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DIY Letter Writing Kit

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How to make your own Letter Writing Kit - plus five reasons for why having pen pals will help expand a child's worldview

My kids recently started a pen pal relationship with two children who live across the ocean. A friend I met when I did volunteer work in Israel (who is actually originally from the Philippines and now lives in Ireland) has children of the same age and, after discussing the possibility of our kids becoming pen pals via Facebook, we just received our first letter last week!  The boys were so excited to read their mail and to send letters in return.

When we got home from the post office, I decided to make the kids a Letter Writing Kit (you may notice I actually named it our Letter Writing Pack because I ran out of the letter “T” in the sticker set I was using to label the folder!).  I think having this little “kit” will make writing letters more straight forward in the future.  You know – having the stamps, envelopes, and other supplies all in one place for the kids to use by themselves!

But before I describe our Letter Writing Kit, here are five reasons I’m excited about this new pen pal relationship.

5 Ways that Having a Penpal Expands a Child’s Worldview

1. Having a friend from a different background will help the children imagine and empathise with other people around the world.

2. They will start to see countries on the map as real places that people actually live (not just coloured shapes with different names).

3. They will start to appreciate different lingo and languages, so that when they meet people of other cultures they will not be surprised by linguistic differences.

4. They will hear about different life experiences – like foods, outings, sports – and therefore be more open to trying new things in the future.

5. They will get a hunger to travel the world and see the places their pen pals live, which is the best way to really learn about and appreciate the beautiful diversity we have in this great big world of ours!

Expanding one’s world view, in a few words, is basically building empathy!

Now here’s a short description of our DIY Letter Writing Kit – put together in about 10 minutes with supplies we already had around the house.

Put together your own Letter Writing Kit to make writing letters fun and easy

How to Create Your Own Letter Writing Kit

We happened to have a sectioned folder I wasn’t using any more, but a box or basket would work just fine.  We added:

*Stamps – as well as a list of current postage rates for the countries we will be writing to (where our pen pals and family members live)

*Envelopes of various colours

*Stickers and washi tape (to decorate the letters and the envelopes)

*Paper (lined and plain white for now; when they get older they may want to use stationary)

*”Gifts” (postcards, photographs, or sticker sheets to add to our letters)

*Mailed letters (a place to keep the letters that the boys have received!)

Put together your own Letter Writing Kit to make writing letters fun and easy

I am keeping the folder in our storage area so that when the boys receive a letter they can take it out and start creating their responses!  I’m also hoping that having this kit will encourage the kids to write more regularly to their grandparents and cousins who live overseas.

Do your kids have pen pals?  What would you add to your Letter Writing Kit?

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Filed Under: Blog, Character Building Activities, Craft Activities Tagged With: Empathy

About Chelsea Lee Smith

Author, certified parent educator, and mother of three with a background in Communications and Counselling, Chelsea provides resources to parents and teachers who want to incorporate personal growth into everyday moments. Follow her @momentsaday on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anastasia @ Montessori Nature

    October 29, 2014 at 10:01 am

    I love how organised this looks!! thank you for sharing your great ideas!

    Reply
    • Chelsea Lee Smith

      October 30, 2014 at 9:10 pm

      It is definitely nice to have it all together instead of stamps in the office, envelopes in the craft drawer, etc etc!

      Reply
  2. Sara @ Happiness is here

    October 29, 2014 at 12:23 pm

    I think my 5 year old would really like this!

    Reply
    • Chelsea Lee Smith

      October 30, 2014 at 9:10 pm

      Let me know if you put one together Sara! 🙂

      Reply
  3. kentemmis

    April 16, 2015 at 6:29 am

    This really lovely. I have a little one for my 3 years old son but no papers, sticker and stamp. Also which age do u think a penpal will be good

    Reply
    • Chelsea Lee Smith

      April 16, 2015 at 10:55 am

      Hi there – Depending on the child, I would say around 5 or 6 years old could be good. You could always try and then if they weren’t into it, try a year later 🙂

      Reply
  4. Elaine

    March 10, 2017 at 2:21 pm

    How do you find pen pals in other countries? Do you know of a safe organization or website? I’d love to start this with my young boys this summer.

    Thanks,

    Elaine

    Reply
    • Chelsea Lee Smith

      March 15, 2017 at 1:35 pm

      I dont know of an organisation unfortunately. If you have friends that live abroad, perhaps they could connect you with children of a similar age?

      Reply

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Chelsea Lee Smith is an author, certified parent educator, and mother of three children with a background in Communications and Counselling. She provides resources to parents and teachers who want to incorporate personal growth into everyday moments. Browse the shop and blog categories to find practical inspiration for family life including tips, activities, printable pages, and resource recommendations.

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