Cards for Hospitalized Kids Project

I feel like I blog about Cards for Hospitalized kids all the time - but is is so kid-friendly and such a great cause I thought it was worth mentioning again in case any of y'all missed it the previous times I've talked about it.
Cards for Hospitalized Kids is an organization that collects and distributes handmade cards to kids in hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses across the country. To get involved all you have to do is make cards. That's it. When you have little ones it can be hard to find places to volunteer with them in tow - and Cards for Hospitalized kids is an amazing way to open up conversation about empathy and how a small gesture has the power to brighten someone else's day.
Earlier this week I drew out some Valentine-themed cards, set out the art supplies and let my three go to town.

Paint, crayons, markers, stickers... anything is great as long as whatever you put on the card doesn't fall off (i.e. glitter).

I leave the insides of the cards blank for the kids to decorate and/or write their own encouraging messages.

I absolutely adore seeing what they write. I mean... Luke wrote you rock-et inside his rocket card. I'm not sure I've ever been more proud :) You can't include any religious messaging (i.e. praying for you) or anything that makes it about their illness (i.e. feel better, get well soon, etc.) so we include sayings like "You Rock!", "You're Awesome!" "Have a fun day", etc. and the kids sign their first name, Texas and usually their age.

I let them write pretty much whatever they want... like "blast off to joy" that Mason came up with :) Also... look at that little rocket ship he drew!

Griffin's preferred medium is ALWAYS paint.

Let's all take a minute to look at what Mason wrote inside his sweet little cards...

We worked for about an hour after school and made all of these...

Pop them in an envelope and you're done!

We made Valentine's Day cards this week, but you can make them any time of the year. Over the summer we would save some of our daily art over the course of a few weeks and then mail them in. I've even done this with my middle school classes... putting out printed pages as well as just blank paper and letting them be creative. And let's be real - I love coloring as well and do my own fair share of cards when the supplies are out :)
If you're wanting to make Valentine's cards and need some templates you can download the ones that I made HERE and if you're wanting to make just general cards you can find a few that I made a while ago HERE. And you can check out the Cards for Hospitalized Kids website HERE to get the guidelines.
Happy Thursday, Friends and Happy Crafting :)