CMA Civic Kids January Project: Postcard Party

Combining some cute Valentine's process art, with taking the time to recognize and appreciate our community's local leaders.

We've joined the CMA Civic Kids Movement which aims to bring communities together through creativity- Make Art, Make a Difference. There will be a year-long series of exhibitions, community events, and digital art calls hosted by Children's Museum of the Arts in New York City. Each month there is a different theme and a different project posted on the website. January's theme is Civic and Cultural Leaders in the Community and The Postcard Party project is so much fun!

Kids love the concept of mailing letters and packages so I knew my little ones would have fun with this. We decided to make some Valentine's themed postcards to send out to leaders in our community who my children appreciate.

What you need:

- white card

- black marker

- toilet paper roll

- acrylic paints (we used red, pink, purple and blue)

I cut the white card into 4 equal pieces and added some lines to make them look like postcards. Next I set up a fun little heart printing activity using a recycled toilet paper roll. To make the heart shape I simply squished in one side of the roll and folded it slightly. My kids always enjoy process art like this!

They simply dipped one end of the heart-shaped toilet roll into the paint and stamped it onto the white card. 23 month old baby sis went for a more scattered approach, whilst 5 year old big bro kept his cards fairly neat and minimalistic!

Once they were all done, we left the cards to dry and headed off to do some research on the computer. Baby sis was a bit too young to understand the concept of leaders in the community but big bro helped her out. We identified some people who are influential in my kids' lives. Big bro talked about his teacher and my daughter's playgroup leader. He also mentioned the librarians, local activity leaders and sports coaches. These were all great examples of leaders. We looked up the necessary addresses and wrote out a personal message for each of them. This was great literacy work for my kindergartener!

Finally we added the address and popped a stamp on them, oh and not forgetting the most exciting part of all... we mailed them! Such a fun process to involve kids in from start to finish! I love how the Civic Kids projects always manage to combine art and learning about our community.