includes:

  • a suggested age range;
  • estimated time;
  • basic materials;
  • step-by-step instructions;
  • discussion prompts;
  • a sharing step and an optional connection to a nationwide public program

No special curriculum or expensive equipment is required.

See some examples:
STORY INTO ART
SCIENCE THROUGH ART
READ WITH MEANING
ONE MOMENT. ONE VIRTUE. ONE CHOICE

How to Use the Guides

A Flexible Starting Point

Partners may:

  • follow a guide as written;
  • shorten or extend the activity;
  • use their own suitable story or selected 365 for Kids content;
  • adapt questions for different ages;
  • offer the activity once or repeat it throughout the year.

Participation in the annual national programs is optional.

See the 2026 program

STORY INTO ART

Listen. Imagine. Create.

Children listen to or read a story, discuss the moment that stayed with them, and create an original visual interpretation.

Suggested format: 45–60 minutes
Materials: Paper, pencils, crayons, markers, paint, or other basic art supplies
Adaptable for: Ages 6–17

Basic activity flow:

  1. Read or listen to a selected story.
  2. Ask children what image, character, place, or moment they remember most.
  3. Invite each child to create an original artwork inspired by the story.
  4. Ask children to title their work and share one sentence about it.

Optional next step:

Eligible artwork may be submitted by a parent or guardian to the Annual Children’s Stories & Art Exhibition.

SCIENCE THROUGH ART

Listen. Discover. Visualize.

Children explore a short science story and transform one new idea into a drawing, diagram, model, or imaginative visual explanation.

Suggested format: 45–60 minutes
Materials: Paper and common art or craft materials
Adaptable for: Ages 6–14, with extensions for older children

Basic activity flow:

  1. Listen to or read a selected science story.
  2. Identify one surprising fact or important idea.
  3. Invite children to visualize what they learned.
  4. Ask each child to complete:
    • One new thing I learned…
    • One question I still have…
  5. Invite children to show their visual explanation and share one thing they learned or one question they still have.

Possible themes:

  • animals and nature;
  • space;
  • the human body;
  • oceans;
  • electricity and magnetism;
  • engineering and technology;
  • natural phenomena;
  • science in everyday life.

Explore Kids Science Adventures
Download Activity Card

READ WITH MEANING

Choose a Page. Find the Meaning. Use Your Voice.

Children explore how tone, pauses, emphasis, and personal understanding can bring a literary passage to life.

Suggested format: 45–60 minutes
Materials: Printed or digital literary excerpts
Adaptable for: Ages 8–17

Basic activity flow:

  1. Listen to an example of expressive reading.
  2. Discuss how voice can change the way a passage is understood.
  3. Invite children to select and practice a short passage.
  4. Ask:
    • Why did you choose this passage?
    • What feeling, virtue, or idea do you find in it?
  5. Children may read to a partner or small group.

Important note:

The library activity does not need to include recording.

Children who wish to participate in Voices from the Heart must use the official reading list and submit an individual recording through a parent or guardian.

ONE MOMENT. ONE VIRTUE. ONE CHOICE.

Notice the Good. Remember a Moment. Express What It Means.

Children listen to or read a short story involving a meaningful choice. They then connect the story with a real or imagined moment and express their reflection through writing or art.

Suggested format: 45–60 minutes
Materials: Paper, pencils, optional drawing materials
Adaptable for: Ages 6–17

Basic activity flow:

  1. Read or listen to a short story involving a virtue.
  2. Identify the moment when a character made a meaningful choice.
  3. Invite children to think of a moment when they noticed, received, or practiced a similar virtue.
  4. Children may write, draw, dictate, or discuss their response.
  5. Older children may develop the reflection into an original text.
  6. Invite children who feel comfortable to share their drawing, writing, or reflection with the group.

Reflection prompts:

  • What happened?
  • What virtue did you notice?
  • Why did the moment matter?
  • What choice would you make?

Optional next step:

Eligible original writing may be submitted to Pages of Virtue.

Extend the SHARE Step Throughout the Year

When a library, school, homeschool group, or community organization hosts a 365 for Kids activity, the experience does not have to end when the session ends.

Partner organizations may work with 365 for Kids to create a dedicated Community Showcase page featuring selected artwork, writing, reflections, and other child-created responses from their activities.

Appropriate parent, guardian, and organizational permissions are required. Community Showcase publication is optional and is separate from participation in the annual 365 for Kids programs.

Explore Community Showcases

Let’s Work Together

Interested in Using an Activity Guide?

Tell us which activities interest your organization, whether you plan to host a children’s session, and how 365 for Kids can support your work.

Let’s Work Together
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