Smiley Happy People, a childcare group for children aged between three months and 11 years old, embraced ‘Random Acts Kindness’ day by selflessly giving back to the Launceston community.

The club runs a weekly theme that they link with local and global events. ‘Kindness’ was the theme recently and the children did a variety of kindness-based activities. Starting on Monday, the children baked random acts of kindness biscuits and cakes. The group, which is based at both Launceston and Trethorne, then went around the town and Newport Industrial Estate to give the unsuspecting public their bakes, along with a positive message, to smile or to have a happy day. One of the lucky recipients, Rosemarie Lane, said: “It was lovely. It really cheered me up that day, a smile can make all the difference in someone’s day. It’s great to encourage young people to do this sort of thing.”

It didn’t stop there, on Tuesday the group of young children went into their woodland area to play collaborative games with their forest school leader, they worked in pairs and teams to share ideas on how they could be kind to plants and animals. On Wednesday, they made cards and letters as a gift to give to their family and friends. Then on Thursday they were joined by residents from St Stephens Court Sheltered Accommodation, for a games morning, which they hope they can continue to do in the future, as the children and the residents both thoroughly enjoyed the morning and were both able to benefit from each others’ company. To finish the week, on Friday, they visited the local food bank and charity shop, with toys and clothes, to learn about volunteers and how the charity works. They then presented them with a cake followed up by a visit to the food bank, with food donated by parents and staff from the childcare group. In return the children were given a book, or a sticker book each, so that they were also able to come away with something.

Smiley Happy People owner, Vron Walters, said: “The children were really excited during the whole of their kindness themed week.

“It really opened some of their eyes. During the week we spoke about what kindness is and what it means to be kind.”

Vron explained that they had a really positive reaction from the members of the public. She said: “Not one person turned away receiving one of the children’s biscuits or cakes. Many were surprised when they had a little three-year-old approach them with a biscuit and telling them to have a nice day!

“We had around 60 to give out, to both the young and elderly.”

According to Vron, she felt it was particularly important for the children to see the whole process through from start to finish. She continued: “They loved baking their tasty treats and were able to get the true feeling of selflessness when they handed them out for nothing in return. They were so disappointed when they ran out of gifts to give people. They wanted to carry on and give more!”

Thursday’s events were enjoyed so much by the residential group, they emailed Smiley Happy People straight after to ask if they could come back another time. Vron explained: “Everyone played along to the variety of games and we even got chance to play bingo with them. We felt as though both sets of people really benefitted from the experience and we can’t wait to do it again.”

Vron and Anna Dymond sit down most weeks to discuss their chosen weekly topic and they couldn’t be happier with the results they had from this. Vron said: “We try and cover all sorts of things, like this and topics around the environment. It has been a really fun week for all of us, not just the children! It has been lovely to do nice and kind hearted things throughout. We know that the children and their parents will continue to be as kind as they have been this week.”

For more information about the Smiley Happy People call 01566770895 or 01566880276, or find them on Facebook.