So – I just published this 5 Ways to Teach Your Kids to Be a Cheerful Giver post and in it, I talked about fun and encouraging ways to teach your kids how to give cheerfully, in their schools and communities. It’s really a valuable lesson that kids should learn early.

One of the ways I mention is collecting Box Tops on select General Mills® products! We’ve collected Box Tops for years, even before little man started school himself. We love to shop at Walmart, not only for the prices and convenience, but because of the Bonus Box Tops offers they have. When I see Bonus Box Tops, I hear “cha-ching!“…haha!!

One way that you can get your kids excited about collecting Box Tops is to set up a Box Tops for Education COMMAND Center in a designated spot. Preferably in or near the kitchen/dining room area since most of your Box Tops will come from products in the kitchen.

Here’s what you’ll need to create your own Box Tops Command Center:

1. Designated Bin

A bin or container to hold empty packaging with Box Tops on them. Designate this container to store product boxes and then when it’s full, let the kiddo get to work cutting out Box Tops! Having a designated container to keep them in will remind you NOT to throw that package away before clipping the Box Tops!!

2. Scissors

Keep a pair of scissors or two handy in your Box Tops Command Center so that when it’s time to clip, you won’t have to hunt down a pair of scissors!

3. A Box Tops Collection Bank

Rinse out an old spaghetti sauce jar or peanut butter jar…something with a lid. Use this to drop your Box Tops in after you’ve clipped them from the packaging. If your lid is plastic, you (or your handy dandy husband, ahem) could dremel out a slit in the lid to drop Box Tops in like a bank. Once it’s full, empty all the Box Tops into a ziploc baggie and send it to school. Then start refilling your collection bank all over again!

4. A Friend to Keep Them Company

Yes. If your kids are anything like mine, their attention gets diverted alot. They sometimes have trouble sticking to the task at hand. If your container or bin is super full and overflowing, clipping all those Box Tops can get tedious for the littles. Give them a break to play with their favorite DINO or game, and then challenge them to get back to work. The job’s done when the bin is empty!

5. A Grand Total

After all the Box Tops have been clipped (whether you do it weekly, bi-weekly or monthly), take a few minutes afterwards and count up how much money has been collected this time around. This always gains a little excitement to know that their hard work is paying off!

On your next trip to Walmart, check out your favorite products for those Bonus Box Tops offers on select General Mills® products! Even if you don’t have children in school, you can still support your local school systems by collecting and turning them in. Every little bit helps and it certainly adds up!!

Do you have a Box Tops for Education collection system in place at your house?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of General Mills®. The opinions and text are all mine.

5 Ways to Teach Kids to be a Cheerful Giver!

There are two kinds of kids. Kids who will gladly give you their very last fruit snack…and then there are those who would rather poke their eye out than to give up that last fruit snack!

I was taught early that giving is kind, and that there are kids who are wayyyy less fortunate than I. I never really saw kids in need firsthand, as a child myself…but as an adult, I see it all the time and it’s heart breaking.

We live in a very small and rural area. Our school districts are rather small, and so they depend on grants and donations a lot in order to keep the schools up to date with computers, etc. I wanted to share a few ways that we like to give back to our community and schools, and how YOU can too! Let’s start early and with our own – to teach kids to be a cheerful giver! It’s one of the MOST important lessons they’ll ever learn in their little lives.

1. Fill a Bag/Box

Most schools have food drives that they work on weekly. Our school actually fills bags up to pass out to kids on Fridays so that they can have food over the weekend, if they’re in need. Sign your kids up to help in filling bags/boxes if these programs are available, and remind them to be a “cheerful” giver!

2. Pack Extra in Their Lunchbag

Maybe the kid that sits next to YOUR kid at the lunch table is hungry and looking for seconds. Sometimes, kids just know that other kids need more but are afraid to ask. Ask your kid if their lunch table neighbor seems hungrier than the other kids! Pack an extra banana, juice pouch, muffin, etc. and let your child be a cheerful giver a couple of times a week to their hungry friend at school.

3. Canned Food Drives

Yep! Watch for those fliers to arrive in your kids’ backpacks. Those cans of food that will either expire or never get eaten at your house (you know what I’m talkin’ about!) can do a world of good for someone else. You pack a bag/box of canned goods from your cabinet, and then let your child pack one too! Remind them to be cheerful!

4. Clothing Drive

When the clothing drive comes around, let your kids go through their closet and pick out things that they haven’t worn in awhile. Give them a certain number of items to pull from their closets to give away at the school clothing drive. Or have them use from their allowance (cheerfully) to buy hat/gloves to donate. Using their own money, gives them the sense of accomplishment in learning to be a cheerful giver.

5. Box Tops for Education

We’ve collected Box Tops for YEARS! Even before my son went to school. Did you realize that you can earn money from General Mills® through Box Tops and that for EVERY Box Top collected, $0.10 goes to buy items for your school? They add up quickly and can be used for anything the school needs. Computers, printers, anything!

Give your kids the job of cutting and collecting Box Tops to donate to their school. Fill them in on what Box Tops are and how they can benefit their very own classroom!!! Keep a tally of how much money you’ve collected each week or month! When they see that money add up, they’ll get VERY excited!

One of kiddos favorite breakfast cereals in Cinnamon Toast Crunch! Since we go through so much of it, it just makes sense to go for the family size PLUS cha-chingggggg, on those Bonus Box Tops!

We always shop at Walmart – it’s our home away from home. We tend to always buy things that we know we can get Box Tops on. Especially when we find BONUS Box Tops!!! Always keep your eye out for those! Box Tops for Education has contributed over $525 million to participating schools since the launch of the program in 1996. Visit Box Tops to see all the participating items you can buy to help donate to your kids’ school!

Always remind them that what they’re doing is really helping others who need these things, be it clothes, food, money, or time. Giving with a cheerful heart is so much more rewarding to us and the people we give to!

How do you teach your kids to be a cheerful giver?