Daily Tips for Families

Today's Tip for Families

05-07-2022

Use Junk Mail to Help Your Child Learn

To most people, junk mail is just that: It's junk or trash to toss. But you can use it as a tool to help your child learn geography, math, map reading and more.

First, suggest that your child pretend to be a detective. Ask your student to examine each piece of mail to find where it came from. A postmark, publisher or return address on an envelope is a good clue. Or your child can check the reply address on the material inside.

After pinpointing the places the mail comes from, help your child:

Locate the places on a map. If you want, hang a U.S. map on the wall. Each day, help your child make a dot on the map where each piece of junk mail comes from. As time goes by, see if more junk mail comes from certain areas.
Sort the mail using different criteria. Your child could sort by state or regions of the country—like southwest or northeast; by which ocean or mountain range the mailer's address is closest to; by climate (desert, temperate, etc.); or by which major city or landmark the sender is nearest to.
Calculate distance. Help your child use the scale on the map to find out how far a sender's location is from your hometown. Which mail pieces traveled the farthest distance? The least?
Plan a pretend trip between two cities where junk mail pieces originated. On a highway map, help your child measure the mileage between them. Calculate how much gas it would take to drive the distance. Estimate how long it would take.
Plan a pretend vacation to one of the cities. Help your child research interesting places to see or do on a visit.

Brought to you by:

West Point Consolidated School District