Our Adventure Letterboxing

We recently found a new adventure, Letterboxing. I recently saw an ad of facebook for letterboxing. I followed the link thinking it was a craft similar to scrapbooking. I was never more wrong!

To letterbox you need: a trail name, a pad of paper, a stamp, an ink pad, and maybe a compass. One simple rule: leave no trace of you being there! Pretty simple and not very expensive! That makes this homeschooling mama very happy!

So the next thing to do is find a Letterbox in your area. We used ATLAS.COM and found quite a few in our town. I read through them and was surprised to see that there are some great stories that go along with some of them. Others are just directions on how to find the Letterbox.

We gathered our supplies and bickered some until we all agreed on the perfect stamp. We started with the letterbox that was closest to the house. It was also the simplest directions and a small park.

The entire way there the kids were squealing with excitement. We followed our directions along, had to turn back a time or two. Then we spotted the final clue: find 2 trees without tops and dig behind the second one.
Abigail spotted something under some bark! It was the letterbox. We quickly opened it to find the amazing things in the picture below.

This letterbox did not have a stamp but did have spongebob stickers. We looked through the journal left in the letterbox. There were some from pretty far away. The trail names and stamps are so interesting to see. We placed our stamp and left our information. Replaced the items just as we found them and followed the one rule of leave no trace.

On the trip home the girls both begged and pleaded to go find another one! We came home and added our find and the condition of the letterbox on the site where we found the information. In this case, the stickers were almost gone.
Abigail and JoAnne have now decided that they want to make and hide a letterbox. They have also requested that we find them in Kentucky when we take a family trip this spring/summer. What an cheap, easy adventure when your on a vacation or trip anywhere.

Here are a list of sites we found helpful in learning to Letterbox. I hope you enjoy this fun pastime!

Where to find letter boxes in your area: Atlas Quest

Information on Letterboxing in North America: Letterboxing North America

Letterboxing.info has some great information too

National Geographic Kids has an article for kids about letterboxing