Service Projects
Service Project Ideas Web Resources
- Mentor for Big Brother/Big Sister
- Coordinate "Senior Home Repair" projects
- Gather donations to a food bank
- Make ramps for those confined to wheelchairs
- Serve at a soup kitchen for the poor
- Tutor at a kids club
- Read for the blind
- Read to the aged in an assisted living setting
- Record life history stories of the elderly
- Record stories of war veterans
- Garden for poor families
- Construct/Maintain a hiking trail
- Produce a public service announcement
- Build benches and tables for public parks
- Collect clothing for the homeless
- Raise funds for new books in a public library
- Cleanup a local public park or facility
- Collect Resources for a women's shelter
- Protect a pond or a feature of the local natural environment
- Mentor ESL students
- Collect recyclable items
- Tutor students in lower grades in reading
- Interview a senior citizen
- Organize a dance for special education students
- Organize CPR training for students
- Organize community reading labs
- Organize and participate in a neighborhood watch program
- Provide an information packet for new residents of a community
- Create an informational brochure for ESL students
- Assist a religious organization (other than your own) in community involvement
- Create and maintain a community bulletin board, newsletter, or website
- Assist a political candidate in an election
- Create financial planning brochures for high school students
- Volunteer time to those on Social Security Disability
- Design a float for a service organization for a parade
- Create a mural for a community reflecting its values
- Design a presentation on pesticides and the environment for younger students
- Create a children's book on a local event or person
- Create coloring books for abused children
- Develop and distribute a pamphlet on child labor laws
- Make quilts for the homeless
- Provide entertainment for nursing home residents
- Tutor immigrants in preparation for the Citizenship Test
- Provide free computer instruction in a library or school lab
- Coach physically disabled students in a team sport
- Participate in a local Habitat for Humanity home construction project
- Befriend a student struggling with mental illness
- Sing and play games with children suffering from
- HIV/AIDS Volunteer to babysit for economically disadvantaged parents
- Plan a community garden
- Volunteer to help with the special Olympics
- Organize a read-a-thon for your neighborhood
- Create and perform a puppet show for children in a crisis center
- Arrange for a bakery to donate day old bread to a homeless shelter
- Design greeting cards for the elderly
- Care for a local cemetery
- Produce public service announcements
- Paint and place trash receptacles for a park or recreation area
- Start a letter writing campaign about a community issue
- Participate in a walkathon for a worthy cause
- Join an Interact Club at Rotary Clubs International
- Work on projects with Americorps
- Participate in Peer Youth Courts
- Become involved in Youth Engaged in Homeland Security - Dept. of Public Safety
- Involvement in 4-H
- Involvement in Boy Scouts of America
- Clean up neighbor's yards around a school
- Clean up the school yard by classes
- Shovel snow for the elderly and needy in your neighborhood
- Work on the local city council
- Read with younger children
- Making hats for the poor
- Do a book-a-thon collecting used books to reuse
- Take Christmas blankets out to the needy in your neighborhood as a field trip
- Push in carts at a local store during thanksgiving and Christmas rush times
- Take dinner to the poor and needy at Christmas and thanksgiving
- Pen pal with the aged in retirement centers
- Take Christmas stockings to the police and firemen in your town
- Send thank-you notes to the PTA
![National Youth Leadership Council](images/service/nylc_logo.gif)
This organization has published a variety of materials to support different aspects of Service Learning.
![Volunteer Match](images/service/volunteer.gif)
This site does not have curriculum ties or project ideas, but it provides information for organizations who frequently work with volunteers and might be willing to partner with a school on a project you design.
![Award-winning Projects in Maryland](images/service/msde.gif)
Includes their state curriculum standards and project descriptions.
![Twenty-Five Days to Make a Difference](images/service/25.jpg)
A child's ongoing blog where she recognizes others efforts and describes "little things" she does every day to make a difference in the lives of others. Created to honor her grandfather in December of 2007, it has grown considerably since.
![Good Character](images/service/good.gif)
This web site has a variety of resources. The link is direct to a collection of examples. There were good ideas - some with clear curriculum connections, others stretching a bit.
![Learn and Serve: America's National Service-Learning Clearinghouse](images/service/service.gif)
This web site was not as easy to use as some of the others, but there are over 350 curriculum-tied examples for K-12 service-learning projects.