The Safari Give-Back Challenge
Every November and December, our families do something kind for someone else — then tell us about it. This page is updated each year, with this year’s challenge below and past years further down.
Small hands, big hearts: two months of giving back to our neighbors
A challenge, not a contest
There’s no judging and there are no winners here. Your family picks one kind thing to do for someone else, does it together, and sends us a photo or a few sentences about it. Every family who takes part is featured on this page and receives a certificate. That’s the whole thing.
Kindness is a skill, and like every skill it grows with practice. Doing it as a family — the four-year-old and the twelve-year-old side by side — is what makes it stick.
Ideas Your Family Could Try
Pick one of these, or invent your own. Small counts. It’s about doing it together, not doing something big.
Feed someone
Fill a food bank box, bake for a neighbor, or make a meal for a family having a hard week.
Write to someone
Cards for a nursing home, a hospital, deployed service members, or a mail carrier who never gets thanked.
Warm someone up
Collect coats, socks, or blankets for a shelter, or build care kits for people living outside.
Help the animals
Make toys or blankets for an animal shelter, or collect food and supplies they’re short on.
Care for a place
Clean up a park, a trail, or a stretch of road, or plant something that will still be there next year.
Give what you have
Sort through toys, books, and clothes and pass the good ones on to a family who needs them.
How It Works
- Any family can join — you don’t have to be a Homeschool Safari student, and it’s completely free.
- One entry per family, with all your children taking part together. No age groups.
- Do one kind thing for someone outside your household between November 1 and December 31.
- Send a photo, a drawing, or a few sentences about what you did and who it was for.
- Faces are optional. Photograph the hands, the box, the cards, or the finished project if you’d rather not show your kids’ faces.
- Nothing is judged or ranked. Every family who joins in is featured.
What Your Family Gets
- A Certificate of Kindness with your family’s name on it
- Your project featured on this page for the whole year
- A spot in our end-of-challenge email celebrating everything our families did together
Important Dates
How to Join
Sign Up
Let us know your family is joining with our quick sign-up form. It’s free, and it helps us plan the celebration post in January.
Sign Up Your Family →Do Something Kind
Pick your project and do it together, any time between November 1 and December 31. Take a photo along the way, or have your kids draw what you did.
Tell Us About It
Email your photo or drawing and a few sentences about what you did to info@homeschoolsafari.com by 5 PM MST on December 31. Include your family name and your children’s first names and ages.
Email Your Story →This is our first Give-Back Challenge — your family’s project could be the first one on this wall.
2026/27 Our First Give-Back Challenge ▾
Photos and stories from our families will be added here in January.
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More contests this year 🦁
The Great Safari Art Contest runs this fall, the family STEM Build comes in winter, and the Nature Photo Contest arrives in spring. All free, all open to every homeschool family.
homeschoolsafari.com · Contact
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