Did you know that over 7 billion greeting cards are purchased every year? Sending a thoughtful message to a loved one is big business.
And although people clearly love giving and receiving cards, they are much more appreciated when they’re handmade. With some imagination, a little creativity, and a few supplies, you can turn your card making ideas into beautiful keepsakes the whole family will love.
Nothing shows thoughtfulness like personalization. And you don’t need to be Van Gogh or work for Hallmark to design a beautiful card. It’s so easy, kids can do it (and do it well)!
For parents, helping your kids design greeting cards is a great activity that will keep them busy and encourage self-expression. They’ll learn new skills and you save money on buying a card that won’t get the same reaction from its recipient because it’s not homemade.
The next time you want to celebrate a special occasion, consider these wonderful card making ideas for kids.
#1 DIY Card Making Ideas For Kids
Experiment with Different Techniques
Creating art should be a fun learning opportunity. Encourage your child’s creativity by allowing them to try many different techniques and take as much ownership over the project as possible.
Be on hand to support and encourage. For any part of the project that requires deft knife skills, be sure to step in. But as your child’s experience and abilities increase give them the freedom to express themself with these card making ideas.
Potato Print Cards
Kids don’t need fancy tools and supplies to have a good time. A regular baking potato makes a perfectly fun stamp they can use to make cards.
You’ll need cookie cutters in your kids’ favorite shape, a paper towel, paint, a kitchen knife, and a potato. It’s best to have a different potato for every color. For images requiring a larger surface area, try a sweet potato.
To begin, slice the potato in half. Insert the cookie cutter deep into the potato and cut around its shape, exposing the raised impression within. Remove the cookie cutter and dab the potato dry with your paper towel.
Now your kid is ready to paint! The only limit is their imagination (and the amount of potatoes in your pantry).
Don’t want to use potatoes? Your kid can use the cookie cutters as stamps and try out all their creative card making ideas.
Fingerprint Art Cards
Your kids’ fingers are fantastic art accessories. Help them create cards everyone will remember with fingerprint art. All you need are finger paints or an ink pad, colored markers to fill in doodles, and 10 eager child-sized fingers.
The pictures they can create are endless. From funky-colored animal fur to spaceships to a unique family portrait, your kids will have so much fun designing their own cards.
For your next family Christmas card, how about letting your kid depict each person using his or her fingerprint as the face and decorating around it? Your friends and relatives will love receiving a personalized card.
Need a bigger surface area? Let your child use her entire hand print to make a special design. And like your kids’ fingerprints, no two cards will ever be the same.
Pop-Up Cards
Kids love pop-up books. Seeing their favorite story characters spring from the page fills them with excitement and helps make reading fun.
Making a pop-up card is a great idea for kids because it lets them recreate this same magic. They can bring their favorite animal or shape to life, and these cards are easier to create than you might think.
To construct a simple yet beautiful pop-up heart card for Valentine’s Day, here are the simple steps your kid will need to follow:
First, fold a sheet of construction paper in half. Red is a great choice for the occasion. Next, draw two half-hearts, one a little larger than the other, along the fold of the paper.
Then, cut out the two half hearts, leaving only about an inch uncut. Unfold the paper and use a glue stick to apply glue to the back of it. Attach your cutout sheet to another (preferably different colored) paper.
Line up your sheets of paper to make sure the hearts pop out in the center of your card. Voila! Your kid’s Valentine’s Day card will be heartfelt and beautiful.
Magazine Cards
For the kid who likes crafts, sifting through old magazines can spark many wonderful card making ideas. Plus it will help you recycle all those old magazines you’ve been meaning to get rid of anyway.
You’ll need the aforementioned magazines, card stock, glue, and scissors. If you don’t have card stock, you can recycle old brochures or even cereal boxes.
Let your kid’s creativity run wild.
You can help them decide on a design and find matching images or encourage them to think about the things they love about the person who is receiving their card. From there they can search for phrases or pictures that convey that emotion.
The time and effort that your child put into creating their own magazine card will not go unnoticed.
Nature Cards
Incorporating nature can lead to fun and creative card making ideas. The added bonus of spending time outdoors and teaching your child about their surroundings makes this a great learning opportunity as well.
Live near a beach or lake? Try making sand art cards. Collect sand on a fun family outing with your kid and help them decide what colorful sea adventure they want to depict.
Construct foam or cardboard cutouts of fish, seaweed, or whatever their imagination insists. Apply the cutouts to the sticky side of a piece of contact paper (you’ll want to hold the paper down with masking tape) and fill in the rest with sand.
Sand cards are fun to make and don’t require your kids to use any messy glue. Rocks, dried flowers, and leaves can also all be used to create unique cards.
#2 DIY Card Making Ideas For Kids
Encourage Gratitude with Thank You Card Making Ideas
There are so many wonderful card making ideas that your child will be able to create something meaningful regardless of his or her current skill level. Encourage their effort and teach them the value in showing appreciation for others.
Thank you cards are the perfect tool for this. They’ll learn lessons about appreciation by showing gratitude and the person receiving the card will know they put time and effort into making it.
Store-bought cards can be impersonal and are never the most appropriate choice for kids. Creating their own thank you cards gives kids the perfect opportunity to think about what the recipient would like and make something unique for them.
Plan a “thank you card making day” right after your kid’s birthday or Christmas. They’ll be excited about the special activity and it won’t feel like a chore. It will also teach them the importance of prompt follow up and build good habits.
In addition to creating the cover for the card, have them write their own message inside if they’re old enough. If they’re not yet, hep them by writing the message but let them tell you what they’re grateful for.
#3 DIY Card Making Ideas For Kids
Make Holiday Cards Filled with Meaning
The holidays are a great time to sit down with your kids and design cards your family and friends will love. And with so many special occasions throughout the year, you can turn this into a fun way to get in the spirit, reinforce important lessons, and save money at the same time.
Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity to show love without breaking the bank. Help your kids make cards for their friends that express something they like about each one of them.
You can use the Christmas season to encourage your kids to design scenes that reflect your family’s values. Make a fingerprint nativity scene or a Christmas tree with a cutout ornament representing each family member, for example. Try out these other 9 ways to make Christmas meaningful for kids.
Keep the kids busy at the craft table while Thanksgiving dinner cooks. Have them create cards that show a cornucopia of things they’re grateful for. A hand print tracing makes the perfect turkey body. Draw in some colorful feathers and add googly eyes and your kid will have an awesome Thanksgiving card to show off.
Start the year off right by creating your own New Year’s Day cards. This is a fun group activity that’ll encourage your kid to work on goal setting. Try out these 10 ideas for an inspirational card of your own and help your kid make a child-appropriate version as well.
Mother’s Day, birthdays, anniversaries, and all the special events on your calendar present great opportunities to try out your favorite card making ideas. Your kid will get better each time they create something new and their confidence will grow as friends and family appreciate the effort.
DIY Cards and Beyond
Save money and still give the people you love gifts that they’ll treasure with simple DIY projects from the heart. We can support all your card making ideas with useful tips and tricks.
Whether you want the perfect Christmas family postcard or are looking for elaborate decoration ideas for your holiday gathering, you’ll find the resources you need for all your creative projects on our site.
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