Homemade Christmas Cards

Wanna know what has been keepin' me and my girl busy since last night? Homemade Christmas cards. And the final product... tadah!


The cotton ball snowman idea came from this familyeducation website.
And the origami christmas tree you can learn from activityvillage.

Mamas Bag of Tricks:

1. Always handy to keep some colored paper, stars and sticky thingies, and googly eyes around the house.

2. To decorate the Christmas tree, I just used a hole puncher and punched out some colored paper.

3. Try NOT to be too critical of your children's work. I assigned my daughter to do the tree decoration and the snowman. I had to bite my tongue many times. Try NOT to over-dictate their work and try NOT to do the work for them (unless they are getting tired or have lost interest). Giving them the freedom to work means giving them the freedom to be creative. It also helps them learn from their own experience (I'm sure you agree that sometimes that's the best kind of teaching). Plus, it builds their confidence.

4. Teach them to always do their best. My daughter once gave me a card that she had made herself. But I could see it was done very in a sloppy manner - scribbled handwriting, mistakes she just cancelled instead of erasing it off, words were written half on one line the other half on another line etc.... Usually I would praise her by saying how wonderful the card was BUT I realized it has become a habit for her to produce sloppy work. So I outright told her the card was terrible. Cruel huh? However, I did explain to her why I was not happy. I gave her an analogy of making a birthday cake. Imagine if it was your birthday, would you prefer a beautifully decorated cake or a half baked cake, or a cake that was crushed and crumbled? I told her that when you give a gift to someone, it has to be your best work - meaning done with effort e.g. best handwriting, best drawing etc.... Sometimes, you just have to let your children know what you expect out of them. Especially when you know they can do better. BUT also check yourself to see that your expectations are not overboard lah.