Free Printable Christmas Thank You Cards
You want your children to focus on being grateful, not greedy. Use these free printable Christmas thank you cards for children to show appreciation.
This is Day 12 of 12 Days of Christmas printables. It’s my thank you gift for all the support you’ve shown this family-run small business.
- Missed a day? Check out the complete list of 12 Days of Free Christmas Printable Activities.
So it’s the day after Christmas. Your child has a pile of gifts but doesn’t seem to be as appreciative as you hoped.
You want your child to express gratitude. You want your child to focus on the generosity of others.
While it’s still developmentally appropriate for little children to be self-centered, they can learn to be gracious gift receivers.
So grab these free printable Christmas thank you cards for children and develop the graciousness in your child.
Pin this for later!
Why Write Thank You Cards for Children’s Christmas Gifts?
First, you’re probably wondering, “Does my child need to write thank you notes for their Christmas gifts?”
It is beneficial for them to write thank you notes for a few reasons:
- expressing gratitude
- understanding the social skill
- practice with writing
Expressing Gratitude
With on-demand TV and groceries delivered in under an hour, children these days can take a lot for granted. Taking the time to express gratitude teaches them to become aware that they are not entitled to gifts.
Receiving gifts is a privilege for which they can be grateful.
Understanding the Social Skill
Expressing thanks is a social convention. Humans engage in social conventions in order to strengthen social bonds and connections.
But like almost all social skills for children, your child needs to the taught it. Explaining that people enjoy being thanked with they have given something is the first step.
Practicing Writing
Anytime you can sneak in writing practice for school-age children, it’s a good thing. Writing is the most complicated academic skill for children.
Printable Thank You Cards for Christmas
You can use the black and white thank you note templates to achieve all three of those goals.
Plus, these free printable Christmas thank you notes are simple and easy – they are just what your busy family needs.
They are black and white on purpose:
- it allows your child to put their personal touch on it when they color the blanks.
- it is low on ink for you.
- teachers can copy them for their class.
Plus, they are brief and come with a sentence starter. This supports early writers with developmentally appropriate expectations.
These printable Christmas thank you notes are a gift for email newsletter subscribers. Simply enter your information in the box below and it will be sent to you via email.
Check your email, click on the big button, and the printable will open right up. You’re welcome to unsubscribe at any time, but I send more freebies and sales, so you’ll probably want to stick around!
Fill-in-the-Blank Christmas Notes
I’m the parent of a child who has difficulty with writing. Plus I taught dozens of students with learning disabilities how to write.
Here is the truth: Writing is complicated and challenging.
Your child needs to do these things when writing:
- Choose a topic
- Generate ideas
- Store those ideas in their working memory in their brain.
- Formulate the first sentence.
- Remember the conventions of the particular form of writing (i.e. letter, story, paragraph, etc).
- Spelling the words in thei sentence.
- Use capital letters and end punctuation.
- Form the letters correctly with good penmanship.
That is a lot.
But thank you notes can be easy. This thank you note template is a fill-in-the-blanks format.
Instead of monitoring the conventions like a greeting – the word “Dear” plus the comma are already there for your child.
Your child just needs to fill in the blanks for two simple sentences. Then the thank you note is complete!
How to Use the Free Printable Christmas Thank You Notes
Generally, children in grades 1 through 3 can write thank you cards independently. Here’s what to do for children who are in the independent writing stage:
- Print out the notes.
- They are 2 to a page – print as many copies as you need notes.
- Model one for your child to reference.
- Let your child write – made-up spelling is fine!
- If your child wants help with spelling, I find it easier to spell the words prior to writing. Try breaking the word into syllables and writing each syllable on a post-it note.
- Encourage coloring the present and drawing a picture of the toy on the back.
If your child needs more support, there are ways you can use these thank you cards for children as well.
Christmas Thank You Note for Pre-Writers
Usually, children from ages 3 – 6 are still in the pre-writing stage. It’s still worthwhile to write the notes because they learn to express gratitude and about the social skill of expressing thanks for a gift.
Plus drawing is actually a pre-writing skill. Here’s what to do for pre-writers.
- Your child can dictate their thank you note.
- You can write the note for them.
- Write your child’s name in a gray crayon or lightly with a pencil. Then your child can attempt to trace it.
- After that, your child can draw a picture on the back.
- Your child can color the picture of the present.
You don’t need to let your child’s lack of independence with writing hold them or you back!
Looking for more Christmas printables?
During this Christmas season, you can grab more printable Christmas activities to keep your children busy and learning.
Christmas Alphabet Q-tip painting is a great way to develop pre-writing skills like letter formation or pencil grip. Holding that q-tip develops your child’s tripod (three-finger) pencil grasp.
Christmas Preschool Printables include prewriting skills like tracing, circling, coloring and cutting. These activities strengthen little fingers and hands to get them ready to be effective writers once they are school-aged.
Conclusion
Writing thank-you notes with children doesn’t need to be hard. Use these simple printable thank you cards for Christmas.
Your children can discover that writing thank you notes can be easy.
