5 Tips For Making Cards with Kids

This past weekend I worked with the youth group at my church to make holiday cards for elderly and sick members of the congregation.  I wasn’t sure how many of them had used rubber stamps before, especially the teen boys, so I made a few simple cards to give them some ideas.  And came up with these few simple tips and ideas.

 

1. Discuss Why

We started out discussing the value of sending a card instead of an email or text.  And then brainstorming what they might write inside. This definitely helped focus them and they had some wonderful ideas.
  
2. Limit Supplies

I have a whole studio full of supplies that I could have brought with me, but I kept it simple so as not to overwhelm them with choices.  I gave them several stamp sets and punches to choose from plus a limited palette of markers and ink pads, a few sheets of patterned papers and card stock.

3. Keep Clean Up in Mind

• I had lots of baby wipes on hand to clean the stamps and fingers.
• I provided rhinestones and glitter pens to add sparkle, I decided against loose glitter for obvious reasons.  Buttons and ribbon also add interest without the mess!
• I put little trash cans right in the middle of the table to make clean up easy.

 4. Image Choice

This might be obvious, but the stamps that appeal to kids are:

• Easy to color, like this retired Stampin’ Up! set call Frosty.  
• Bold shapes, like the star above, that are easy to stamp and cut out.
• Cute images, like the reindeer below.
• They also had a lot of fun with different shaped punches.

5. Display Proudly

I set up a little gallery area for the kids to display their finished work and so I could take pictures.  They did such an awesome job and I wanted them to be proud of their work.

I had such a fun morning working with these thoughtful, young people.  It was 2 days after the horror in Newtown, CT and it was good to focus on something so positive in the shadow of such sadness.  The same group of kids are making snowflakes this Sunday to decorate the new school for the Sandy Hook Elementary School children in January.  I’m so proud of them!

Ali