Lesson Plans

Ideas and resources

The Gift of Giving…Cards for Elderly

by 4 Comments

One idea that is simple and can get even young children involved is the gift of giving cards to the elderly at senior homes in your area during the holidays.  As I find more card ideas, I will post them.

I love this card from Family Fun… JOY!joycard

This would be great to do a mini- lesson and use the Shel Silverstein book, The Giving Tree. Allow the children to express their thoughts on the meaning of the book as well as what giving means.

Making the cards can also be fun! How about trying this 3D snowball Card?

snowballcardOr this Dreidle Card

dreidelcard

Family Fun from Disney has great ideas for 3D cards.

In a rush? How about cards in an instant? Over at Family Fun, you can print out easy templates and glue pictures.

instantcards

Free Kids Crafts has another 3D tree that I love!

christmas_tree_popup

And finally, one of my favorite websites….Artists Helping Children has a bunch of links where you are sure the find the card craft that is right for your family! Here are just a few examples from there.

christmas_gifts

fabric_shape_card_1even_more_glittery_shape_cards

Comments

  1. I absolutely LoVE the card ideas for the elderly. While I don’t have time to make cards for this Christmas, I do have boxes of new cards that I can write in and deliver tomorrow or the next day! I will begin making cards for Valentine’s Day though!!!!

  2. I have in the past worked with the elderly to make Christmas cards. They loved it. Would it be a good idea to have the kids work with the elderly to make Christmas cards?

  3. I have done cards for the elderly with kids before, but not kids and elderly together. It would depend on the temperament of the kids, I think. (And the adults, too, I guess!)

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Have you read?

Books About Bugs Through the Seasons

Growing Up Ladybug and How to Become a Butterfly are both by Stepanka Sekaninova and illustrated by Linh Dao, and they came out at the same time and are on similar themes, so let’s look at them together. 

Growing Up Ladybug is narrated by Mariella, a seven-spot ladybug. She talks about the parts of a ladybug, where they live, different kinds of ladybugs, why humans love them, their defenses against predators and the life cycle of a ladybug. 

The drawings are cute if not always scientifically accurate, it’s not in such a way that’s likely to confuse kids (who probably already know that ladybug mamas don’t push their larval babies around in strollers, for instance. 

It’s a good general description of the life cycle of a lady bug and why we like having them around. 

About the book: 32 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Albatross Media. Suggested retail price $16.95.

Similarly, How to Become a Butterfly covers the life cycle of a butterfly, starting with caterpillars eating burning nettle leaves. (Here Amanda is the narrator.) The book talks about a few of the more than 18,000 daytime butterflies in the world as well as other creatures that live in the meadow (there’s that ladybug again, along with crickets, bees and other bugs).

It also covers some of the enemies of caterpillars like wasps and spiders, and the defenses that caterpillars use to try to prevent being eaten. It illustrates how caterpillars grow and change as they molt and prepare to pupate, and what a caterpillar looks like before and while it is forming its chrysalis. And while the book uses the word metamorphasis it doesn’t really talk about what happens between the caterpillar forming a chrysalis and the butterfly hatching. 

This butterfly is a peacock butterfly, and once it hatches the book covers the parts of a butterfly and the life cycle. It also talks about nocturnal moths (though it says nocturnal butterflies are “usually called moths” when moths are actually a different species) and what butterflies do at night. 

I’m maybe a little hard on this book because my daughter is a butterfly expert from way back, but it is still cute and good for the very basic basics of the butterfly life cycle. 

Both books would be fun additions to your bookshelf for younger kids starting to learn about different animals or who have an interest in insects. 

About the book: 32 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Albatross Media. Suggested retail price $16.95.

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