For Poetry Teatime this week we visited the regions of our stateside pen pals. Which reminds me -- I really think you need some pen pals. Ours are so wonderful (in the US and outside!). We've received letters, drawings, paintings, cards, photos, handmade goodies, stickers. We all look forward to checking the mail these days -- and we never know when we'll get rewarded with an envelope from a friend. (It's gotten me writing more cards and letters, too.)
The hands-on support I give each child is different, based on their ages. But here are a few thoughts on the subject.
:: Corresponding with a handful of pen pals for each child works really well! We never have to wait too long for a letter because they're coming from several buddies.
:: Putting address books together with each child was very fun! (I loved tabbed books when I was a child -- did you, too? And gold-edging?!)
:: Keeping a basket out that's filled with notecards (pre-printed and blank) and colorful envelopes makes spontaneous writing easy. We keep our address books and stamps there, too.
:: Hanging our latest arrivals in a special spot allows us to enjoy our mail longer and reminds us who we owe a letter.
:: Also, it gives me lots of opportunities to say "correspondence." (Go on, try it... )
We've had some interesting conversations about all sorts of things related to sending and receiving mail from "other places" -- geography, history, culture, food, weather, science, language, money, government -- to name a few.
But mostly, it's just a lot of fun!
A big, warm thank you to each of our pen pals,
stateside & across the sea (as Linus says).
