Are you looking for a way to engage with families & children through this season of online church? Even if you are meeting in person, snail mail is always a fun surprise for new or regular attending families.
What kid doesn’t love to get snail mail? During this time of doing church online or church from afar, it can be hard to connect relationally with children. Sending snail mail is a sure-fire way to connect with them and make them feel special when they find something just for them in the mailbox. The mail can be personalized to each individual child’s likes/dislikes or it can be connected to the lesson that was taught online or in class that week. Minimizing in-person contact is easy with snail mail. It can be sent weekly, monthly, or on special occasions & holidays.
Below is a list of ten items that can fit in a regular-sized envelope and a few examples of what to utilize them for!
STICKERS – Stickers work well for almost any age, but are best with the younger ages.
Choose stickers that:
-Pertain to the lesson you’re teaching (i.e. Noah – animal stickers, Daniel – Lion stickers, etc.)
-Are personalized for them with something they like (i.e. soccer, dance, etc.)
-Will make them smile or feel special, like a smiley face, gold star, or heart sticker
-Encourage them with phrases like “Jesus Loves You”, “You Are Special” or “Have a Great Day”
STICK OF GUM/CANDY – Gum is probably one of the flattest candies out there, but really any candy that you can fit in an envelope will just make their day.
A few ideas you can send and tie into messages in your note:
-Pop Rocks (Jesus is my Rock)
-Heart-Shaped Suckers (Jesus Loves You)
-Fruit Leather (The Fruit of the Spirit)
-Gum (Reading the Bible is like chewing gum)
POSTCARD - For them to color or draw on and send it to someone else.
Encourage kids to pass it on by decorating and mailing a postcard to a friend or family member. You could print postcards that say:
-“I am Praying for You” – with an empty frame on the front for them to draw a photo of themselves
-“Jesus Loves You” – With a house, sunshine, and the words Jesus Loves You on the front
-“I am Thankful for You” -To be sent in the month of November for a Thanksgiving lesson.
BOOKMARK – This could be sent along with a lesson about daily Bible reading and study.
Ideas for bookmarks you can send include:
-Ones that they can color in, you can buy or create on your own.
-Ones that has the Bible verse that you are learning on it.
-Or a specially designed one to go with their individual likes.
MONEY – This could range in purpose and is typically not sent to reward the child, but to help teach them a lesson.
Lessons you could teach with money include:
-a penny, nickel, dime, or quarter to let them know you will be talking about the story of Zacchaeus or any other story in the Bible told about money.
-This could be sent to go along with the $1 Bill Object Lesson idea
-$5 to $10 bill for them to go and bless someone else with. Kids are not often given money and told to be generous with it. This is usually very eye-opening to see how the children choose to be generous with what they are given.
CRAFT SUPPLIES– This could correlate with a craft you use in your Sunday School lesson or online lesson.
-Popsicle stick
-Fabric
-Tissue paper
-Newspaper – This could go along with the Newspaper Object Lesson
-House Key – This could go along with the House Key Object Lesson
- Road Map – This could be a random road map or a road map of directions from their house to the church. This could go along with Road Map Object Lesson as well or the World Map Object Lesson
BALLOON -Another object that is geared towards the littles but is great for older children too.
-Plain colored balloon, their favorite color, or maybe a color that somehow relates to your lesson
-“Smile Jesus Loves You” balloon
- Cross balloon for Easter or a nativity scene balloon for Christmas
-Happy birthday balloon for their birthday
FRIENDSHIP BRACELET – The best kind to buy is the adjustable kind so that it can fit on anyone’s wrist. These also can typically be bought in bulk.
-It can be sent as a special gift to commemorate when they asked Jesus to be their friend and accepted him into their heart
-it can be to let them know you are their friend
-it can go along with a lesson from the Bible about friendship
PERSONALIZED HANDWRITTEN LETTER
-You could be their pen pal
-You could sign up your leaders to be their pen pal
-It could be just a general letter to everyone to tell them you are thinking of them
COLORING PAGES -There are so many resources on Children’s Ministry Deals for color and lesson sheets.
MOVIE TICKET – This can be sent in conjunction with the teaching the Accepting Christ Object Lesson.
-You could ask your local theater to donate movie ticket coupons to send
-Turn it into a contest where if they memorize the verse and send a video to you, you send them the movie ticket in return.
SEEDS – This could be tied to a lesson or just for fun to go out in Spring/Summer
-Flower seeds
-Fruit Seeds to go along with Fruit of the Spirit lessons
-Apple Seeds – This could go in conjunction with the Apple Seed Object Lesson
MONTHLY COLOR IN CALENDAR SHEETS – This also go weekly or yearly as well, depending on the style of calendar
-Color in Calendar
-Picture Calendar sheet
-This could also go along with our Calendar Object Lesson
