Write a Postcard From Africa

What You Need:

• Thin piece of cardboard, approximately the size of a postcard
• Pen or pencil
• Colored markers
• Book about life in Africa, such as: A is For Africa by Ifeoma Onyefulu, ages 4-8; Masai and I by Virginia Kroll, ages 4-8; or Ashanti to Zulu by Margaret Musgrove, ages 9-12.

What You Do:

1. Have your child go to the library or go online and find some information about Africa. To narrow the search down, suggest that he focus on a particular country or activity such as Namibia or touring sand dunes.
2. Then ask him to pretend that he has embarked upon a trip to that part of Africa and is experiencing all that the local culture has to offer. Using his imagination, ask your child to write a postcard to a friend back home describing his experiences in Africa.
3. On the front, ask your child to draw a picture that depicts something that he has seen or done during his travels abroad.
4. On the back, have your child write a message to his friend explaining his picture. For example, the scene on one side might depict red sand dunes during sunrise and the written portion on the other side may read:

I am in Namibia where the world’s oldest desert called Namib is located. It is 80 million years old! The world's highest sand dunes are here, too, and at sunrise, we went to Sossusvlei to see them. They were so smooth and in the morning light, they appeared to be red! It was amazing.

A fun way to showcase your child's postcards is to create a mobile and hang it from the ceiling in his room. To make a very simple mobile, just clip the postcards with clothes pins to a wire hanger and hook the top part of the hanger to a planter hook inserted into the ceiling. Now your child has an eye-catching postcard collection to share with family and friends, and no postage is required!