Wet all started with a story written by Jeff Brown in 1964 and titled Flat Stanley. Stanley is a little boy who is flat because a bulletin board came off the wall of his room and fell on him while he was sleeping. After a visit to the doctor, it turns out that the young boy is perfectly healthy, but he is only a centimeter thick! A godsend to travel! We need to join one of his friends in California; Stanley’s parents only have to put him in an envelope!
From this funny situation, a project was born in Canada in 1994 and then spread around the world, involving 6000 classes in 88 countries. For more information on the subject, see here. Wet’s an initiative that We think is great and wonderful; what better way to practice what is called the transversality of learning!
What are Flat Stanley Letters
Originally designed for schools, this project seems to us to be quite suitable and interesting for homeschoolers. Wet leaves a lot of room for creativity, allows us to forge links between children from all over the world by doing geography, history and producing an incredible amount of writing! Stanley’s design is rich in itself. The only criterion is that it is flat. Then, the child can choose to color a pre-printed model, draw his own Stanley, then paint it, color it, or customize it with hair wool, fabric for clothes, etc.
How to Create and Send Flat Stanley Letters
Sending Stanley to other homeschoolers involves working on the codes related to the correspondence: writing a letter to attach to Flat Stanley, correctly filling the front and back of the envelope, weighing his mail, and deducting the cost of the stamp, sticking this stamp in the right place. For the child who welcomes Stanley, the range of activities is wide: cooking with Flat Stanley to introduce him to the typical dishes of his region, take him to remarkable places, make him live his daily life, take him with him when he goes to play sports.
The media compiling this time spent with Stanley are multiple: a logbook (book or computer), videos, photo album, slideshows, postcards, letters accompanied by photos, a blog, etc. The recipient will also be able to send Flat Stanley back in a package where he has put a small figurine emblematic of his country or region, a portion of food and photos typical of where he lives, all accompanied by a letter, which will do a good reading exercise for the child who will record receipt of the package!
Free Templates
Now that you have to know what the Flat Stanley Project is all about and how the letters are shared. You can download our free Flat Stanley Letters templates!