DIY Halloween Card from Kids

0

Halloween CardWhen our daughter was younger, “we” made a lot of holiday cards for our far-away family. These usually consisted of a seasonal handprint or footprint. I’d paint her hand or foot, she’d stomp, I’d decorate the page to look more like whatever holiday animal or character (ghost, turkey, reindeer, etc.). Then she’d draw something inside.

As our daughter is getting closer to kindergarten, she continues to love art, but much prefers “freestyle art.” Freestyle art is messy easy! I leave out a bunch of supplies and she goes to town cutting and gluing and taping and coloring until her creation is complete. (supervision for the scissors, because, you know…hair!)

The more technical term for this is “process art.” We learned about this in preschool when a wise teacher told us it’s more about the process than the final product. Think about that for a minute, how you make something is more important than what you create.

DIY Halloween Card Process

Fast forward to Halloween. Our daughter was beyond excited to start our DIY Halloween card tradition about the time PSL showed up in August. When I asked what supplies she would need, here’s the list she came up with:

  • Halloween Washi Tape (mom tip: Michael’s has this in the bins by the registers for $0.33 each)
  • Halloween Stickers
  • REALLY spooky eyeballs
  • Markers
  • Crayons
  • Pencils
  • Haunted paper (go ahead and try to ask for help finding the “haunted paper” the next time you’re in a craft store!)

After pulling that together, I added a few more things for her to explore:

  • Cardstock
  • Scrap paper
  • Envelopes
  • Halloween stamps
  • Washable ink pads
  • Kwik Stix (these are the best if you’re looking for mess free painting!)
  • Glitter glue
  • Scissors
  • Glue

While she was working, I asked her who she was planning to mail cards to this year. “ONE FOR EVERYBODY IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!” Her Halloween excitement was both ambitious and contagious.

The end result of a four year old’s DIY Halloween card definitely won’t be in the next Stampin’ Up catalog, but she had a blast creating! I know our family will smile when they open up their cards and see the time she spent making something with them in mind.

So many holidays focus on kids getting stuff (candy, presents, etc.). It’s nice when we can change the message and let the kids give a gift from their hearts without expecting anything in return.

P.S. If you really want to go all-out on the Halloween theme, USPS sells monster and skull  stamps.