My daughter is now 5 years old. She’s in Reception at school and is thoroughly enjoying learning how to read and write. The messages that we get home are about encouraging writing in any shape or form, so that our kids are writing for a purpose, rather than just because they have to. So what better purpose could there be than sending a little happy mail and brightening someone’s day?
You no doubt know that I LOVE to send and receive snail mail. It’s a big part of my #BringBackPaper passion and activities. It’s an opportunity for me to indulge myself in stationery pretties, sit down and relax while penning a letter, and smile whenever one drops through my letter box. It’s a regular, happy habit of mine now, and it’s lovely to connect with other like-minded people, too – I find Instagram to be a great place to see other pretty letters!
It seemed only natural that my daughter, who sees me surrounded by letter sets and washi tape quite often, wanted to write to friends of her own. And so now she does. She has two pen pals, Midge and Miss B, and it is so sweet to see the letters and drawings that they send to one another. Boo likes to draw, pop stickers in, pen a note, decorate the envelope – all the fun aspects of snail mailing, and it’s getting her writing for a purpose. She loves it. Her little face when she comes home from school and sees she has a letter is wonderful.
As well as the fun of sending and receiving post, there’s also the stationery excitement. Now my daughter is already proving to follow me here as she does love a bit of pretty paper and a funky pen! And I think even the most reluctant of writers could be encouraged by some of these things I’ve spotted recently (yes, yes, I’ve had to look around at stationery shops to bring you this piece, very tough for me, you’re welcome….)
Just In Case Suitcase Writing Set (Paperchase)
Fourth Wall Brands Monsters Stationery Set (John Lewis)
Mercato Multi Pen (Paperchase)
Wild Thing Notecard Set (Got 2 Jot)
Day at the Zoo Writing Set (Paperchase)
Bubble Hardtop Pencil Case (Smiggle)
Scented Mini Gel Pens (Smiggle)
Rachel Ellen Lovely Writing Set (John Lewis)
And don’t forget the washi!
Russian Dolls Washi (Fox and Star)
Wonderful Washi Tape Creative Set (Paperchase)
Little Cats Washi (Fox and Star)
We also now have the Children’s Pen Pal Pack available, over in my Etsy store now!
What do you think? Is pen-palling something your children might enjoy? I see it as a hobby to put a smile on their faces, as well as helping them to develop crucial skills. Win, win, right?
This is something that I’ve thought about for our little bear but the sceptical/protective/frankly scared side of me just doesn’t want to go there… I’d thought about posting little letters to local friends – those from playgroup and preschool who go to different schools who she rarely sees. That would be a way around it. Reading your post (pun intended!) has urged me on to do just that. I feel a Pretty note writing weekend coming on 🙂 So many pretty things to send too!
Yes, I can understand that, exactly why I haven’t set this one up as an organised swap, we do need to be more careful. But yes, finding trusted friends like that sounds perfect to me and a lovely way around it. I do hope little bear enjoys it and the stationery shopping!
Oh yes, i like the idea too. We did try it a while ago with my daughter but her interest waned-she’s a bit of a flitter! However, she loves her stationery as do I and I’d love to nurture a love for words, so maybe we’ll try again 🙂
It’s always worth another try, isn’t it? Any excuse to get some stationery in!
Some lovely stationery ideas! Love Smiggle! My daughter is in Year 1 at school and they all have penpals at another local school. Such a wonderful idea, I had lots of penpals when I was younger, mainly other children I met on holiday – bring back Pen and Paper for sure! Sim x
Oh, that is a great idea. I think I’ll suggest it to Boo’s teacher, thanks for sharing x
Hi Jocelyn,I myself have a friend that I grew up with that I write to and I love receiving letters from him (although my daughter reads them, pulling apart the grammatical errors in them – it’s a pass time of hers!).
I used to love getting letter sets for presents as a child and am glad to see that they still exist. My two have never shown interest in writing letters to people although thank you letters were done without argument when they were younger, now they phone to express their thanks.
I hope your daughter continues to enjoy writing letters and it does make sense to encourage children to write for a reason and not because they have to.
xx
Thanks, Debbie. I really hope so, too, as I enjoy writing and receiving snail mail, and so far Boo is very excited by it. It is a reason for her to write x
W pen pal with dorkymums son in Tasmania. We all absolutely love snail mail too. The bloogy kids pen pal club would be aces wouldn’t it?
That’s a lovely idea, and yes, how fab would that be?!
When I was young, it was quite the thing to sign up for an international pen friend and I wrote to other children in Finland and Germany as well as in England. It’s not so easy these days – you have to be so careful who your child is talking to, but I do think it’s a shame that you can no longer fill out the little form and wait for addresses in another country to be sent to you so that you can make contact with someone in another part of the world xx
Oh yes, me, too. I loved it, and it is a shame that it’s not so easy to do now x
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