How to Set Up a Greeting Card Station in Your Home

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This post is part of the 2018 Homeschooling Through the Holidays series.

Around the holidays, we are the receivers and senders of beautiful greeting cards with our family portraits. We write notes of updates of milestones and changes to our near and dear. But this year, why not do something different? Why not have your children create beautiful, personalized greeting cards that would be more meaningful. Here’s how you can set up a greeting card creating station in your home.

Why set up a greeting card creating station in your home?

Cards illustrated and written by your children will be more meaningful and personal for the receivers. Imagine your mom or sister, getting a handwritten note with a picture drawn by your son or daughter. Wouldn’t they absolutely cherish and adore it? It’d be a great keepsake for your family members. And it’d be a cherished memory for your child as well.

Also, creating a greeting card will enable your child to practice the art of letter writing. It’s a great way to get some writing in during the holidays. Writing letters can be more interesting and can motivate hesitant writers.

How to set up a Greeting card station in your home?

Materials:

Watercolor paper in greeting card size (I like to buy the 11in x 15 in watercolor pads and cut it in half (7.5in). Then using a scoring board, I score it in half again (5.5 in). Then I fold the paper to make it resemble a greeting card.)
Watercolor
Watercolor brushes
Tray
A sample of a greeting card with letter format
List of names with address
Envelopes
Postage stamps

Set up all the materials listed above in a big tray and place it on a shelf or in an area that’s accessible.
Have your child spend a day or two illustrating one side of the card using watercolors. Devoting a day or two just to design and illustrate will enable their creative juices to flow without any disruption.
He or she can choose a theme (Christmas, winter wonderland etc) for all the cards or illustrate their favorites like animals, landscapes etc. They can also personalize by illustrating a favorite of something that the receiver likes. For example, if grandma always read a certain book to the child, the child can illustrate a scene from the book. It’s really up to the child in how they design their cards.
If your child needs help with spelling and address, set up a paper with all the information they’d need for the greeting card.
With all the illustrations done, now your child can pick a day or time to write notes or letters to their loved ones.
Before your child is ready to write in the greeting card, you can have a lesson on letter writing. You can leave a sample of how a greeting card note should look in the greeting card tray station. This way, if they forget how to format a letter, they can use the sample as a reference.
Have the child write the address and place a stamp on the envelope. Now the greeting card is all ready to be mailed.

By setting up a greeting card creating station in your home, kids can learn how to send personalized, meaningful greeting cards, how to write letters and address an envelope through the holidays.

Anu is the creator of Growing Curious Minds, an educational blog brimming with hands-on learning ideas, lesson plans, and awesome printables. Anu is a wife, mother of two sweet boys, and most importantly, a follower of Jesus Christ. She has an M.Ed in Elementary Education and has taught several grades ranging from 1^st to 6^th. Today, she’s kept busy nurturing a love of learning in her boys. Follow Anu: www.instagram.com/growingcuriousminds www.pinterest.com/growingcuriousminds