Do you want an elf warning letter free printable? You’ve found 30 friendly elf letters that you can print for free!
As a psychologist, I’ve had mixed feelings about the “Elf on the Shelf” Christmas tradition. If done right, however, it can be a wonderful way for children and parents to enjoy the holiday season!
Use the elf for good! The important thing is to make it a fun elf used to reward young children for good behavior. Using it to scare naughty kids or punish children for bad behavior will only create a negative holiday experience.
Positive reinforcement: The printable letters and elf notes I created for you will help you use the elf as a friendly figure who nurtures good conduct and who your kids look forward to seeing. It’s all about recognizing and celebrating nice actions!
Joy Tips: Look for the “Joy Tips” that I’ve sprinkled throughout this post! These will help you maximize Christmas joy for your kids by making the most of these free printables.
Scroll down to grab your free printables, or use these links to navigate:
- Nice List Certificates
- Elf Notes for Nice Behavior
- Nice Behavior Meters and Checklists
- Nice Behavior Coloring Pages
- Elf Warning Letters for Naughty Behavior
- Santa Letters: Turning Naughty into Nice
- Elf Report Cards
I hope you enjoy these elf on the shelf ideas and free printables!
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How to download and print your free printable letters: Click on any of the images below. A new tab will open, showing your printable in pdf format so you can easily download a pdf file or print.
Nice List Certificates
Yay! Your child made it onto Santa’s Nice List! These official certificates, straight from the North Pole, confirm that your child’s good behavior is being rewarded.
These beautiful certificates are easy to use, just print, add your child’s name, and present them with their certificate from Santa Claus!
Joy Tip: On Christmas Eve, a Nice List certificate is one of the best ways to acknowledge all the good things your child has done. Make your child feel extra special by staging a little certificate ceremony with your family. You can even let your child open a present early as a reward!
Elf Notes for Nice Behavior
These elf on the shelf notes are a great way to acknowledge good deeds. You can print out several and have them handy so that you can give one to your child when they do good things. These printable elf notes will keep kids on their best behavior because they’ll look forward to receiving a little note from the elf or from Santa!
These printable notes include portrait and landscape-orientated designs, with different note sizes to meet your preference. Most of these feature a little elf, but some have a Santa design.
Joy Tip: Make a game out of these elf notes! You can hide one of these in the Christmas tree each day so that your child has a fun search to look forward to every day!
Good Behavior Ideas
Kids want to be good and generally try hard to do so, but sometimes as parents, it can be difficult not to focus on naughty behavior. If you have trouble coming up with an example of a good thing your child has done, try thinking about little things that are easy to take for granted.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- You like spending time together.
- You make me laugh.
- You give nice hugs.
- You are always nice to the dog.
- You tie your shoes well.
- You’re good at coloring.
- You listen to your teacher.
- You’re happy when I pick you up.
- You love being silly.
- You love to read.
- You’re creative.
- You look sweet when you sleep.
- You eat all of your food.
- You have a good imagination.
Nice Behavior Meters and Checklists
Christmas is a great time to encourage your kids to do good deeds because it’s a season of love and generosity, and kids are naturally inclined to be on their best behavior with presents looming in the future.
Help your kids push themselves to be extra nice with these nice meters and checklists! These allow you to track their nice deeds so that you can recognize their hard work and celebrate their efforts to be as good as they can be.
Joy tip: Hang it up where your kids can see it! Kids will love the visual reminder to be nice and it will be encouraging for them to see the meters getting filled up!
Nice List Stocking tip: Use small stickers to fill up the stocking! Let your child add a sticker to the stocking whenever they do something nice 🙂
Nice Behavior Coloring Pages
These coloring pages are so fun! Your kids will get to color something each time they do a nice thing or exhibit a good behavior you want them to work on. It’s a truly fun, Christmas-themed way to nurture good behavior.
Joy Tip: Download all three of these now or Pin them so that you can find them later on. If your kids get really enthusiastic they might fill up their coloring page quickly so you’ll need to be able to print more!
Elf Warning Letter: Free Printable for Naughty Behavior
Uh oh, these are official warning letters for naughty behavior. Santa’s naughty list has been used to discourage bad behavior for many years. To limit the fear or threat aspect of a naughty list warning letter, these free printable elf warnings identify the bad behavior and encourage good behavior at the same time.
Joy Tip: It’s important to always distinguish between the behavior and the child so that your child always knows that what they did was bad but they themselves are good (e.g., “you did something naughty” vs. “you are naughty”).
Santa Letters: Turning Naughty into Nice
These free printable letters are from Santa Claus himself. He’s been informed of your child’s naughty behavior and has sent an official letter because he knows that anyone can have a bad day and believes your child can do good.
Instead of a naughty list warning letter that threatens kids with being put on the naughty list and not receiving presents, these Santa letters focus on encouraging good behaviors to keep kids on the Nice List (where they belong).
Joy Tip: Read through the letter with your child. This gives you an opportunity to discuss the “naughty behavior” and why it was not a nice thing to do. Plus, together you can develop a plan for nice things that they are going to try to do. That way, you can celebrate when you see them doing these things and trying to be nicer!
The three letters below contain the same text on different designs:
“Dear ____________,
I know you made a mistake and did a naughty thing. Don’t worry, everyone makes mistakes. I know you are good so I’m going to help you be nice!
These are nice things you can do to stay on my Nice List:
- Do something kind for someone.
- Clean your room.
- Do your homework.
- Share with your family.
- Go to bed on time.
- Make a gift for someone.
- Be polite and have good manners.
Can you think of more nice things you can do?
Remember, always be kind!
Love,
Santa Claus”
Elf Report Cards
Elf reports are in! Your favorite elf has evaluated your child’s behavior and now it’s time to review how they did.
There are two different report card designs below and I’ve provided two options for each, one that has behaviors listed, and one that has a blank list you can fill in with the behaviors you want to grade.
Joy Tip: Keep in mind that this is intended to be a fun experience for your child that encourages good behavior. It’s an opportunity to highlight and celebrate all the good things that they do, the things that got them on the Nice List.
I hope found a good elf note or elf warning letter free printable to have some fun with your kids this Christmas! If you enjoyed this post, see the others you will like below.
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