How to Help Your Child Write Valentines for Classmates

Valentine's Day can be a stressful time of year for children, not least because of all the cards that have to be selected, written, addressed and transported to school. You can make life a bit easier for your child by helping with these preparations.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Craft Supplies
• Valentine's Day Greeting Cards
• Cardboard Boxes
• Gold And Silver Paint Pens
• Red Paint Pens
• Cardboard boxes
• copies of Valentine Crafts

1. Help your child choose the valentines to send. You could buy a package of pre-printed valentines, or plan to make valentines at home with rubber stamps, paper collages, or potato prints.

2. Help your child choose a valentine for each classmate. Go through a class list and write each classmate's name on the appropriate envelope immediately, so nothing gets mixed up.

3. Talk to your child about possible messages to include in the valentines. Does your child just want to sign his or her name? How about copying a short poem into some of the valentines, or writing a brief personal message?

4. Help your child write the Valentines. The amount of help you need to provide will depend on your child's age. Some children may need you to do all the actual writing or printing, while others will need very little assistance.

5. Make sure that all the valentines go into the correct envelopes, and that nothing gets lost in the shuffle.

6. Find a clean paper or plastic bag to store the valentines in - and to help keep them all in one place on the way to school.

7. Remind your child to put the valentines in a bag or backpack on the morning of the card exchange, or do this yourself.

8. Remember to include a special valentine for the teacher.

Tips & Warnings

• Writing valentines can become tedious work after a while, so brighten up the process by offering your child some brightly colored or glittery metallic pens to use.
• A small damp sponge is a great help for sealing envelopes without having to lick them.
• Decorate a bag or shoebox with your child; he or she can take the valentines to school in the container and then use it as a "mailbox" to receive valentines from classmates.
• Your child may be reluctant to give valentines to certain classmates ' just remind him or her that this is a day to be nice to everyone in the class and set personal differences aside. If your child insists that there are serious problems with one or more classmates, you may want to discuss this with the teacher.
• Don't forget to proofread. It's a good idea to glance at each card before sealing the envelope, just in case anything major needs to be changed or corrected.
• Some schools have a specific routine they like to follow on Valentine's Day; be sure to ask your child's teacher well in advance how the card exchange will work to avoid any surprises.