What should I Email to the nephews and nieces?

February 22, 2008 9:05 AM

What cool / fun / educational things can I email / forward to my nieces and nephews aged 0, 1, and 2?

I don't get to interact with my nieces and nephews as much as I would like, but I want to be the best Uncle to them that I can be. I spend a lot time on the internets, or animating things, and I'd like to share that experience with my nephews/nieces.

After asking my bro/sis if it was cool, I set up some email addresses for the nephews and nieces that they'll have when they get older. I want it to be kind of like a time-capsule/treasure chest they will have when they are old enough to use the account themselves.

So. Besides the two things I can think of that would be cool to send to children ranging in ages 0-2, what else should I send to them?

posted by localhuman to Society & Culture (11 answers total)

Personalized "what is different" pictures.

Take a picture of the kids or yourself, then photoshop changes in a second picture. If you have a red shirt in the first image change it to blue in the second. Or add a hat. Then ask "can you find the 6 differences?"

Or take a picture of 30 or forty of their small personal objects spread out on a table. Then ask "Can you find the object that Mommy would use to unlock the door?" And like that.
posted by cda at 9:25 AM on February 22, 2008

Some of these things could be interesting to the 2 year-old now, others would have to wait until the kids are older, but I'm thinking:

- stories, images and animated shorts about themselves as superheroes
- funny stories or illustrations of their parents, family, house, pets, etc.
- quizzes or challenges that they could accomplish for small prizes or treats when you visit
- have them tell you stories and then illustrate them and vice versa
- create a secret language (you can decide if you want their parents to have the code)

There are just so many possibilities.
posted by annaramma at 9:27 AM on February 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

Are they old enough to even look at the computer? Why not send them a big plush toy by mail?
posted by parmanparman at 9:50 AM on February 22, 2008

parm: "After asking my bro/sis if it was cool, I set up some email addresses for the nephews and nieces that they'll have when they get older. I want it to be kind of like a time-capsule/treasure chest they will have when they are old enough to use the account themselves."


I think it's kind of cute. I hope you used gmail otherwise the emails won't be around by then :)

Maybe "this week" sort of things, like make a little cartoon about the crazy stuff that happened this week/month and animate it. Or movies of what you guys will do together when they're older like riding a roller coaster, going on trips, hiking, etc. Photoshop images of them going to school or something.

Have fun!
posted by jesirose at 10:31 AM on February 22, 2008

parmanparman, read the question again. This is for their future use.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 10:38 AM on February 22, 2008

@parmanparman: My child was fascinated by the computer. The first thing she pulled herself up to when she was learning to walk was the keyboard. A few months later, she had no problem playing Reader Rabbit, Stellaluna, Arthur and Berenstein Bears cds. So, yeah, depending on their interest and coordination, some kids that age love the computer.

These are some cds my daughter enjoyed when she was little:
http://tinyurl.com/24w4ch
http://tinyurl.com/26z3gq

I highly recommend Living Books and The Learning Company. It's best when they have the actual book as well; that way they can practice reading when away from the computer too.
posted by LuckySeven~ at 11:09 AM on February 22, 2008

Every little kid I've known is fascinated by animal and baby pictures. We often will put on a flickr slideshow of the kitten tag or baby tag, or just a slideshow of their pictures. Perhaps you can figure out a way to personalize this. Or you could record your own little animated story about/for them, complete with their face bobbing on a cartoon body, kind of like those physical books where you paste the kid's picture in the back of the book. Or morph a baby picture into a little tiger cub or baby monkey, heh. There's online tools that make that extremely easy and even toddlers would think it hilarious.
posted by artifarce at 11:52 AM on February 22, 2008

Horses singing. Click on each horse to turn it on or off.
posted by BoscosMom at 12:07 PM on February 22, 2008

I wonder about videos that they might love at their age. My almost-2 year old loves to look at ABC videos, signing time videos, and the Wiggles, all on youtube. My 10 year old is fascinated still about stuff she liked as a baby-videos, books, toys. It's a little window into their past, I think. What a fun idea!
posted by purenitrous at 1:04 PM on February 23, 2008

i use this to draw pictures of my niblings' favorite things (spiderman, shrek, doggies, ponies, flowers, etc). I usually open a Google Image search in another window to copy from.

The kids LOVE watching the drawing unfold - and guessing with their parents what it's going to be.
posted by prophetsearcher at 3:00 AM on March 2, 2008

Response by poster: Ah!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and links-

I love askMefi. Ya'll are so smart. These are all great answers.

I'm somewhat jealous that I didn't grow up with an uncle obsessed with mefi. Hopefully, I'll turn out anyway.
posted by localhuman at 4:28 PM on March 3, 2008