- The mail carrier is an important member of the community with whom the child may already be familiar. Crafts and activities based on the mail carrier will teach the preschool child appropriate social skills and how to deal with strangers, teach the child his home address and encourage the child to be more aware of his community and the important services that it offers. Children at this age learn best with visual examples. A field trip to the local post office will allow the child to understand the concept of mail transmission and give the child the opportunity to become acquainted with the people who handle the family's mail.
- The preschool child is developing preliminary reading and writing skills that will develop into more advanced literacy skills in the coming years. Crafts such as creating envelopes or designing a postage stamp encourage letter and number recognition and color coordination. Designing a stamp can be as simple as coloring a pre-drawn template on a sheet of paper or as elaborate as painting or stamping it with colored ink. Because the preschool child is just beginning to learn dexterous motor skills associated with writing and drawing, the stamp and envelope templates should be slightly larger than normal, or about the size of a large index card. Older or advanced children can practice writing their first and last names on colorful envelopes.
- If the preschool child visits the local post office, he will soon realize that organization plays a large part in the mail carrier's job. With assistance, the children can create their own make-believe post office, with shoe boxes as mail cases and homemade mail bags to collect letters from senders. Children can create their own mail carrier parcel bag with a grocery paper bag cut in half. A strap stapled at each side of the bag allows the child to collect and carry the mail. A postal service sticker adhered to the front of the bag gives the children a visual connection to the post office. Younger children can collect and sort colored envelopes or envelopes with stickers or stars. Older children can sift through different sizes of envelopes and case the mail in the appropriate shoeboxes.
- Preschool children can also learn necessary social skills with mail carrier crafts. Children can create their own special mailboxes from discarded storage boxes or food containers, decorating them with their names and colorfully drawn pictures. Stickers, colored stamps and glitter markers provide interest and teach the child manual dexterity and artistic development. Each child can learn his or her own home address -- an important skill for emergency situations -- and learn how to communicate it with others. In a group setting, children can take turns playing mail carrier, sorting their homemade letters and envelopes from the shoebox case to the individual mailboxes.