Postcard From an Adventure

Cardstock or thick paper cut into postcard sizes

Scissors

Pencil or pen for writing

Crayons or markers for the front picture

Cut cardstock into postcard rectangles.

Ask: "Where would you go on an amazing adventure?"

Draw the adventure on the front: space, ocean, dinosaurs, candy planet.

On the back, draw a dividing line. Left for writing, right for address.

Write the message: "Dear Mom, I went to space! I saw purple planets and met an alien named Zorp."

Write the recipient's name on the right side.

Make 2-3 postcards from different adventures.

Deliver to family members.

Postcards are the perfect writing format for kids who hate long writing assignments. The space is tiny — a few sentences is all that fits. But those few sentences require selecting the most interesting details and expressing them concisely. That's actually a harder skill than writing a lot.

The imaginary adventure element makes this creative writing that doesn't feel like "writing practice." Your child is PLAYING — inventing alien names, describing candy planets, imagining underwater kingdoms.

Sensory details make postcards great: "The food tastes like pickles. The air smells like cotton candy. The ground is squishy." Encourage details about what they see, hear, taste, smell, and feel.

Collect the postcards in a box. Over time, you'll have a wonderful archive of your child's imaginative worlds.

Try themed sets: postcards from fairy tales, from historical periods, from different countries.