Oh, summer, the season of lazy pool days, sandy beach feet, museum-going, ice-cream eating, popsicle-dripping, hammock-swinging, baseball playing, firefly sighting, and road tripping. Whether you’re taking a local hike or heading out of town, print up a batch of these DIY printable postcards for kids and tuck them in a bag along with a simple travel art kit and a sketchbook for art journaling.
Thank you to Elmer’s for sponsoring this post. I’m a long-time fan of Elmer’s for everything from slime to DIY colored glue. All opinions shared here are my own.
Back to DIY postcards, here’s what you’ll need to make your own batch of homemade correspondence:
Printable Postcard Supplies
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- Printable postcards: Download DIY Postcard Printable here
- Card Stock paper
- Elmer’s Extreme Glue Stick – this glue stick is fantastic for connecting papers that you don’t want to separate.
- Scissors
- Mark-making tools such as pencil, paint, or paint markers (we used Painters Paint Pens)
Steps for Printable Postcards for Kids
- Print postcards on cardstock
- Cut out a postcard
- Cut out another piece of card stock to match the postcard size.
- Glue the postcard to the blank card stock using a heavy duty glue stick. Two pages are necessary, otherwise your card will be flimsy and less postcard-like.
- Decorate the blank back with a picture of your travels or uplifting message.
- Write your greeting, add an address, stamp, and mail!
Supplies…easy peasy, right?
This step is super important if you want your postcards to feel sturdy enough to mail: Glue a piece of card stock to the back of your postcard with a heavy duty glue stick like Elmer’s Xtreme.
Bring your postcard on your trip, along with art supplies.
We made this a family collaboration– my daughter drew the message and I added color with color-rich Painters paint pens. Read on to see how we finished it off.
We’ve been playing with calligraphy pens lately and picked up the Manuscript Leonardt set (pictured below) for a recent trip. As an aside, I wouldn’t normally recommend an open container of calligraphy ink on a flight (be careful!!), but we had smooth skies and luckily no ink was lost. I added some black ink flourishes.
Once we landed, my littlest added splashes of color with colored pencils, and then our postcard was ready to get shipped off. We’re also using the Progresso Woodless Colored Pencils (such rich colors – amazing! ) and the Koi Watercolor Travel Set (24 colors) (also a travel favorite!).
After a visit to the beach on a windy day, sailboats were in order.
What do you think? Wanna print up a stack and carry them along for impromptu love notes? Of course you do!
I happen to love getting artsy mail, so if you’re looking for someone to send art to, feel free to send one my way at:
Rachelle Doorley
TinkerLab
4000 Middlefield Road, Studio U-5
Palo Alto, CA 94303
If I get a few cards, maybe I’ll even attach photos of your art to this article!
Happy Travels!