Teaching Kids About the Post Office

In This Date in History

In this date in history, February 15, 1842, the Post Office used adhesive postage stamps for the first time. So, what better time to teach kids about the post office?

Each day you can watch for the letter carrier or mail truck to come and allow the child to help bring in the mail for the family. Depending on the age of the child you can allow them to help you any time you have to mail a letter. Children love to help putting a letter in an envelope, seal the envelope, address the envelope, put the stamp on the mail, and put it in the mailbox or take to the post office.

Make a Mail Box below as a fun way for the child to receive letters and notes from their family. Kristan Hart of ehow.com recommends preparing special deliveries at your house. Graham crackers delivered in envelopes, stickers for a job well done, or drawings can slide in an envelope for delivery to the child. Kept separate from items in the "at home" post office, this is a great tool for parents and nannies to use to reward children and teach them about the post office at the same time.

Read books about the post office such as: About the Post Office (Out & About) by Sue Barraclough, The Post Office Book: Mail and How It Movesby Gail Gibbons, and A Day With a Mail Carrier (Hard Work)by Jan Kottke.

Make a Play Mail Box

Click here for reference.

The following materials are needed to complete the mailbox craft project:
1 Shoebox
Scraps of construction paper
Markers or crayons
Stickers or other materials for decorating
Glue
Scissors

Adult Preparation for the Project:
Use a razor blade or sharp scissors to cut a rectangular flap in one end of each shoe box. Leave the bottom section of the flap uncut. This serves as the mailbox door.

Creating the Mailbox:
1. Give the child a shoebox mailbox to decorate. Encourage them to cut shapes or strips out and glue them to the mailbox.
2. Provide the child with ‘letter’ stickers to add to the mailbox. Also, allow them to draw on their mailbox. The idea is for the child to create a personalized mailbox.

Play the Hidden Letters Game

Materials needed for the Hidden Letters game:
Index cards
Markers
Envelopes
Name cards

Hidden Letters is a game to play with preschool children to help them practice spelling their names and continuing to practice letter recognition.

Adult Preparation for the Game:
Use index cards to create letter cards for this game. To do so, simply print one letter of the alphabet on each card. Include multiple cards of each letter, especially those which are commonly used. Be sure to make at least as many letters as the children have in their names. Hide the letter cards.

How to play Hidden Letters:
Provide each child with an empty envelope and a name card which shows how to correctly spell his or her name. Then, ask the kids to search the room for the letters. Have them place only the ones needed to spell out their names inside their envelope.
Allow the children to keep the envelope of letters for future practice with spelling their names. These letters may also be placed in the mailbox for safe keeping.

Click here for a link of mini printables about the post office for kids.

Consider helping the child start stamp collecting as a hobby.