DIY Birthday Cards: Cupcake Sight Word Matching Activity!

On the morning of my birthday, my art-loving daughter surprised me with a cute, handmade, 3-D birthday cupcake card!

The birthday cupcake card was so adorable and original, and my daughter wanted to make more with me!

Educational, cute, and easy-to-make birthday cupcake cards

Inspired by my daughter’s birthday card, I adapted and integrated some reading practice into our cupcake cards!

My daughter loves to make cards for other people, so I follow her interest and try to integrate Chinese reading and writing practice with arts and crafts!

Chinese is a minority language for our family, and since Chinese words are sight words, frequent exposure with matching games is a fun way to help with memorizing Chinese characters.

More importantly, handmade cards are also simply the best thing to get from a child!

We rarely buy cards from the store, and my daughter and I are having a blast creating together!

Important vocabulary about birthdays in Chinese and English

• 纸杯蛋糕 / 紙杯蛋糕  (Zhǐbēi dàngāo / Cupcake)
• 蜡烛 / 蠟燭 (Làzhú / Candle)
• 点火 / 點火 (Diǎnhuǒ / Light fire)
• 火柴 (Huǒchái / Matches)
• 生日 (Shēngrì / Birthday)
• 生日快乐 / 生日快樂 (Shēngrì kuàilè / Happy Birthday)
• 祝你生日快乐 / 祝你生日快樂 (Zhù nǐ shēngrì kuàilè / I wish you a happy birthday)

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How to make cupcake cards into a sight word matching activity

Here are easy-to-DIY instructions for these adorable birthday cards and how to make it educational!

Please note that you can substitute Chinese characters for letters or numbers depending your child’s language and learning level!

Birthday Cupcake Cards: What you need to make them

1. Cardboard or cardstock – I prefer cardboard because it is thick, sturdy, and a great way to upcycle
2. Cotton balls
3. Cupcake liners – We used these rainbow cupcake liners (same as shown in this flower activity)
4. Glue
5. Pen
6. Ruler – We love the Twist-It flexible rulers!
7. Scissors
8. Toothpicks
9. Construction paper
10. Double-sided tape

How to make birthday cupcake cards:

1. Measure desired size of cards.  Mark with pen and ruler; cut along line.
2. Fold cupcake liners in half and tuck in so the edge forms a C-shape
3. Squeeze glue on cardboard
4. Pull apart cotton balls and affix to cardboard
5. Squeeze glue on inside of cupcake liner.  Place over cotton balls.
6. Insert toothpick.  This is the candlestick!
7. Write words above toothpick candlestick
8. Cut out candle flames from yellow paper
9. Write matching words on candle flames
10. Affix double-sided tape on back of candle flames

Putting together the birthday cupcake

Here’s a close-up of where I applied glue to the cupcake liners.

After tucking in the cupcake liner into a “C” shape, I put Elmer’s glue on the side and inside (purple) edge.

This helped the cupcake liner stick to the cotton, and the result is a fun 3-dimensional pop-up cupcake!

Cutting the birthday candle flame

Here’s how I folded the yellow paper so that the flame cut-outs are the same size.

I drew the flame too small the first few times, but third time was the charm!

I recommend making the flame large so that the writing is large and easy-to-read!

Birthday cupcake cards: Teaching ideas

• Match words on candle flame to card
• Mix up the order of the cards and have your child arrange them in the correct order
• Sing 祝你生日快乐!

Related: 100+ Popular Chinese Songs for Kids

Birthday cupcake cards: sight word matching

Initially, I planned to teach her the traditional Chinese version of the simplified characters that she has learned. However, until preparing the activity, I did not realize that 樂 was the only character that is different in traditional Chinese.

Also, she already learned 樂 from her Qiaohu workbooks.  樂 is one of her favorite Chinese characters in traditional form because of all of the beautiful strokes!

Next time, I will be more mindful of writing new Chinese words!  Regardless, it was still a fun activity!

My daughter wanted to add these cute mini angel stickers!

DIY Birthday cupcake cards: Save this activity on Pinterest!

Here’s the final result! 

祝你生日快乐! 祝你生日快樂 (Zhù nǐ shēngrì kuàilè / Happy Birthday!)

Have you made these birthday cupcake cards?

If you make 3-D Birthday Cupcake Cards, please let us know!  Leave a comment and don’t forget to tag @CHALKAcademy on Instagram and Facebook!

We love to see how other families do educational activities!

More educational birthday crafts and activities for kids

• Cardboard Birthday Cake Puzzle Craft + Happy Birthday Lyrics in Chinese & English!
• Wax Resist Birthday Cake – Surprise Messages and Drawings (VIDEO)
• Happy Birthday Lyrics in Chinese, Pinyin, and English (Free Printable)

Recommended educational activities for children

Here is a flower activity with the same cupcake liners!

Also check out this fun, recycled cardboard birthday cake puzzle as well!

For more activities with recycled materials, please click here!

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Happy crafting and learning, friends!