Can 3 year olds write thank you notes? You bet, and so can your older kids.

It's never too early to show your children how to be thankful. One way to do that is to write thank you letters together. This is something I started to do with my daughters when they were a few months shy of their third birthday. Here's what we did:

1. Sat down side by side one child at a time.
2. I'd write and say aloud, "Dear Aunt Leslie, Thank you for..." We would then discuss what Aunt Leslie gave her, and I would write it down.
3. I'd help her say something she liked about the present by asking, "What do you like about the lady bug?"
4. I'd ask, "What else do you want to tell Aunt Leslie?" "Do you want to say anything else?"
5. Lastly, I'd ask, "How do you want to end the letter: Love, Gabby? From, Gabby?"

Here's our finished product:


Dear Aunt Leslie,

Thank you for the lady bug. I love her. She is soft. I love you, Aunt Leslie. I want to go swimming.

Love,
Gabby


We read it together one more time, and my daughter decorated the letter with crayons and stickers. What was a cool perk about this? Aunt Leslie wrote her back! We've read her letter 100 times. 

We still have a ton of thank you letters to write for Christmas and birthdays. We are doing one every few days, so they don't get burnt out. Who could your children say thank you to?