Everyone loves mail! Chris and I sent a pen palling kit to his little sister this week. She is 9 and she wrote him during the school year for class. Her letters were great and it gave him a chance connect with her in a different way. It was interesting to see what was important to her and what she choose to write about. He’s learned things that he wouldn’t have even thought to ask about, like she learned cursive this year and after about 4 letters it started to be readable. Did I mention her drawings? Amazing. Anyway, he is hoping this will keep her interested now that it’s not a requirement.
But this would also be a great way to start pen palling with someone you don’t get to see enough.
Items to include:
Photo Box to put it all in
Envelopes
Postage Stamps
Construction Paper/Scrapbook Paper/White Paper/Stationary
Die-cut shapes
Stickers (letters and cool things)
Tape
Glue stick
Scissors
Pencils/Pens/Markers/Colored Pencils/Glitter Pens
Notebook (optional, we decided to send a notebook back and forth rather than traditional letters, so the conversation is complete for her to look back at later)
Choose a notebook that appeals to you and personalize it. On the back inside cover, we added a handmade envelope to send secret messages, pictures, and other finds. And on the first page, we put a map of the US with our location and her location marked so she has a better understanding of where we are.
Make your letter fun and personal. If your pen pal is young, it is important to give them examples of what they can do through your letter. And there is so much you can do. You could paste in comics and photos . Or start a correspondence game of tic-tack-toe or hangman. Or write a secret code key and include a message to decipher. Be sure to give them something to write back about. To get the process started, you can print these fill in the blank questions for your pen pal to answer.
Lastly, we attached our address to the lid of the box, so it can’t get lost. If your pen-pal hasn’t mailed a letter before, you may want to use this as an address label and an example of how their envelope should look.
FREE PRINTABLES click on the images above to open them as full size PDFs, then you can save or print the files from there!
P.S. How great would this be as a going away present?
Making Mondays 
Thank you so much, I just started blogging and it is great to get positive feedback.
Adorable! What a great idea! And your printables are beautiful!
Thank you!
this is so awesome!
Perfect for elementary grades to introduce a bit of fun to their literacy activities! I would have loved to have this kit when writing to my pen pal in third grade! Thanks for the great post 🙂
thank you so much it ‘s great
chaiyos thailand
This is such an adorable idea!! ❤ I found your blog through a Pin on Pinterest and I'm so happy I did! ❤
Thank you so much! Super helpful! xo
Thank you just found this wonderful blog. Quite a few years back I made my children a writing box with similar things in it like you have . We used to write notes to each other in our “special” letter box and also they wrote to their cousins too.
I now have two beautiful little granddaughters that live interstate and I write to them aged 6 & 3 . I am going to make up a pen pal kit for them.
Thank you again for reminding me about our writing box and now to continue on with your pen pal kit.
Carol