Letter from Camp

What You Need:

• Downloadable templates (1, 2, 3, 4)
• Small pack of fine-tipped, water based colored markers or colored pencils
• Pencil sharpener (optional)
• Stamped and addressed envelopes

What You Do:

1. First, wherever your child is going, make sure they know you would like them to write a letter home!
2. Read through the Deluxe Letter together and talk about the important parts in a letter.
3. Have your child decide who the recipient of the letter should be. Your child may want to write to you, but remember that lots of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends might love to get a letter as well.
4. After deciding on a recipient, model and write a sample letter or two together before they go off to camp. As you do this, you both can discuss what kinds of things make a good letter and why. Now your child has an idea of the letter you would like to receive while they're away!
5. When they're off at camp, they'll feel more prepared and inspired to write a letter (maybe even several!) home.

Optional: To further inspire your child to write home, you can also encourage them to decorate the self-addressed, stamped envelops and provide them the opportunity to practice address-writing as well.

Letter-writing and self-expression are important personal and academic skills. Personally, this type of writing helps your child stay connected to you and to the world they know, while branching out and making sense of what’s coming their way. Academically, letter writing is a part of the language arts curriculum and is something all elementary school children must learn. Having your child practice writing letters in this activity helps them build his academic writing skills in a way that is natural, practical, and enduring.