Kids writing Christmas cards

It doesn’t take a lot of expense or effort for children to write Christmas cards to all their classmates, and other friends and family. Whether anything is attached to the card or not, I think it’s a good idea for kids to write out Christmas cards.

Advantages to kids writing Christmas cards (or letters!)

1. Kids enjoy doing writing cards!
2. It provides good writing practise for them, whether they write it all themselves or copy words you write for them and even if you write some of it and they write the names.
3. It can also provide some reading practice as they read the printed content or the list of names you wrote out for them.
4. Kids don’t all have email (or other electronic) accounts so the argument of ‘we send Christmas emails now instead of cards’ won’t work for youngsters. Besides, cards are way more fun – they’re colourful, come in an envelope you can rip and you can physically hold them! It is also very nice to get something someone has obviously put effort into – kids can appreciate that as much as adults, especially if we remind them of that value.
5. It helps inspire a love of giving – the kids enjoy giving cards to each other and like making their friends smile. If that can help keep a spirit of generosity in the children, writing cards is a very small price to pay. I also like watching my children choose specific cards for each classmate as that shows thoughtfulness and consideration.
6. Sitting down to write cards is a nice quiet activity in amongst the hassle and bustle of this time of year. Plus, kids are often very tired and lacking in resilience around now (I know mine are struggling!) so some quiet time is really good for them.
   And having the kids sitting quietly for a while can be nice for parents, too! For me, I got a bit of tidying up around them done while they sat writing cards happily at the table.
7. Colourful Christmas cards make a pretty display on a wall or mantlepiece. After Christmas, they also can be cut up for kids’ craft work – or kept until next Christmas when they can be cut into gift tags, cut down for simpler Christmas postcards, or used in the creation of new Christmas cards.

So far, my kids have enjoyed writing cards to their classmates so much, they have written more – to me, to my husband, to other school friends…

Do your kids write cards for their group of friends or classmates, or perhaps even family members?