Jingle Bell Painted Thank You Notes

 

Post by Contributing Writer Amy

 

After the flurry of ripped wrapping paper is cleaned up and the toys are released from their remarkably complicated packages, it’s time to say thank you. We started by making a list together of people they got gifts from as well as the gift that was received. It turned out to be a great reflection time for the girls to think about all the people who cared about them and be thankful for all the gifts. They were more invested in making thank you notes after making the list. Even toddlers can help with this fun jingle bell painting technique!

 

 

You will need:

Blank white notecards

Jingle Bells

Washable Paint (Glitter paint was a hit!)

Painters Tape

9×13 Pan with Cover

Thank You Stamp

Stamp pad

Extra Paper

Scissors

Glue Stick

Tape the card to the bottom of the pan. I used painter’s tape to make it easier to get it off of the card without ripping.

Have your child squeeze paint drops all over the pan and add jingle bells! We ended up adding more later.

Put on the cover and shake, shake, shake! It was a hit with our toddler!

 

 

Carefully, take the card off the pan and let it dry. As they dried, the cards curled up a bit, so I put them under a stack of books overnight.

We used a second cake pan in order to do two color schemes without cleaning the pans in between shaking.

Have your child stamp or write “thank you” on white paper with enough space to cut apart.

Cut apart each stamped “Thank You”and glue on colored paper. I cut them with scrapbooking scissors, matching up the edges.

Glue the layered “Thank You” on the card and you are ready to write your note. We looked at the gift list and each girl chose who to write to first. Since neither 4 year old can write yet, I wrote for them as they dictated.

We used this very simple structure:

Dear ____________,

Thank you for the ____________! I like it because ___________ or I will use it for/when _____________. Thank you very much!

Love,

___________

They were proud to sign their own name and help get them ready for the mail. It takes valuable time to include kids in writing and sending thank you notes, but modeling and teaching gratitude are well worth it!

 

 

Amy is a former reading and third grade teacher as well as a mother to three little girls with big personalities. She believes joy can always be found in playing, learning, and ice cream.