Help develop your child's language skills by making a greeting card and writing a poem together.

What You Need:

• construction paper
• marker
• crayons
• collage materials and glue (optional)
• 9" x 12" envelope

What You Do:

• Explain to your child that she can make a card to send to a friend or family member. Help your child decide whom she would like to make the card for.

• Fold a sheet of construction paper in half. Then work together to write a short poem. Write down what your child would like to say on a separate piece of paper. Then edit the poem together, making any changes your child wants. She might like to break the lines in interesting ways or change the last word of each line so that they all rhyme.

• Invite your child to decorate the cover of the card. She can draw a picture, make a portrait of the person the card is for, or create a collage with scraps of paper, square buttons, pictures from old magazines, and other interesting materials.

• Help your child copy the poem you wrote together on the inside of the card. Then your child can sign her name under the poem. On the back of the card, write that the card was especially designed and made by you and your child.

• On a 9" x 12" envelope, draw a square large enough for the address. Then invite your child to decorate the envelope, leaving the square blank. When she's done, write the address and help her add a stamp. Now you're ready to send your greetings!

More Ways to Learn

Make a look-and-see card. Cut out a 3" square in the front of the card. Then fold a sheet of clear contact paper in half (sticky side to sticky side), cut out a 4" square, and glue it to the inside of the card over the opening. Your child can draw a picture inside the card -- which will be visible through the window!

Set up a card store. Your child can operate her own card store. Give her a variety of paper to fold and decorate and a box to use as an imaginary cash register. Let her have fun pretending to run her own store -- selling her very own cards!

Top of page

Take a look at the Spanish version of this activity.