Parcel Post Office

What you need

• cardboard boxes in several sizes, from a small box to a big box
• newspaper or wrapping paper
• masking tape
• small toys to post, each too big to fit through a toilet roll tube
• a large box for the post van
• stickers for stamps

How to do it

1. Set up a post office on the floor: the boxes in a pile, the paper and tape beside them, and the large box as the post van.
2. Give your child a toy to post and ask them to find a box it fits in: not too big and not too small.
3. Let them wrap it in paper, tear off tape to hold it, stick on a sticker stamp, and make a mark on it for who it's for. Any wrapping counts.
4. Load the parcels into the van, push it round the room, and deliver each one to someone in the family to open.

Why it matters

Every toy is a small puzzle: will it fit this box or that one? Wrapping, stamping and delivering it to the door turns the puzzles into a whole job to play.

What they're learning

Size words

Too big, too small, just right: said every time a toy goes in a box.

Tearing and taping

Pulling a strip of tape off and pressing it down to hold the paper.

Playing a job

Being the post worker, from wrapping at the counter to knocking at the door.

What to look for

Notice them holding a toy against a box to check before they put it in.

A tip

Tear a few strips of tape and stick them along the edge of a table so they can grab one, and check every toy is too big to fit through a toilet roll tube.

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