Make Space for a Magic Mail Center
A simple addition to any family routine.
Children love sharing their art and love through the mail, almost as much as they love receiving it. This everyday act of kindness will spread smiles far and wide.
Possible Recipients
Your options are limitless! Use our printable address sheet to help get started, but soon your family will be adding address to the list based on people you feel need a smile. If you would like specific address for children in the hospital, including birth dates and personal stories to inspire your letters, visit Send Kids the World.
What You'll Need
A convenient space to store your materials
Blank cards, postcards, and/or stationery
Envelopes
Stickers, temporary tattoos, and other inexpensive, mailable goodies
Pens, pencils, crayons, & markers
Stamps
Sturdy rope or twine, tacks, clothes pins (optional)
Instructions
Print our address template and add address of your choice to the blank spaces.
Select a space for your mail center. Consider using two tacks to hang a length of twine along an unused hallway wall. Using clothes pins, you can attach your addresses, along with stamps, stickers, and drawings waiting for a home.
Gather other materials in an easy to reach box or drawer.
Watch for down time, when your child(ren) are in the mood to draw or write. Suggest sending their creations to one of your addresses.
Deliver your mail in a big blue mail box or at the post office, together if possible.
Reflections
What was the last fun piece of mail you remember receiving? Who was it from? How did it make you feel?
Have you ever been away from home for a long period of time? What did you miss? Who did you miss?
Have you ever been sick in bed for more than a day or two? Were you lonely?
When you are lonely, what are some things you can do to make yourself feel better?
What are some things we can do to make others feel loved?
Let's make a list of the different people (friends you know, people you've heard about in the news, or simply people in different scenarios) who may benefit from a thoughtful piece of mail.
Resources
The Giant Hug by Sandra Horning. Follow a hug on its heart-warming adventure through the postal system all the way to Granny’s house. Then send some hugs of your very own to folks who could use some extra attention.
Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed, by Emily Pearson. Introduce the idea that kindness is contagious, and watch kindness circle the globe in just a few days. Mary, as ordinary as any other kid, starts it all with a special delivery. The rhythm and rhyme of this book make it a fun read aloud experience, too.
Older children might enjoy reading Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani. This extraordinary story, told entirely in letters between arecent immigrant from India and a Kentucky coal miner's son, helps readers understand empathy across wide gaps in experience. Plus it makes a powerful case for the potential impact of snail mail correspondence.
Take it Further
Does your family enjoy sending meaningful notes and drawings to people who may be lonely? Consider connecting in person with lonely seniors. Simply follow our Visit the Elderly project instructions.
Create a “mail journal” to store your correspondence. Add photos of drawings your child was particularly proud of, a short entry about your letter writing experience, and as well as any return mail you might receive.
Still looking?
Browse our other projects to provide comfort for folks who may need a smile.