Kids Craft: Handmade Cards

Every year at the holiday time, we like to do some sort of service project as a family. This year we are making fleece blankets for Project Linus and also making cards to be delivered by our local Meals on Wheels organization. I turned to Pinterest for some inspiration. We took some art project ideas and did them in miniature.



The snowmen and penguin are hand drawn by my kids in fine sharpie marker. We all sat around the table and I did a directed draw with them so I would draw one line and they would mimic the motion on their own card. My kids are age 5-13 so they all do pretty well. My older kids were pretty self-directed once I got them started. With younger children, you could do the drawing in pencil and let them trace in marker or you could draw and have them help color it in. We use colored pencils and crayons to do the coloring.

For the star cards, we stuck star stickers to watercolor paper and then painted over them using watercolors in blue and purple. When the paint was wet, we sprinkled salt across it. The salt changes the effect as the paper dries. Once it was all dry, we just brushed the salt off.

Every miniature work of art was then glued to white cardstock. We used the sharpie markers to draw a line around each piece to frame them a little better. Fun, simple mesages were written inside. We are really hoping they will brighten the days of the seniors who receive them.

Simple acts of service allow us to give of ourselves to help those around us - it is what the holidays are all about.