Greeting Cards - Guidelines for the Activities

The write start - Jennifer Hallissy 2010

Greeting Cards
Guidelines for the Activities

IT USED TO BE relatively easy to pick out a greeting card. There were only a couple of choices, for only the most typical of occasions. Now it’s a different story. Greeting cards make music and light up; I’m sure some even dance. They’re made for occasions I’ve never even heard of, and they reflect every possible personal relationship. (I know people who have the knack for finding the most surprisingly appropriate greeting card for any time of the year; think: happy Groundhog Day, from your second-cousin-twice-removed.)

So how come, with all of this hyper-personalization, store-bought greeting cards feel more impersonal than ever? They still share a cookie-cutter quality. Even with all the variety, there’s a certain “one size fits all” assumption.

Enter the handmade, handwritten, greeting card. It’s certainly more personal than the alternative, and it’s a perfect fit every time. While your child’s card might not play a tune, they can make it for a song, and it’s sure to brighten the day of anyone who is lucky enough to receive it.

MATERIALS

card stock

crayons and markers

stampers and ink pad

stickers

HOW-TO

Fold the card stock in half. Have your child decorate the outside of the card and write a heartfelt (or funny!) message inside.

Variations

For Scribblers: Pre-writers will enjoy using stampers and stickers to decorate and “write” on their cards.

For Spellers: Help Spellers spell big words like “birthday,” “anniversary,” and “congratulations,” if they ask. The rest they should be able to do on their own.

For Storytellers: Storytellers may want to include a poem, a joke, or a funny little anecdote.

For Scholars: Scholars may want to design a whole collection of cards, one for every special day they can think of. This way, they will have cards at the ready when occasions arise.