Small N Great is a sub-organization of Planet Kidizen, Inc., supporting its overall purpose to support children and families in their efforts to become knowledgeable, caring, and active world citizens.
Small N Great is comprised of five programs:
The Service to Others program
Builds valuable caring muscles in young people, allowing them to think beyond their own wants and needs, and helping them develop mindfulness around the needs of others around them. This program helps children build many valuable thoughtfulness and consideration skills that are unfortunately in short supply among many of our youth currently and in generations past.
The Community Building program
Creates opportunities for young people to engage meaningfully in the human-populated environments in which they live and learn. Students are given assignments such as reading to younger children at the local library, organizing a neighborhood chess or hopscotch tournament, or hosting a town-wide youth talent show at the local high school gymnasium. Activities such as these give students a deeper sense of community connection and make for a stronger, more vibrant local culture.
The Environmental Stewardship program
Provides opportunities for young people to protect and sustainably interact with their local outdoor environments as well as supports their understanding of larger, real-world environmental challenges and opportunities. Learning activities out-of-doors help engender a sense of personal responsibility for safeguarding local parks, beaches, creeks as well as the planet at-large for their good and that of future generations, as well assists in connecting young people with the joy and wisdom that comes with finding their place in the natural world.
The Cultural Exchange program
Helps young people gain a deeper understanding of their own unique cultural heritage as well as those of other people. Students gain points in this program by availing themselves of opportunities to discuss their own culture and gain a deeper understanding of other cultures through sharing meals, conversation and in-depth study of various cultures. This program also enables young people to meet young people from other countries while travelling abroad with their families or through an exchange program. Language arts studies, dance, music, art, history and geography unique to the host country, are taught via partner organizations abroad. Through their work with people from other countries, children learn to identify positively with foreign cultures and gain a deeper understanding, comfortability and appreciation for people who are both similar to and different from themselves.
The Personal Excellence program
Supports young people in their own personal goals, interests and passions. Whether a child loves to create art, is on a swim team, or is a science wiz, this program supports their growth and development in whatever interests they are pursuing. Coaches, mentors, and teachers are invited to write notes of encouragement and improvement vouchers that students submit for points in this program. The added support and encouragement that this program provides helps keep young people stay positively focused on pursuing and improving in their individual areas of interest.
Additional components of the Small N Great programming, as provided via the SmallNGreat.com website, are Test Your Inner Strength quizzes which are fun yet thought-provoking multiple choice questions having to do with age-appropriate life decisions, and the Choose Your Path interactive videos which are a series of videos that allow members to view the beginning segment of a story and then select subsequent middle and end options depending on how the viewer thinks the story should develop. Each video teaches a different lesson on how to make the wisest and best decisions in challenging situations.