Countdown to a Visit

The last time I went to visit the grand-kiddos I estimated the number of days between when they'd get the letter I was sending and my arrival date. Then, I lightly glued little planes (cut from credit card promotional materials) to represent the days. (I made sure to have a few extra planes at the front end so that when the kiddos got the letter they could already remove, or X-out, a few of the planes.)

The children took turns taking off, or X-ing out, a plane. It was like a "count down to Christmas" only this time the countdown was a "count down to Mom-Mom" coming to visit.

The children love getting different and unusual letters each week in the mail.

Labeling Fun

Helicopters and Planes to Label

The grandkids in TX love to get letters in the mail. Even with all the electronic connections, the good old-fashion mailbox holds a special place in their hearts. I send a letter each week. Sometimes it's difficult to come up with so many ideas each year, but thus far, I've managed. Some of the ideas overlap. I might send a collage for each season and have the children get out magnifying glasses (I provided inexpensive plastic ones on one trip--anticipation for an upcoming letter) to study the collage and find things, but even those will be of different themes.

Labeling is always fun and I was able to find brochures that had cool pictures of things of interest to the children. The helicopters and biplanes even had the "word cards" easily trimmed from the brochure.