Inside: A kid-made Christmas card that glows in the dark and lights up the night during the holiday season. It will get you in the holiday spirit in no time.
If you are like most families, you probably order your family Christmas cards on Shutterfly or a similar photo company. We do, too. But we also find it fun to create a few handmade cards for immediate family members.
I initially started this tradition because I wanted my kids to practice fine motor skills with all the cutting, gluing, writing, and drawing that’s involved. But now we keep doing it because we like the excuse to sit down and craft together. We also like how our house is festively covered with glitter for the holidays (because we all know that glitter never stays in the crafting area but spreads everywhere).
This year we are obsessed with glow in the dark paints. Glow in the dark pumpkin, glow in the dark ornaments, and now glow in the dark Christmas cards, too. Creating with glow in the dark paint is a lot of fun.
Card idea in a nutshell: Kids draw their favorite winter shapes (snowflakes, Xmas tree, snowman, etc.) on a piece of construction paper and then cover them with glow in the dark paint. They can either fill in the shape or decorate it with glitter, buttons, or even Lego.
Today we are demonstrating our glow in the dark Christmas trees.
What you need
- Glow in the dark paints (this non-toxic paint is phosphorescent)
- Printing paper, scrapbook paper, construction paper, or cardstock paper
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What to do
- Discuss with your kids what they have in mind: the shape of a Christmas card, the color of paper, the shape of their design, and paint colors.
- We used our “traditional” size. I cut a piece of scrapbook paper in half to make a 12×6 piece and folded it. So our Christmas cards ended up being 6×6.
- Paint a Christmas tree. There are many ways to go about it. You can draw an outline of a tree and fill it in (or leave it empty). Two layers of paint might be necessary to achieve the desired intensity of color.
- Christmas tree shape can be created with lines, circles, or triangles.
- Once the tree is dry, you can decorate it. My kids enjoyed placing little dots of paint all over with a brush.
My toddler was fascinated with this glow-in-the-dark card. She carried it around with her all evening.
Christmas tree made with multi-colored lines looks festive and unique.
It’s not easy to take good photos in the dark. So in order to take above pics, I was shining a small UV blacklight flashlight on our cards.
DIY Christmas cards is a great way to inspire little kids to use their creativity muscles. But you know what’s even better? The time spent talking about the recipient of the card and what they are going to think when they get it.
What are your favorite homemade cards ideas?
This post is part of a series called Kid-Made Christmas hosted by Teach Me, Mommy. Be sure to check out Gingerbread Man Photo Ornament, Simple Sugar Scrub That Kids Can Make, Pipecleaner and Pompom Xmas Cards, and visit Teach Me, Mommy for even more ideas and inspiration.
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Beautiful! Kids would love this.