Ye Olde Valentine Mailboxes

Remember making Valentine mailboxes for school back in the day? We either had to decorate a shoebox at home or perhaps we decorated at school. Can't remember, but it was ever so much fun. I wanted to share that experience with my grandkids. I knew they would be doing that at school, but I thought it would be fun to have one for their house to send Valentines to their family.

Easy enough. I just invited them over one afternoon for cookies and fruit drinks and an hour or so of creating a family mailbox. I covered the box in wrapping paper before they came. I wanted them to be able to take the lid off easily. I instructed them to place it in a central area along with some store-bought Valentine cards. They needed to tell their family that it was available and to just grab a card and write a note to a family member, and then place it in the box. At the end of the day, the grandchild would get the cards out of the box and deliver to the family members. 

​So we decorated that afternoon and I sent them home with the box and some Valentine cards. We had fun!

It's fun to be silly as well as creative.

Working so hard on her special Valentine. Be sure to cut a hole in the lid big enough to accommodate those special Valentines.

I cut a hole in the lid and covered the box with pink wrapping paper before the girls arrived.

I bought some Valentines that I thought would appeal to four-year-olds. Wanted them at-the-ready for parents and siblings to add to the mail.

I sent the packaged Valentines home with the girls, so sending Valentines to family members would be easy. Simply add a note, address and place in the family mailbox.

Craft time with the grands:

It's always fun to get together with your grandkids, and really fun if you can take time for a craft. Believe it or not, besides being just plain fun, you are also~

• Helping the child with their fine motor skills (cutting, pasting...)
• Nurturing their creativity
• Teaching them to share
• Writing for a purpose
• Sharing personal history
• Developing verbal skills

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Such a great time to have some fun with your grandchildren and nieces and nephews. Just do it!