It was my first time trying this activity and wasn’t sure what to expect, but I wanted to try it since the mail theme went along with Valentine’s day. The kids LOVED this unit! They were talking about it for days after we stopped doing it. Needless to say, I will definitely be repeating this activity in the years to come. As I said, the mailman unit pairs nicely with Valentine’s Day or you could pair it with any community helpers theme.

Skills targeted in this activity:

• sequencing
• WH- questions
• core words/vocab development
• basic concepts (colors, shapes, sizes, same/different, prepositions)
• turn-taking
• requesting
• expanding utterance length
• reciprocal verbal exchanges (conversation)
• pretend play skills

Materials I used:

• felt mail set from the Target Dollar Spot which comes with a mail bag and 3 different colored letters
• Melissa & Doug mail set which comes with a wooden mailbox and some plastic letters and envelopes that you can write on with dry-erase markers (the set came with crayons for the letters but they fell apart as soon as we tried to use them, so we used dry-erase markers instead)
• blue medical uniform top that was donated to our school (but looks just like a mail shirt – the kids didn’t know the difference 😛 )
• different sized cardboard boxes (save them from your Amazon orders!)
• some toys that I already own (you can use anything you have – I used a race car, ball, plastic dinosaur, sunglasses)
• paper
• envelopes
• writing utensils
• American flag stickers (to use as stamps)

We started off the activity by listening to this song I found on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVXR6gWOEuw

This song is great because you can target basic concepts like colors, shapes, same/different (you’ll see what I mean once you watch the video) and it shows a person getting dressed up in his mail uniform. It also shows the mailman opening the mailbox, putting the letter inside and closing the box. It’s helpful because the kids can see the sequence of events when delivering mail. Next, I show them the materials and we talk about each item. For example, I hold up the mail bag and I ask questions like “What do we put inside this?” or “Where do we wear this? On our shoulder or on our leg?” or “Who carries a mail bag?”. Any time I’m introducing a new activity or theme, I try to go over each item and talk about it’s use/function – so much language is elicited when we do this! Then we start the dramatic play. The kids take turns being the mailman and we use an aided language board I made on Boardmaker to help them make requests or comments during play. There’s a few different ways you can set up the dramatic play part.

Option 1: Deliver boxes. Get a few different sized boxes (so you can target size concepts) and grab a few toys that will be the item inside the box. Have the mailman pick the “big, medium, or small” box (or ask questions like “which one is bigger? Do you want the small one or the big one?”) and put a toy inside the box. Have the mailman pretend to drive the mail truck and deliver the package to a peer. Here, try to get the kids to make comments like “I see the mailman! The mail is here! He has a box!” Then the kids open their package and get really excited about what’s inside, even though they are such simple items. It really shows the power of imagination and how children can get so excited during pretend play – I love it! Target social skills here by having peers ask questions “What did you get? What’s inside the box?” or make comments “Wow you got sunglasses! They look good on you!” Rotate through everyone, giving each child a turn to be the mailman and repeat the dramatic play sequence.

Option 2: Team up with your OT to target pre-writing/writing skills or do this part on your own and have the kids write letters! They can either draw pictures or pretend to write a letter on small pieces of paper. Then have them stuff the paper inside an envelope, put a “stamp” on it (this is when you use the American flag stickers, they look just like stamps to the kids), and have them put their letters in the mailbox. If you’re okay with providing real stamps, you can even help them write their actual home address and send it in the mail so they receive their letters at home!

If you want to extend the activity even more, have your kids make their own mailboxes! Use card stock, shoe boxes, paper bags…there are a ton of ideas for this on Pinterest.

Another idea: after your kids have practiced the mailman dramatic play sequence in the classroom or speech therapy room a few times, spend a session delivering their mail to other classrooms at your school. The kids are always thrilled to get outside the classroom and do something different 🙂

If you try this activity, let me know what you think! And please share any other ideas for mailman dramatic play – I’d love to hear from you 🙂 Thanks for reading!

-Amanda, The SLP Girl