I started collecting these little red and white mailboxes from the dollar section at Target sometime in January. I thought they would make terrific additions to our February valentine work boxes…
To provide a variety of different learning opportunities and types of play, I included magnetic numbers because the mailboxes are magnetic and it would be a fun way to add address numbers to our boxes…
Also included are paper and markers to write addresses and mail letters. I also made these little heart shaped envelopes for a little fun mailing and a little number sorting and matching…
The construction paper envelopes you see here are simply made of heart shapes cut from construction paper and then folded to make an envelope. You can see how to make these with more detail here from Tinkerlab…
Inside each heart envelope is another surprise!
These little mailboxes and the magnetic numbers lend themselves to dramatic play, conversation about addresses, and they promote a little number recognition and counting practice as well…
The children will ultimately decide how they wish to interact with the materials – this is why I want to keep provide the materials but leave most of the play open ended. I am sure the children will come up with ideas that I would never think of!
See what PreK Pages did with her mailboxes too…
Be sure to save those valentine boxes for future activity boxes and some open ended play!