How to Find a Pen Pal for Your Child, and Why You Should
Writing letters is becoming a lost art. Remember the joy of getting mail, that wasn’t bills? It was like Christmas! Pen Pals have many great benefits for kids including bring back the lost art of letter writing and giving them the anticipation of waiting for mail and the joy of finally getting mail.
Why should your kid have a pen pal?
A snail mail pen pal has many benefits. One benefit is being able to learn about other cultures or areas of the country and how other people live. They can learn from someone who living that culture the best.
They build their writing and grammar, and letter writing skills. It also helps with their spelling and reading habits, as well as with reading comprehension.
Writing letters to a pen pal improves communication skills. In a technology world communication skills seem to be weaker and weaker
It’s so fun to get mail and getting letters and writing letters is a lost art.
This is a great way to teach how to build a friendship on WHO the person is and to like (or dislike) someone based on who they are and not how they talk, or how they look.
It helps teach patience and that good things are worth waiting for. There is nothing like having to wait days or weeks for a letter that you are so excited to get. In a world of instant gratification it’s very important to teach kids you need to wait for things too and that good things are WORTH waiting for.
You can explore social studies, look up different places as your child’s pen pal talks about them and learn about new places.
Finding Pen Pals
Finding pen pals is pretty easy. Here is where to check.
The first place to look for a pen pal is family and friends who have kids who live out of state, even a friend of a friend. Someone you know.
Check out the Facebook Groups – Search for ‘pen pal kids’ there are many groups that connect pen pals. If you homeschool many homeschool groups offers pen pal match ups too.
Friends you meet on vacation – You can meet some great people on vacation and they make the best pen pals because you have a common experience.
Ask at church a lot of times they have a program set up and they can match you with someone.
There are also websites help connect kids with pen pals from all over the world. Think of the culture that can be learned!
Here are a few websites you can use to find online pen pals.
Does your child have a pen pal? How did they find him /her?
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I have 2 children that use the very same service i used as a teenager.. its called Global Penfriends and they have been around for decades. Safe, secure and family friendly.
Im looking for a pen pal for my son. It’s a school project. Not sure how to do so.
My suggestion is to look in your state homeschool group or larger homeschool groups online. I know many of them shut this option down in their groups because of safety reasons (sharing addresses, etc), but some may have them.
I don’t see any options for special needs children. My son is almost 9 and has global developmental delay. He isn’t capable of doing a traditional pen pal yet. I hope to one day have his writing and talking well, but we would like to have options that suit him. Thanks!
This isn’t anything hosted by us, we simply shared about it. But I think it would be a wonderful idea to have a special needs niche. I would reach out to some of the special needs groups on Facebook or a blog that focuses on that and see what they recommend.