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All-Star Coaches Guide: How to Help Project Guidelines
Project Guidelines

What is and is not age appropriate service for K-5 students?

Sometimes it is just as important to know what not to do as what to do. Below we have highlighted some projects for comparison.

Is age appropriate...

  • Participating in an environmentally conscious project, like a beach clean up.
  • Making placemats for a soup kitchen or homeless shelter.
  • Read-a-thon projects, where students read to younger kids.
  • Initiating a litter patrol at school during lunch or recess.
  • Collecting used books for a shelter for homeless children.
  • Performing plays and skits depicting community problems and their solutions.
  • Visiting senior citizens who live in a nearby home.

    Is not age appropriate...

  • Test water samples from a local lake or river and document the findings for the community.
  • Volunteering in a soup kitchen or homeless shelter.
  • Organizing a phonics fair to help improve reading skills.
  • Starting a recycling program for the entire school.
  • Writing letters to corporations asking for donations for a shelter for homeless children.
  • Holding a youth summit to dialogue about problems in the community and possible solutions.
  • Collecting and writing a personal or community oral history by interviewing senior citizens.

      Quick Jump

  • Getting Started
  • How to Help Select a Project
  • Trouble-shooting Tips for Popular Types of Volunteer Projects for Young People
  • Designing Age-Appropriate Projects
  • Project idea starters and examples of service projects for grades K-5
  • What is and is not age appropriate service for K-5 students?
  • Project idea starters and examples of service projects for grades 6-8
  • What is and is not age appropriate service for grades 6-8?
  • Project idea starters and examples of service projects for high school students
  • What is and is not age appropriate service for high school students?