We have gone mermaid crazy to celebrate the release of Coralie – our new crochet doll Unicorn Bestie from our shop Send a Unicorn! Now that you can officially send a mermaid, we just couldn’t help but think how fun it would be to create some special “mer-mail” – for stuffed play friends and actual kiddos alike! Mermaid crafts and mermaid books seem to be all the rage, so if you’ve made something mermaid recently, here’s a fun little companion project in the form of a simple mermaid mailbox craft and printable mini mer-mail – because merfolk and sea creatures like getting mail too! You can even add some origami sea life, a watercolor seahorse, or fun rocking paper shark for double the creative pretend play and paper-crafting.
When you’re finished playing under-the-sea, use the life-sized mermail printable cards and stickers for mermaid mail that can be sent on land – or make them into wearable DIY mermaid charm necklaces! PS…these make super fun mermaid party invitations or crafts too!
The free printable PDF includes:
- A page of Mer-Mailbox accessories to help you build your own Mer-Mailbox
- Mini-Mermail cards, envelopes, packages and more!
- Life-Sized Mer-Mail you can print and use to send real letters
- A full-color sheet of mermaid stickers
Download the Mermaid Mailbox Printables right below:
MER-MAILBOX AND MER-MAIL SUPPLIES:
- A few sheets of white cardstock
- The Mer-Mail Printable PDF (see above)
- A teabox or similarly-sized rectangular box
- A large square of heavy wrapping paper or cardstock
- Tape and/or a glue stick
- Scissors and an X-Acto Knife
Optional:
- An inkjet sticker sheet for mermaid stickers
- A small craft dowel or stick
INSTRUCTIONS:
Step 1: Print the desired Mer-Mailbox Accessories and Mini Mer-mail pages, and cut out the pieces you’d like to use. There is seagrass and coral you can use to “landscape,” some mer-mailbox decorations and a fun banner to fly!
Step 2: Wrap your tea box with colorful card stock or thick paper, just like you’re wrapping up a present.
Stand it up lengthwise, and instead of taping down the top, gently bend it into a half-circle. Secure it to the top of the box with a strip of tape.
Step 3: Using an X-Acto knife, carefully cut a flap in the front like we did, large enough to accommodate your mini mer-mail. Cut another, slightly larger flap in the back or bottom so you can retrieve your mail.
Step 4: Add decorations! You can add some of the details from our printable, or draw your own mer-mail logos and decals. Once we cut out our seaweed and coral, we added a little ball of play dough at the bottom to create stands. You can do the same with your flag. We taped ours onto thin dowel rod and stuck it in a playdough base.
Step 3: Once you have your mer-mailbox completed, you can put your mer-mail together. For the envelopes and boxes, all you need to do is fold along the dotted lines and glue the tabs where indicated. You can decorate it, draw pictures, write messages and drop it in your mer-mailbox for Rush Loggerhead delivery or Seahorse Express!
Want to send some mer-mail to a friend here on land? You can use the life-sized shell cards to create gift cards, notes or even a popup card!
Decorate with stickers for extra special mermaid land mail. The smaller shell can be used as a notecard and fits in a 4″ x 6″ or 4″ x 4″ envelope. The folding shell card fits in a 5″ x 7″ or 5″ x 5″ envelope.
You can make a popup card by attaching a small “L” shaped piece of paper to the inside of the large folding shell card. Glue a pearl or mermaid (or anything else you want) to the front of the “L” shape and it’s ready to send for a fun surprise!
For a swimmingly good mer-mail surprise, visit barley & birch to see how you can turn these cards and stickers into super easy DIY mermaid charm necklaces!
What are some of your favorite undersea or ocean-themed crafts? Try your hand at a simple under the seas aquarium craft, or play a quick round of tic-tac-toe with this free printable ocean-themed game. Feeling extra adventurous? Try an easy starter sewing project with this DIY crab softie – nothing crabby about this guy!
Amanda Eldridge is the Managing Director and Lead Designer at barley & birch. Driven by carbs, coffee and a passion for cultivating imagination, she aims to help families discover their creative potential and be inspired to generally make the world a better place through art, play, adventure, activism, conservancy and community. When not tinkering with ideas, designs and projects for barley & birch, Amanda enjoys working as a modern art curator and managing her own small design business. Beyond work, you’ll likely find her playing mom to Thor – her ginormous Golden Retriever, reading a new book, or traveling anywhere she can. For more fun projects and printables, you can explore the barley & birch blog or follow b&b on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.
Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive a small affiliate commission. Regardless, we give our promise that we only recommend products or services we would use personally and believe will add values to our readers.
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