The holiday season is a wonderful time to encourage students to think about kindness and gratitude. A holiday card-making activity lets students create something personal and heartfelt while spreading joy. Here’s a step-by-step guide to running this activity in your classroom!
1. Gathering Materials
- Provide a variety of card-making materials, like blank cards or colored paper, markers, stickers, glitter, and holiday-themed stamps or stencils.
- Tip: Add a mix of holiday colors and fun embellishments, like ribbons or small buttons, for extra creativity.
2. Introducing the Theme of Kindness
- Activity: Begin by discussing the importance of kindness and showing appreciation for friends, family, or community members. Ask students whom they might like to give their card to and why.
- Benefits: Encourages empathy and thoughtful expression.
- Tip: Use this time to brainstorm kind messages or phrases students might include in their cards.
3. Designing the Cards
- Activity: Let students design their own holiday cards. They can draw holiday scenes, write kind messages, or use stickers to decorate. Encourage creativity and uniqueness.
- Benefits: Develops fine motor skills, self-expression, and creativity.
- Tip: Provide sample card designs or ideas to inspire students who might need a little help getting started.
4. Writing Personal Messages
- Activity: Guide students in writing short, heartfelt messages inside their cards. This could be holiday greetings, expressions of gratitude, or words of encouragement.
- Benefits: Enhances writing skills and emotional awareness.
- Tip: If needed, provide examples of messages like, “Wishing you a joyful holiday season!” or “Thank you for being a wonderful friend.”
5. Sharing and Spreading Joy
- Activity: Once the cards are completed, organize a “card exchange” where students can give cards to classmates, school staff, or community members. Alternatively, send the cards to a local charity or hospital.
- Benefits: Builds a sense of community and instills the joy of giving.
- Tip: Consider delivering the cards as a class project to local shelters or nursing homes, teaching students about giving back.
6. Reflecting on Kindness
- Activity: After the card exchange or delivery, discuss with the class how it felt to give and receive kind messages. Encourage students to share their experiences.
- Benefits: Promotes reflection and reinforces the positive impact of kind actions.
- Tip: Create a “Kindness Board” where students can share how they spread joy during the holidays.
Making holiday cards is a simple yet powerful activity to help students practice kindness and gratitude. This project allows students to express themselves creatively and shows them the joy of spreading happiness to others during the holiday season.
