The Mail Carrier’s Big and Little Packages
Children work at the post office delivering packages of every size to neighborhood houses (colored hoops): small ones alone, big ones with two or three friends. It builds carrying skills, teamwork and spatial orientation.
How to play
- The teacher shows the post office (a pile of boxes, cushions and big balls) and the houses: colored hoops around the yard (2 min).
- Small packages: each child takes a light box, the teacher calls a color and they walk it to a house of that color (3 min).
- Odd packages: carry them the way the teacher says: on your head, on your back while crawling, between your knees with little hops (3 min).
- Giant packages: cushions or big balls carried by two or three kids, each holding a side, without dropping them (3 min).
- A lost package: the teacher hides a box and everyone searches for it and delivers it home (2 min).
- Closing time: return all packages to the pile and sit at the counter (1 min).
Rules
- Packages are carried, not thrown.
- If it’s big, I find a friend to help.
- Each package goes to the house of its color.
Variations
Easier
For 3-year-olds, only small and giant packages, and two house colors.
Standard
For 4-year-olds, all the carrying styles and four colors.
Harder
For 5-year-olds, each package has a card with the house’s color and shape (circle, square), and they deliver on their own.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: packages ride on the child’s lap and a partner pushes the wheelchair if needed.
- Visual impairment: each house has a rattle or a distinct object to touch, and a buddy describes the route.
- Autism: the child can always deliver to the same color with the same partner.
Learning goals
- Carry objects of different sizes and weights.
- Cooperate to move a big object.
- Find a destination in the space.
Equipment for a class of 25
- Cardboard boxes: 20
- Cushions: 6
- Large balls: 4
- Colored hoops: 12
Teacher tip
Use empty cardboard boxes taped shut. Before giant packages, show how two kids lift together: face each other and count “one, two, three.” Usually one pulls and the other stays put, so have them walk sideways.
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