Set the line spacing first
Line spacing is the setting that makes this work. Eight millimetres suits a child in year one or two whose letters are still large. Seven is the standard school rule for most of primary. Six is for a confident writer who wants to fit more in. Choose before printing, because a child writing on lines that are too narrow produces something nobody can read, including Santa.
There is also a dotted midline option, which gives the guide many schools use for letter formation. Useful for younger children who are being taught with it, confusing for children who are not.
What a good letter contains
The template prompts for three things in order: something the child has done well this year, two or three things they would like, and a thank you. That order is deliberate. A list of demands is the usual output when a child is handed blank paper, and a prompt for the other two parts fixes it without an adult standing over them.
There is room for about eighty words at the default spacing. That is the right length. A child asked to fill a page writes padding, and a page of padding is harder to reply to.
Keeping it for later
Print two copies. One goes in the envelope and one stays in a drawer, because a letter to Santa is one of the few bits of children's writing that people genuinely want in ten years. Writing the date and the child's age in the corner takes five seconds and makes the kept copy far more interesting later.
Questions
- What line spacing should I use for a six year old?
- Eight millimetres, or seven with the dotted midline if the child is being taught letter formation with that guide at school. Six millimetres is too narrow for most children under about nine.
- How much space is there to write?
- Around eighty words at the default spacing, which is the right length for a child letter. More space tends to produce padding rather than more content.
- Does the template prompt what to write?
- Yes. It asks for something the child did well this year, two or three things they would like, and a thank you, in that order, which stops the letter becoming a list of demands.
- Is there a version for a child who cannot write yet?
- Yes. The picture letter template has a large drawing box and a dictation line for an adult to write down what the child says.