I want to teach my children to be thankful for what they receive. The holidays are a time when we have a lot of discussions about how giving can make others feel good just like we feel when we receive gifts.  I created a little activity for my children to make homemade greeting cards and thank you notes with wrapping paper scraps. You only need 4 simple supplies (that you already have at home) to try this DIY project with your children from preschool age through the school age years.

We emphasize the Jesus lessons of Christmas, and the story of Saint Nicholas, to teach our children the power of giving. A fun aspect of Christmas is unwrapping gifts, and recycling the gift wrap teaches good lessons of conservation and care for the environment.

When my children receive gifts, I use writing thank you notes as a way to teach gratitude. We explore this with the Thankful Book lesson at Thanksgiving which is a great activity for preschoolers and school age kids, but at Christmas (and every day) being thankful is just as important. I saved some scraps of gift wrap that had big designs or bold, simple patterns. I also grabbed some leftover tulle from our scrap collage materials. Even simple construction paper scraps will work great for this.

 Homemade Thank You Notes Made by Kids

Additionally, we used glue, scissors and glitter glue (optional) to create these homemade greeting cards.

My preschooler used kid scissors to cut out small snowflakes and cut bigger pieces of the gift wrap into small squares. She had some scissor skills practice!

I cut some of the bigger images out. This is a great project to do together. Even toddlers can place the wrapping paper scraps onto glue dots that you place on the cards.

We piled up our cut out pieces of wrapping paper, and using pre-made cards or construction paper cut in half and folded, we glued scraps of the wrapping paper to the fronts of our cards.

 

 

My oldest son was at school when we worked on these, so when he came home he was able to see our cards. He said he liked them! For my preschooler, getting a compliment from her big brother is worth a lot!

Once the cards are dry, help your child (if necessary) write a note on the inside. We use up leftover envelopes from our Christmas greeting cards to send our homemade thank you cards to loved ones. It is my goal to have the kids make these as our Christmas cards one year-simple, free or very inexpensive, and a nice personal touch. It is a great lesson in caring for others by sending notes of love and thanks.