Create an Acrostic Christmas Card

Here's a fun holiday activity that expands your child's vocabulary, offers creative writing and spelling practice, and results in an original and innovative seasonal greeting card! In this activity, your child will use the letters in 'Merry Christmas' to write an acrostic poem. As she composes her poem, your child will exercise her creativity and learn about the delicate art of writing verse. As she decides how to compose her poem, remind her that poems can take many forms. Her poem can be in rhymed verse or prose, and can contain a single word or an entire sentence per line. It's entirely up to her!

Feel free to vary the design of the card in whatever way you like. If you prefer, use a non-denominational message like 'Happy Holidays' or 'Season's Greetings' instead of 'Merry Christmas' or give the card a Hanukkah or Eid theme.

What You Need:

• Heavy duty colored construction paper
• Pen
• Poster paints or crayons
• Dictionary

What to Do:

1. Fold the construction paper in half width-wise to make a card shape.
2. Draw a border around the edge of the front of the card for your child to decorate.
3. With the fold to the left, have your child write or paint the words ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’ vertically along the left side of the card, making sure it is within the border.
4. Have her use each of the letters in Merry Christmas to start a word or sentence about the festive season.
5. If your child gets stuck, have her look in the dictionary to find words or help her think of onomatopoeia sounds such as “Mmmm”.

Here is an example poem to get you started:

• Mmmm . . . delicious food!
• Eggnog made by Grandma.
• Reindeer pulling Santa’s sled.
• Red and green decorations.
• Yuletide
• Christmas cards
• Happy holidays!
• Rest
• Icicles
• Snowman
• Tinsel
• Mistletoe
• Angels
• Star

        6.   When your child is finished writing her poem, have her decorate the card's border with a festive pattern or pictures.

For a fun variation, try writing 'Merry Christmas' down the middle of the card and placing its letters in the middle of your holiday words and sentences for a more organic, crossword puzzle-like design.