Children love receiving letters

We all love to receive real letters in the post, and children are no exception — especially as they are growing up in an age in which the focus is very much on technology. Some of us may have been lucky enough to receive letters in the mail when we were kids, but many children these days won’t know that joy. Yet. Why not send a letter to a child you know? Perhaps a godchild, a niece or nephew, or a friend’s son or daughter.

Make a tradition of it

Why not choose a date and decide to send a letter to your own child/children or another child you know on that date every year? To make it easier to remember, choose a popular occasion such as Easter Sunday. I guarantee the arrival of your letter will be anticipated annually… more so than chocolate eggs if you do choose Easter to send them!

Share your experiences

Use your letter to tell the child all about your experience of when you were their age. Think about what life was like then, and what you did for fun. How does it compare? The more descriptive you get, the more the child will be able to put themselves in your shoes.

Create a fun envelope

If you know what the child you’re writing to is currently into, whether it’s Trolls or sharks, why not incorporate it into the design of your envelope? For example, if the child loves unicorns, you could create a themed envelope in pastel pink, purple and blue. If you’ve got some unicorn die cuts or stickers, even better. Don’t forget the glitter!

It can be exciting to wait for a letter

Send them a challenge

If you’d like to keep your letter recipient busy, include a challenge for them to complete. For example, you could ask them to send you a free souvenir from the next small trip they go on. Or, if they are going on holiday for one or two weeks, you could send them a list of things to look out for while they are there — a fun checklist specific to their destination. You could even offer a small prize if they spot everything.

Send them a letter-writing kit

If you think the child you are sending a letter to might like to reply or may be inspired to send their own letters to others, why not send them a little kit for letter-writing? Include some envelopes, paper, stamps, and maybe some fun stickers too.

Encourage a response

To further encourage a response to your letter, you could include an additional piece of paper in your envelope to them where you have written a paragraph but left some blanks for them to fill in. This could look something like this:

My favourite animal is a _________. This week my favourite lesson at school was ________ because ________________________________. If I could go anywhere in the world right now it would be _____________. My favourite game to play is ______________.

Do you have any other ideas for writing to kids? Let us know in the comments below. You could play fun games through the post with a child, including some we outlined in this blog post recently.