Playing Post Office

February is a great time to play post office because it is later in the school year and the children have enough writing under their belt that it is very enjoyable making and writing valentine cards for one another.  As I was deciding how I would add a post office to the classroom this year I scrounged around the school to see what I could find.  You never know what treasures are awaiting you.

So I found this great box with little cubbies in an empty room and snatched it up. I added each child's name, and my own of course so that we all have a little mailbox.  I also added lots of paper, envelopes, pencils and some special mail to deliver.

I took blocks from our block center and covered them with a piece of copy paper and then added addresses.  I made one for each child and used the school address with the child's name.  The return addresses are all made up.  The postal worker had to find the recipients name and deliver the packages to the right person.  The kids loved this activity. Everyone gets a package and gets a chance to be a mail carrier also. This is an awesome sorting activity.

 The children also worked at the table writing valentine cards and delivering them to their friends.

This young man really decorated his card beautifully.

Valentine card delivery.

I had one little girl who flitted around the room throughout this morning so excited as she would come to me and say "I wonder if anyone has sent me any mail." She would go check it and say "not yet."  Reminds me of myself at times.

This was a really fun project that will continue for the rest of the month.   To expand the fun have parents send in junk mail that they get every day.  If everyone saves up a week or two then you'll have plenty of mail to deliver and the children can learn about different types of mail like personal letters, advertisements, cards for birthdays and anniversaries, bills (ugh), packages, flyers and magazines.  Mail carriers deliver all sorts of fun things. A good book to help teach this concept is The Jolly Postman or Other People's Letters by Janet and Allan Ahlberg.

 What do you do to celebrate the mail carrier's job?