Writing Letters Can Be Fun!

When was the last time you wrote a letter to Grandma or Grandpa, to your brother or sister on a mission, or to Aunt Polly or your cousins in Alabama?

Besides being informative, letters can be fun for both the sender and receiver. It is surprising how creative you can be.

Why not sit down today and write a letter to a friend or relative away from home? Elders out in the mission field love to get letters, messages, and bits of news.

Get out the colored paper, glue, crayons, felt-tip pens—anything you can use to make unusual letters. Here are some ideas:

1 Cut Words OR Letters Out of magazines. Paste theM inTO SentEnCes and PArAgrAPhS ON a SHEET of constRuctioN paPer. IT TakeS TIME to Find just the right WOrDS To Cut Out of magAZines, but THE ReSuLtS are Well wOrth the EFfort. THE VaRYing TYPE SiZes are intereSTING and the dIFFERent exPReSSions you finD can Make the letter a DeLIGhT TO read.

2 Cut the front or back of a brown paper sack along the edges. With crayons or felt-tip pens draw such designs as a sun, stars, flowers, strawberries, flags, hearts—even a picture of your family or pets. Or sketch drawings according to the time of year, season, and holiday. Around Valentine’s Day draw red, white, and pink hearts and print “I Love You!” After writing the “sack letter,” fold up the bottom third of the letter. Then fold the top part over. Seal with a stamp, sticker, or sealing wax, and address the other side.

3 Use a light-colored piece of construction paper and glue a smaller sheet of white paper on top of it, leaving a colored border. Cut out small figures or designs from wrapping paper or greeting cards. Paste them in the corners of the white paper, overlapping the colored paper too. Write the letter with a felt-tip pen or crayon in a complementary color. Use the sack letter fold and seal with a figure cut from the same wrapping paper. The address should be written on the other side.

4 On a small piece of brightly colored poster board, write a letter with pretty colored felt-tip pens or crayons. Decorate the edges with bees, butterflies, or anything that gives the poster board a cheerful feeling. Cut the letter into puzzle pieces and put into a heavy brown envelope. Address the outside. Decorate the edges with felt-tip pens. Send it to a good friend, who will have to put the puzzle together in order to read your letter!

5 Find a picture of yourself. Cut off the borders. Mount the picture with rubber cement on a piece of white poster board the size of a postcard. Put between heavy books and let glue dry. When dry, turn postcard horizontally and divide in half by drawing a straight line down the middle. Write the letter on the left side of the line. Address it on the right side of the line. Put a stamp in the upper right-hand corner. Grandmas especially would enjoy this picture postcard.

6 For a continued letter, write “I love you” on a little piece of white paper, sign it “Mysterious Friend,” put the paper in an envelope, and mail. When you send another message the next week, write something like, “Have a good day” or “Smile, you’ve got great-looking teeth!” Again sign the letter “Mysterious Friend.” On the last letter, write “I love you!” again, and sign your real name.

Make all the letters you write unusual—more than just “How are you? I’m just fine.” Write about your projects, bits of family news, the books you are reading, and school. Ask interesting questions and you’ll receive interesting answers. Sometimes you could include a favorite poem or saying.

It is exciting to receive letters in the mail. But to make sure you do, you must write some first!