Looking for ideas for long-distance interactive projects w/ kids (games, parents, daughter)

[Iamanne]

I'm trying to come up with some creative, interactive ways to keep in touch with my long-distance nieces/nephews. Talking on the phone is fine but you may know what it's like to try to talk to a 6 year old who's distracted or not really interested in focusing on a catch-up conversation with Auntie Iamanne!

I recently had a lot of fun with the Flat Stanley project which was a classroom project of my nephew's (too much fun almost- I'm a graphic designer and really get into full creative mode with stuff like this!) I took my niece's teddy bear to Europe and did a similar project with it, photographing it on the train and at the Eiffel tower, etc, and writing a short story about its adventures. Regardless to say, the kids squealed with delight at receiving these packages in the mail. And now I'm hooked.

I'd like to start some kind of regular fun interactive project with the kids, perhaps on the educational side, and need some ideas.

So far I have these ideas:
• Mad Libs type thing where I send a postcard (or email) asking them to fill in words ("name an animal, name a color, etc" for the younger kids, "noun, verb, etc" for the older kids) and then I take their answers and plug them into a funny story.
• Crop in on a photo of a familiar thing and have them guess what it is

Any ideas for some fun long-distance projects/games I can do with 3 to 11 year old kids?

[cdc3217]

YOu could do the helium balloon-postcard launch and see whaere you get responses from.

[Iamanne]

Someone on another forum also suggested making up a crossword or word search puzzle with answers they would enjoy (like Star Wars, horses, High School Musical, etc). Any other ideas?

[TouchOfWhimsy]

Perhaps you could send a notebook back and forth, taking turns in filling out a page with a letter, drawing, scrapbook page, whatever. It would be fun to look back at every so often.

Webcam conversations, perhaps? Or maybe you could be email-pals.

[formercalifornian]

Not exactly a long-distance project per say, but I also recommend webcam conversations. Our recent webcam purchase has breathed new life into our kids' relationship with their long-distance grandparents. It was absolutely beautiful yesterday evening when I overheard my father giving my daughter a brief family genealogy lesson complete with photos that he has compiled of long-deceased relatives. You just can't do that on a phone!