Distance learners occasionally need objects for study or to handle or manipulate. Course designers will always first try to describe and to illustrate objects, and they may invite learners to locate and study things they find in their own environments. But sometimes it will be necessary to assemble and distribute a package of realia. The most common packages consist of:

• Materials for use in experiments by students of chemistry, physics, biology, and technology
• Specimens, for example, of rocks for geology students or plants for botanists.

The administrative costs of such packages can be high. They include the costs of mailing, insuring, and tracking the packages and checking them on their return.

• R. Fox, Teaching Practical Work at a Distance: An Evaluation Study of An Open University Home Experiment Kit

• Phill Higgins and Wayne Kirstine, Provision of Experimental Work in Science to Distance Education Students

• U.K. Open University: Home kits and loan schemes