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So I took the plunge this year and started sponsoring a boy! I'm an only child of a single mom - never had to buy for a boy before. Right now I don't send packages but I may in the future so I'd love some ideas on that. But more immediately I'd love some ideas on paper items. I sent paper stencils to my girl, but they were far too girly to send to him. So any ideas would be great!

He's 11, and his name is Mohammad (so obviously Muslim, not sure if that impacts what things to send). And I don't know too much more about him since I'm still waiting on the first letter.

All thoughts welcome, thanks!

Somebody did paper airplane patterns. Other kinds of puzzle books, assuming he's learning English.

Yeah, it's a little early to know if he's learning English...or how well he's doing. I will look out for paper planes! That's a neat idea. I also considered sending my favorite children's book....but then again their is a language problem, and I'm not sure if the book is culturally appropriate.

what's the book?

It's The BFG by Roald Dahl. Incredibly random, I know. But I was thinking of random things like there's a chapter where they drink something that makes them fart. I don't know. Most of it is made up fantasy, but I want to be careful.

i agree paper airplanes, you may be able to print one of line ,i sent coloring pages to my child and i get them there also car stickers and maybe baseball cards ,nascar cards

I don't know if he would be able to read enough English for the Ronald Dahl book at this time... one website I always look at is cultureforkids.com They have a lot of bilingual books in various languages including bengali/english hindi/english and urdu/english.

One thing about India is that from what I have seen, the "love of books" is not culturally cultivated like here... while some upperclass people read a lot of novels (usually in English) I don't see many other people reading books regularly. I would love to cultivate this love in my sponsored kids, but also don't want to overwhelm them-- a long book may seem overwhelming to them, especially if they don't see anyone around them reading... just a thought. :)

It also might be good to wait and see what language he is writing to you in, and how good his skills are before picking out books. It says he speaks Hindi, but one of mine says she speaks Hindi, but she goes to Urdu school... so, I don't think she knows how to read/write in Hindi.

When I said puzzle books, I meant like "find-a-word" and simple crosswords, assuming he's working on English. (Start below grade, like you would if you were learning a foreign language.)

The problems with printing out paper airplanes (or origami) online would be--you can't fold the paper into the envelope, the paper should be a bit stiff (although good-quality computer paper would do) and the family may not have scissors. When the patterns are bound into a book, they're usually perforated. (But write and make it clear you expect him to take the book apart and enjoy it, not save it forever.)