As a young girl, I can remember my parents insistent on me writing thank you letters. In fact, it is something that I have continued into adulthood. Now that I have children of my own, I want them to show kind gestures of gratitude as well. So, while my older three kids are very capable of writing notes and thank you letters on their own, my 4 year olds need a little bit of help! So, I created Little Letters!
Little Letters is a collection of notes/letters that younger children can trace and illustrate. The idea of this printable is to get our little ones in the habit of having a thankful heart and expressing their gratitude through letters. Plus it is a fun way to sneak in some extra writing practice!
The first FREE printable from the Little Letters collection is the Christmas Thank You letter!
Directions: Simply download and print the tracing page. Talk about being thankful and have your little one trace the note and add an illustration at the top. (Perhaps they could draw a picture of the gift they received.) Then help your child mail the letter or hand-deliver it!
**Be sure to fill in the “Dear ______” part and have your child sign their name at the bottom of the letter. (See below how I wrote Granny and Papa in dotted letters for my boys to trace.)
My little guys loved being able to “write” and illustrate Christmas thank you letters for their grandparents!
Plus they get extra penmanship practice and I feel great about getting them started early with letter writing to express gratitude! It is a habit I hope to develop in them that will stick…forever!
Download the Little Letters: Christmas Thank You printable here.
Megan
That would be great! Love both ideas 🙂 thank you for all your work!
Mama Jenn
Just had an idea! I can make a generic thank you tracing page which will allow you to write in whatever “gift” item you want. I will create it and share it on my FB page later today: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mama-Jenn/155678914467429
Mama Jenn
Just had an idea! I can make a generic thank you tracing page which will allow you to write in whatever “gift” item you want. I will create it and share it on my FB page later today: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mama-Jenn/155678914467429
Mama Jenn
I TOTALLY understand what you mean! I thought the same thing, but I still wanted to keep it simple for my little guys. So, my idea is that the “personalization” can come in the illustration. Perhaps your child could draw pictures of their gifts. Or, you could add a photo to the top of the page of them playing with or using their gift. Or, you could use download my blank writing paper (found on my Writing Printables page)
and just write a completely custom letter for your child to trace using dotted letters or light lines.
Megan
LOVE this idea! Have been struggling to figure out how to get ours done this year 🙂 Anyway to personalize the gift area? I would like my girls to be able to add in “books” or “arts and crafts” etc. Thanks so much for all you do. You are a blessing to our homeschool 🙂
Mama Jenn
Hi Natalia~
You may need to adjust your printer settings. I have noticed that the tracing part appears lighter or darker depending on whether the printer is set for “fast draft” mode versus “general everyday” print mode AND color printing versus black&white/grayscale printing. Hopefully adjusting your printer settings will work.
Natalia Rehurek
It must be my printer because the traceable part didn’t come through!
But what a great idea.