{Originally posted November 2009 at Early Bird Homeschool}
I like to provide my girls with lots of “real-life” writing opportunities – helping with the grocery list, writing letters, making signs, etc. They draw pictures, scribble-write, use invented/phonetic spelling, or copy words from a variety of sources. I have been wanting to set-up a family mail center for a long time and we finally did it!
I think I have had all kinds of elaborate ideas in my mind, but I decided to go super-simple and use some white mailing envelopes we had on hand. I cut off the flap and cut a semi-circle on the front half for easy mail delivery and retrieval. I pulled them out one evening after dinner and we all sat and decorated our own envelope – the girls loved this part! We should definitely be doing more family art projects. I taped them up, set out a stack of paper, and we were all set!
We have been enjoying all kinds of letter-writing and reading. Daddy can write notes if he leaves for work before the girls are awake. He likes to give them riddles, codes or math problems to solve. I can leave a note telling about something fun we will be doing. The girls write lots of lovey notes, plus requests for playing games, making a special treat, or going to the park. So, the girls are getting practice with writing and reading — plus, who doesn’t love getting mail?
This week I am going to set-out a stack of notes with the words, I am thankful for you because…., printed across the top. I can’t wait to tuck some of these notes into their pockets and read the ones they write for me!
Why did I wait so long to set this up? 
April 2010 Update: Our family mail envelopes are still going strong! Some of the girls’ favorite kinds of mail to receive are:
- a piece of a board/card game as an invitation to play (one Uno card, for example)
- secret codes to solve or rebus-type messages
- “You made me smile!” notes
- Pictures from Daddy – he draws great pictures of characters they love (Smurfs!)
Do you have a mail center at your house?
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Love this idea! Thanks for sharing.
I am so doing this project this weekend, heck tonight! My daughter would love it and it would also help with the bonding between her and her step dad!!! this is great!!
We made a letter box for Princess’ room about a year ago, but as it is in her room I kind of forget about it. This system looks much easier, it would fit in a location that everyone can see, and everyone gets mail, so I think it would work much better.Thanks for sharing!
What a great idea! My husband usually leaves early for work, so my kids would love to get their own mail. My daughters are forever writing too, so they would think this is fantastic!
LOVE. love, love this! We will definately be adding this to our home too. Thank you so much for the idea!
What a wonderful idea – nothing beats real life, meaningful reasons to write for young kids and these must really inspire them.
I’ve made a few attempts at mail centers and had visions of sweet notes. Sammi, 3, loves to find envelops and stuff toys in them and put them in different mail boxes. But since she’s the oldest, we haven’t really moved into communicating through the mailboxes.
Until now. This is a fantastic idea! I’m excited to do this. My husband is also awesome at drawing characters and it would be so fun for the girls to get little pictures from him since he’s gone at school so much. I also love the idea of a piece of a game as an invitation to play.
Thanks for the great feedback, everyone! I hope your families enjoy exchanging mail as much as we do!
Hi! Great Idea. I’d love to post on Ohdeedoh tomorrow at noon.
Thanks.
I love this idea. I’ll be linking up. I can’t wait to share this idea with my readers…I’ll send them your way. Now, I’m going to take a look around.
Graciously,
Aimee
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