MESS FREE Infant and Toddler Thank You Notes

Christmas is right around the corner and if you have young children you know all to well that they will soon be showered with gifts from loved ones. One of the values we want to instill into our children is gratitude.

How do you instill an attitude of gratitude when your children are 8 and 23 months old? Well,… the short answer is you live it. Our daughter is approaching two years old faster than I care to admit. I swear I just found out I was expecting… how do I have a two year old?  ANYWAY… I’ve been having a lot of conversations with my little lady about saying please and thank you, and we have had many talks about the Season and why we celebrate Christmas.

One of our conversations was about how on Christmas we give gifts to those we love; and how it is important to always take the time to acknowledge that someone thought of you. Since my girls aren’t able to form beautiful sentences and write lovely letters of thanks to all who have given them gifts I decided to let them make their own note cards.

This is not an original idea of mine, I have seen it on various social media sites. In fact, a quick search of “zip lock bag finger painting” on pinterest will yield lots of cute ideas!

Tools.

  • Heavy Paper or Cardstock
  • Finger Paint
  • Markers
  • Gallon Size Zip Lock Bag 
  • Scissors (to cut the cards out, when dry)
Instructions. 
  1. make dots or designs onto paper with various colors of paint
  2. put paint in gallon size zip lock bag
  3. seal bag
  4. allow children to play with the paint and create designs
  5. pull paper out of bag and let dry
  6. cut out note card shapes
  7. (optional) write a message on front with a marker 
Notes. 
This was SO much fun. My youngest (7 months when we did the craft) LOVED to feel the paint and watch the colors mix. I loved that this was a painting craft that didn’t end in me giving baths in the middle of the day or cleaning paint out of my carpet. 
If you are doing this craft with more than one child, I would recommend getting a couple of bags set up in advance. My oldest daughter loved this a lot more than I anticipated and so it was a little hard for her to wait for me to make more bags with paint and paper for her to play with. 
Over all I am extremely happy with the results. I think they are so cute, and will be a fun little way to include the girls in the Thank you note writing fun.  When it is time, I will allow my oldest daughter to help me “write” the notes with a crayon. She loves to send letters, and it will be another opportunity to talk with her about gratitude, and why we are writing letters to our family and friends. 

Question of the day: Do you hand write thank you notes? 

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *