kids – Petit Mail

Pen Pal School

April 29, 2019 Petit Mail

Welcome to Pen Pal School! The space for creative kids to learn more about letter writing and discover the JOY of snail mail!

Pen Pal school has EVERYTHING you need to get started with letter writing, including a stationery set AND a pen pal to write to.

It can be challenging to find a reliable pen pal for your child, so we are making it easy!
No more giving your address out to strangers, long response times, or no response from pen pals.

Watch The Pen Pal School Video

What’s Included With Pen Pal School?

As part of the this special membership club, your child will receive:

A children’s stationery set of your choice shipped for free to the address provided at checkout
- stationery sets include:
  - 5 sheets of large lined, full color, illustrated writing paper (11 x 8.5 inch).
  - 3 bright coloured envelopes (size 10) perfectly sized for handwritten letters.
- pen pal letter writing tips.
Lifetime access to the online pen pal school resource page with fun, age-appropriate letter writing instruction videos, including:
- ideas for what to write in a pen pal letter.
- how to write a letter.
- how to address an envelope.
- introduction to the Petit Mail characters you can write a letter to.
The opportunity to use your stationery set to write a letter to one of the Petit Mail characters (and have them write back!)
The chance to add-on more letters and responses from a Petit Mail character if your child is enjoying the experience.

Join the FUN!

There is so much JOY in sending and receiving snail mail.
Encourage your child to practice:

writing skills,
spelling,
sentence structure,
and so much more!

While writing their very own letter to send to one of the Petit Mail characters – Audrey, Milo, Olivia or Oliver.

Then, check the mail and wait for a return envelope from your pen pal! A great chance to practice reading skills in a fun and unique way.

What are you waiting for?

5 Tips To Simplify Kids Clothing

April 17, 2019 Petit Mail

Being a busy working mom with two kids (or any number of kids) is NOT easy.

If we haven’t “met” yet, hello!

I’m Alison, I create Petit Mail, a snail mail subscription experience for preschoolers and early readers, work a full time job at a local non-profit and have two munchkins. Around the time I was pregnant with my son, simplifying and minimalism became regular words in my vocabulary.

I’ve learned so much and I have so many tips, ideas and resources that I want to share with you. These are the tools that I use at home every day to keep my life from feeling totally out of control!

5 Tips To Simplify Kids Clothing

Accept Previously Loved Clothing – this helps to save so much money. You don’t have to keep everything you are given, and can donate or pass along items if you feel you have enough.
Shop At Children’s Consignment Stores – you can find clothing at a fraction of the price, sometimes with the tags still on! Plus this keeps clothing out of the landfill. This works particularly well for babies and toddlers, when clothing is usually in excellent condition.
Purchase Handmade Clothing (Or Make It Yourself!) – if you have less items, you can invest in beautiful, quality, handmade pieces. Support local makers and small business!
Don’t Have More Than What You Need – Anyone ever notice that a lot of children will wear their favourite outfits all the time? Many children are natural minimalists at heart! Get your kids involved – they might be better at simplifying their closets than you are.
Donate or Consign Frequently – I pass along our previously loved children’s clothing to other families regularly. We keep a bag/basket at the top of each child’s closet – as soon as something comes out of the laundry that we know is too small, it gets placed in the donation area. When the bag is full, we try to pass it along right away. We bring gently loved toys and books that our children have outgrown to a local consignment store.

This is just ONE of the areas where I have made changes to make our life at home easier.
You can also read more about how we have reduced our screen time at home to make more room for FAMILY time!

I often feel that weight of working mom guilt, but, one of my solutions has always been to spend short, quality amounts of time with my children – reading, creating, doing “special projects”. I wanted to share that experience with other families, so I created Petit Mail.

It’s an easy, fun experience for families of preschoolers and early readers.

Petit Mail story postcard subscriptions arrive once per month in bright, fun envelopes, addressed directly to your child. The illustrated stories are perfect for reading out loud together, and have activity suggestions and inspiration. Our themes include art, science, nature, imaginative play, and more!

You can get started by trying your first story postcard for just $10 (postage included) in Canada and the US.

Learn more about Petit Mail or about trying a story postcard.

Can’t wait to have you join our snail mail family!

-Alison

Kids Pen Pal Ideas (For Littles)

January 9, 2019June 1, 2021 Petit Mail

Inspired by our Olivia’s Pen Pal story postcard, I decided to try a kids pen pal exchange between preschoolers and the results were so fun!

Since we are still at an early writing stage, I wanted to keep things fun and simple so I created this pen pal letter template (available as a free bonus download for our subscriber community along with February’s bonus materials – so exciting!) so that we could write a letter to a friend.

So far, our pen pal exchange is exceeding my expectations, and has led to all kinds of playful learning and exploration. We have learned:

How to look places up on a map
Letter and word practice
How to address and letter (subscribers will find a video tutorial for kids in our bonus online membership materials for this month’s theme as well!)
Scissor practice (to cut out a photo)
and so much more!

Story postcard subscriptions from Petit Mail make it so easy to explore the pen pal experience. For just $10 a month* you create the opportunity to bring so much learning and fun into your home! Every month, you will find:

a bright fun envelope addressed to your child, arriving in your mailbox.
a colourful, illustrated story from Oliver, Audrey, Milo and Olivia sharing about art, science, creativity, nature and imagination.
the opportunity to cuddle up and read together and be inspired by new ideas.
bonus surprise items like stickers and bookmarks.
activity ideas, tutorials and videos available to subscribers online in the monthly BONUS link (included with your envelope).
the chance to be present and spend quality time with your child.

*for a 1 year subscription

If you love the idea of a snail mail subscription for the preschooler or early reader in your life, you can try your first story in Canada or the US for just $10 (postage included)

Alison shares more about the benefits of a preschool pen pal.

More About Our Preschool Pen Pal Exchange

To make the experience a little more educational, I added a hand-written note from me, telling a little bit more about our family, where we live, and the things we enjoy doing together. Given that it is still WINTER, one of our letters got a little wet when it arrived in its destination mailbox, and our package turned into a little bit of a rainbow, but that’s ok, we are embracing the wild color combination!

NJ was so excited to read something from another little girl her own age. We looked up Michigan on a map, and compared it to where we live in Newfoundland and Labrador.

One of our pen pals, Madelyn, wondered about what it’s like to live near the ocean (quick answer: our ocean is COLD and often stormy, but it’s still oh-so-beautiful) so our project for our next pen pal letter will be to find a nice day and to take some pictures (if we are REALLY lucky, we’ll find a day to get our picture taken with an iceberg in the background as it’s almost iceberg season when pieces of ice start to break off in the Arctic and float their way South). Maybe we will also share some fun facts about animals that we find here, like Puffins and Whales.

Overall, I loved this project and can’t wait to write more pen pal letters!

Pen Pal Tips For Young Children

If you are exchanging a letter with a child or family you don’t know very well, add your own notes to their letter. Share more about where you live, your family and how your family enjoys spending time together. This really helps to spark their interest in the overall experience.
Add stickers to your letter! Stickers are always a HUGE HIT, in fact, both of our letters were covered with stickers from top to bottom!
Not sure who to write to? Send your letter to a family member or friend with a child around the same age. Or, send mail to a relative of any age and encourage them to write back.

Be sure to check out Petit Mail story postcards. Available in 3, 6 and 12 month subscription options and delivered every month in bright, fun envelopes.

Learn more about subscriptions here.

Learn About Newfoundland and Labrador – For Kids – Personalized Mail For Kids

August 7, 2018 Petit Mail

Newfoundland and Labrador For Kids

Introducing a wonderful way to learn about Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada’s most Eastern Province. Send happy snail mail to a special child in your life and join Oliver as he explores the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in this special letter.

Made for kids ages 6 and up, Oliver teaches us more about the world, geography, culture, and also builds reading skills through his letter.

Petit Mail is created by Newfoundland and Labrador entrepreneur Alison Butler. Alison was born and raised in St. John’s, Newfoundland and is a mom of 2 young children, ages 3 and 7.

“Newfoundland and Labrador is such a fascinating and magical place. I LOVE sharing stories and information about my home Province with others when I travel and feel so proud to call the island of Newfoundland my home”.

Learn About Newfoundland and Labrador

The original Petit Mail story postcard line (available as a subscription) is designed for preschoolers ages three – early reader but customers love the idea of snail mail for the children in their life and keep asking for something for older children.

“I saw this as the perfect opportunity to share more about my home Province with children around the world, and to encourage parents to dive in and explore new things with their children. My daughter would love this, and I always use that as a starting point when I’m creating a product.

If we received this letter in the mail, we would look Newfoundland and Labrador up on a map and look for pictures and videos online. We would ask questions like, what animals live there? what’s the music like? I wonder why so many houses are painted in bright colours?
It’s amazing to be able to explore the world right from our home.

Letter From Newfoundland and Labrador Product Features:

This letter is ideal for ages 6 and up.
This letter is personalized “Dear [Your Child’s Name]”
Printed on 8.5 x 11 inch paper (standard letter)
Full colour, double sided letter from Petit Mail character Oliver
Mailing in a bright, coloured envelope addressed to your child
Sibling names are added to the letter and envelope at no additional charge, please include all names at checkout.

Your Letter From Newfoundland and Labrador can be mailed anywhere in the world. It’s a fun and affordable way to introduce a whole new generation to the JOY of snail mail.

With so much of our days filled with technology, it is a wonderful treat to receive real paper mail and connect with each other in a fun and easy way.

Younger siblings might also love a Petit Mail subscription.

Learn more about Alison and the story behind the Petit Mail brand here.

Kids Preschool Subscription Canada

June 23, 2018 Petit Mail

Petit Mail: Kids Preschool Subscription Canada

“I started looking for a preschool subscription when my daughter NJ was two and a half and loved walking with me to our community mailbox. As a lover of snail mail, I started looking for the “perfect” snail mail subscription for her to enjoy. I wanted something bright and fun, with beautiful illustrations, a short story, a way for me to connect and engage with her. Most importantly, I wanted something affordable, without large shipping fees. I couldn’t find quite the right thing, and because of this, I started the work to bring my idea to life!

Over the past few years I’ve worked hard to create a preschool subscription that I believe is affordable and accessible to everyone. When you order a Petit Mail story postcard subscription, I still get excited and do a little dance of joy. Each and every time.” – Alison

Petit Mail is a bright, fun, affordable snail mail story postcard subscription for kids ages three to early reader.

Preschool Subscription - Petit Mail

Discover The JOY of Snail Mail

Petit Mail is the fun way to introduce a new generation to the joy of snail mail. Created and written by Canadian mom and entrepreneur Alison Butler, each story postcard is packaged, stamped and addressed by hand.

Every month, your Petit Mail story postcard arrives in your mailbox in a bright, colourful envelope, and is, most importantly, addressed with your child’s first name.
Being able to see their name in print is so wonderful, because children love finding something just for them in their mailbox.

There is always something new to discover!
Some months you might find an extra stamp or doodle on your envelope and your mail is sealed with coloured tape.

Kids Preschool Subscription Canada

We want you to receive a durable, quality product, so each month story postcards are:

(+) full colour, double-sided, because we want you to get the most from a 5×7 inch postcard!
(+) printed on thick, quality cardstock that is not easily ripped. This is especially important for little hands.
(+) packaged in bright, fun colourful envelopes featuring stamps, embossing & tape, because we think all of the little details are important to the snail mail experience.
(+) most importantly, some months include little extras, like stickers and other goodies, because who doesn’t love a fun little surprise?

Learn more about Alison and the story behind Petit Mail story postcards here.

How A Petit Mail Preschool Subscription Works

Order:

Choose from Canada, USA, or International delivery address subscription options.
Ideal for ages three to early reader.

Receive:

Check the mailbox together regularly, talk & connect, explore your surroundings. Petit Mail story postcards arrive in your mailbox once per month.

Read & Play Together:

Read along with four diverse characters Olivia, Audrey, Milo and Oliver. Traditional subscriptions rotate through a different character each month, or you can “choose your own” option to receive story postcards from just one of the characters. Read your story card and use the monthly adventure as inspiration for family time activities. Spark your child’s imagination and encourage creative play. Oliver is putting on a puppet show? You can too!

Petit Mail story postcard themes include: art, writing, science, engineering, nature, reading, and creativity. Most of all, your postcards encourage imaginative play, all at an age-appropriate level.

Purchase A Petit Mail Subscription

With so much of our days filled with technology, it is a wonderful treat to receive real paper mail.

Give your child the gift of a monthly snail mail surprise.
Petit Mail provides something to look forward to receiving together and encourages quality time together as a family.

Canadian and US subscriptions cost $7 per month and all prices INCLUDE postage. International subscriptions are also available.

It’s fun, affordable, and gives you a unique way to spend quality time with your kids. Read together and let your story card inspire new ideas and new ways to play!

Want To Try Petit Mail First?

I’ve created this special e-story postcard just for you. Olivia’s Acts of Kindness will be sent to your inbox, addressed to your child’s first name.

In this story, Olivia creates random acts of kindness for others in her life. A wonderful way to experience Petit Mail and encourage a spirit of kindness and generosity.

What will your random act of kindness be?

Preschool Reading Club

June 1, 2018 Petit Mail

Welcome to the Preschool Reading Club. One of my favourite things to do is share books that we enjoy reading at home, so I decided to create a preschool reading group for parents where we can share book ideas & recommendations specifically for our preschoolers and early readers.

Every week (or so, because..life) I’ll share pictures, or short video reviews of books that we are reading from both our home collection AND the library.

Let’s Connect

I’m Alison, a preschool mom, and I’d love to have you join us in the group. Some reasons why I absolutely love sharing book ideas and inspiration with others:

I’m a mom with 2 small children, a full time job and a part time business – sharing great reads helps to make my life easier, and who doesn’t want to make their life a little bit easier?
I love to gift books. My children receive books for almost every occasion, and I also gift books to my nieces.
It’s great to have new things to look for, or request, when we go to the library.
It helps me find our next great read!

If you have found your way to this page, I don’t think I need to talk about all the ways reading with your children in amazing.
Reading is the ONLY time my 3 year old son sits still during the day. Once we settle down for our bedtime reading, I swear he could stay there, snuggled into me forever (and I probably wouldn’t mind!)

So what are you waiting for?

Join The Preschool Reading Club

If you follow along with my IG feed, or the YouTube channel, you will already know that I love sharing my book suggestions and recommendations.

In the Preschool Reading Club we will have more space for discussion and for you to share your book choices as well, PLUS I’ll be sharing some freebies and hosting Petit Mail giveaways as well from time to time! Pop over to join the club, and I’ll see you there.

Discover The JOY of Snail Mail

Petit Mail is the fun way to introduce a new generation to the joy of snail mail. Created and written by mom and entrepreneur Alison Butler, each story postcard is packaged, stamped and addressed by hand.

Every month, your Petit Mail story postcard arrives in your mailbox in a bright, colourful envelope, addressed with your child’s first name. There is always something new to discover!

Non-Toy Gifts For Kids – Inspiring Creativity and Imagination

May 28, 2018 Petit Mail

Lately I have been inspired by Non-Toy Gifts for kids.

Feel like your home is drowning in children’s toys?

It seems like many of the conversations I have with other moms are about getting rid of STUFF.

I don’t know about you, but my kids don’t need much.
They play happily for hours with the simplest of things – what they really want is for someone to engage and interact with them.

There are other posts out there with non-toy gift ideas for kids, but they all seem really generic, like “a zoo membership”.

I wanted to come up with some really practical, creative non-toy ideas that are a little more specific.

I hope you find these ideas inspiring, and use some for your own gifting this year.

5 Non-Toy Gifts: Ideas and Inspiration For Kids

Non-Toy Gift 1: New Outfit Experience

Take the special child in your life shopping for a new outfit. The important part here is that you make it an experience that you do TOGETHER. I do this with my daughter every year for her birthday and it’s so much fun! We go to a store and she gets to pick out a brand new outfit, but we turn the shopping day into an experience. I think this would work well with nieces and nephews, grandchildren, and even close family friends!

Non-Toy Gift 2: A New Sleeping Bag and a Flashlight

Does this seem like a strange gift idea to you? We use our sleeping bags for camping together as a family BUT our children also LOVE using their sleeping bags when they play pretend, when they build forts and when we watch movies together during family time. In my experience, this is a great gift idea that provides endless hours of play!

Non-Toy Gift 3: A Subscription!

I spend a lot of time sharing why I believe subscriptions are a fantastic non-toy gift, here are just a few great reasons:

It’s the gift that keeps on giving (a gift keeps coming in the mail every month)
Subscriptions encourage family connection and togetherness
Subscriptions encourage learning
Petit Mail story postcards don’t take up a lot of space in your home, can be saved and used again and again (or with future siblings) and can be recycled when you are finished with them.

Non-Toy Gift 4: A Photo Book

My children LOVE looking at photos of themselves. We talk about things that we’ve done together and that they have experiences.
This gift is a beautiful way to capture and share memories.

Non-Toy Gift 5: “Best Day Ever” Scavenger Hunt

Choose your child’s favourite activities, then buy gift cards for some of those things.
Turn this into a fun activity by wrapping the gift cards, then creating a way for your child to follow clues to search for the gift cards.

What do you think? Would you try any of my ideas?

Think about a way to find gifts that “keep on giving” while making it fun.
I hope these 5 ideas sparked your imagination!

Non-Toy Gifts for Kids

Petit Mail is a bright, fun snail mail story postcard subscription experience for preschoolers and their family.

Petit Mail Story Postcard

Discover The JOY of Snail Mail

Every month, your Petit Mail story postcard arrives in your mailbox in a bright, colourful envelope, addressed with your child’s first name.

You can try your first story for just $10 (postage included). Our stories inspire reading, imagination, creative play and make learning FUN.

The Jolly Postman and Other People’s Letters: Kids Book Review

May 23, 2018May 23, 2018 Petit Mail

The Jolly Postman Book Review (1)

A parent favourite from my IG feed always seems to be posts I share about books we love. I particularly love books that have a snail mail theme to compliment Petit Mail.

Book Review: The Jolly Postman And Other People’s Letters

I love this interactive children’s book – filled with envelopes that can be opened, letters, postcards, birthday cards and more. Follow the postman as he makes his way through the world of children’s fairy tales, making mail deliveries – and you can read the mail!

Watch My Full Book Review Of The Jolly Postman

Isn’t this so much fun?
If you’re interested, you can find the book here*: https://goo.gl/d2NGAa

The Jolly Postman and Other People's Letters Children's Book Review

Join The Preschool Kids Reading Club

I regularly share book suggestions, reading ideas and more in my preschool kids reading club group on Facebook. Plus sometimes I share freebies and other fun content. I’d love to have you join us there.

*This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase using this link, a small percentage will go toward supporting this blog

Free Sight Word Flashcards

April 12, 2018 Petit Mail

Free Sight Word Flashcards

Do you have a child who is learning to read? Check out this printable set of Free Sight Word Flashcards….a gift from me to you!

Free Sight Word Flashcards

My daughter NJ is learning to read right now, and I have to be honest, sometimes it’s a challenge. She LOVES being read to, we read together every night, but she is less motivated to read on her own. As a solution, I created this set of free sight word flashcards to help her make reading fun.

There are many ways to use your flashcards, here are just a few suggestions:

hole punch and put them on a ring for practice.
cut them out, lay them on the table or floor “memory game style” (face down) and say each word as you turn the card over.
lay out your flashcards (face up), find a flashlight and say each word as you shine the light on it.

Let’s create a whole new generation who LOVES READING!

Sign Up For Your Printable Sight Word Flashcards Here

One of the reasons I created Petit Mail was to make reading fun and exciting.

When your story postcard arrives in the mailbox, you open up the bright envelope in excitement and read together.
To help with sight words and reading, key words are highlighted and the stories are written in simple sentences for early readers.

This set of free printable sight word flashcards can be used at any time. The words are specifically designed to go along with the “Milo Loves Reading” Petit Mail story postcard. This sight word flashcard set is perfect for reading practice at home with a bright background and featuring Petit Mail characters.

Petit Mail is a bright, fun snail mail story postcard subscription for kids ages three to early reader.

Petit Mail Story Postcard

Discover The JOY of Snail Mail

Every month, your Petit Mail story postcard arrives in your mailbox in a bright, colourful envelope, addressed with your child’s first name. There is always something new to discover