Kids love mail. Seriously. Once they’re old enough to turn that key, or reach the mailbox, they will ask any chance they get to be the one to open the magical box and see what’s inside.
If you think about it, mail is kind of magic. You rarely see the mail person stuffing the boxes. Every afternoon, you open your cubby and there’s a ‘present’ inside. It’s like a Christmas calendar every.single.day. Twist your angst at receiving bills into the wide-eyed wonder of children and you can appreciate the magic of mail.
For the past month or so, Zacharie and Charlie have been scrambling over the chance to open the mail a little more than usual. We were invited to take part in a Mail Order Mystery, a series of half a dozen letters and packages that involve your kids in a generations old pirate mystery that results in them receiving a treasure.
It was so fun to watch them get wrapped in the supposed story of their great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather and a hijacked treasure. There were ciphers to decode, maps to read, phone calls to make, and a wild ride of a mystery to uncover throughout.
If you’re looking for a way to engage your kids in some reading practice, math skills, and critical thinking over the summer break, signing them up to receive a Mail Order Mystery would be a great surprise that lasts for a few weeks.
The site suggests kids 8 and over as the target, if you’ve got an eager reader who is younger, I’d suggest it for them. Charlie at 6 was far more into our Mail Order Mystery, and actually bought the backstory of it all because of his Santa believing sensibilities, than Zacharie who enjoyed the codebreaking, but quickly tired of the story.
That changed, however, when the treasure chest arrived at the end of our mystery adventure.
Zacharie grabbed that shark necklace and wears it all the time, and thinks the pirate coins are pretty cool too.
A spy adventure is scheduled to arrive on Mail Order Mystery soon, that might be more in the wheelhouse of our Jack Stalwart and Zac Power loving older soon.
You can order a Mail Order Mystery for $99.
Disclosure: We received a complimentary Mail Order Mystery subscription.