Today, we’re reviving a dramatic play activity that was a total hit with my preschooler a couple months ago.
Of course, then it was Christmas themed, and now, only days away from Valentine’s Day, we redid the dramatic play activity with a Valentine’s Day theme.
This post office dramatic play is such a great one for encouraging early literacy and learning family names!
My daughter, Elena, really loves making and decorating cards for our immediate family and extended family.
Plus, I also learned that she likes having a purpose to creating art. She sticks with an art activity longer if she’s making a decoration, gift, or card for a friend or family member.
This simple indoor activity really kept her entertained for hours. She probably spent fifteen minutes at least decorating each individual card and envelope.
Let me tell you, I got so much done around the house while she was busy crafting and creating.
It makes it worth the extra effort of setting up the mailboxes.
How to Set Up a Valentine’s Day Post Office Activity
Dramatic play set-ups are usually a little more involved than our normal day-to-day play activities, so I try to stretch it out when I can by doing a bit of it at a time.
This activity has four main steps. Kids can help with the first two steps if they want, especially if they are just starting to write.
My preschooler only helped with the last two steps, as I did the first two steps during quiet time.
Step One: Make Mailboxes
I made really simple “mailboxes” because I was pressed for time (as per usual!).
This is just a sheet of construction paper I folded almost in half, wrote names on, and then taped to the wall.
One tip I have for you: Keep the pocket slightly open or loose so kids can fit at least a couple cards in there.
I would encourage you to get creative with your mailboxes. I wish I had started this activity ahead of time, or we would have covered and decorated cereal boxes or mailing envelopes or something a little bigger!
Step Two: Address Envelopes
My daughter can’t write yet, so I wrote our family’s names on envelopes and made two sets.
This step is important because it tells her who to deliver the cards to.
The last time we did this, I wrote names on the cards we used to double up reading practice.
For this activity…. well, let’s just say Mommy was tired and forgot this part.
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Step Three: Decorate Cards
Now for the fun part: decorating!
I gave Elena a tray containing
- a cup of washable markers
- safety scissors
- glue stick
- stamps and washable ink pad
- heart stickers
- the pre-addressed envelopes
- Valentines (which are really a coloring page from this jumbo pad that I cut up into squares that had a crown or princess on it)
- several construction paper hearts (left over from our blooming hearts activity… yes, I saved those hearts and dried them out!)
Another tip for you: put all this stuff on a big tray. This way, you protect your tables, you can instruct kids to keep all their stuff on the tray, and when play time is over, you can just take the tray away quickly! Voila! All clean!
There are so many fine motor skills to work on while decorating cards and envelopes.
- coloring and drawing with markers
- cutting with scissors
- stamping
- peeling stickers
- stuffing envelopes
Have you tried stamps with your kids? I made sure to use a washable ink pad and just let both my three-year-old and 18-month-old go to town.
They both LOVED it. The washable ink was really easy to wipe clean off fingers and tables.
Step Four: Deliver Cards
And now for another fun part… Delivering the cards.
I had Elena put all her cards in her “mail cart” which is really this shopping cart walker!
She wheeled the cart to the mailboxes (posted outside each person’s room) and delivered each of her special Valentine cards.
Your Turn for a Valentine’s Day Post Office Activity
I hope you try this out with your kids this Valentine’s Day.
Elena had such a great time with this activity, and I enjoyed resting (well, actually, mostly standing nearby doing dishes!) and watching her color enthusiastically and explain each of her card decorating choices.
Do you have a talker at home? As an introvert, it can get exhausting for me to continually respond to her questions, but I do like to listen to her monologues!
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