Your Preschooler as an Author!

Today’s post by Lorie is a fun one. If you’ve been following along a while, you know I love to use books in my therapy sessions. I have been known to have my little ones write their own stories as well. Read on for tips on how to help your preschooler be an author! ~Katie

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Hello, Playing with Words 365 readers!  I’m Lorie and I blog about children’s activities related to books over at Reading Confetti.  When doing literacy activities with my kids, I find that if I don’t take their lead I’m in for a big struggle.  So I try to watch for opportunities when I can.  We have a wild rabbit who visits our yard and the kids are fascinated with it.  I just had to take advantage by making a nonfiction book about rabbits with my preschooler.  You could make a similar book about anything your kids are interested in learning more about.

What you need

• camera and printer
• a nonfiction book about your subject
• book making materials
• art supplies

What it targets

• awareness of text features
• activating background knowledge before reading
• fine motor skills (printing, cutting, and gluing)

How to make it

• Start by brainstorming a list of things your child knows about the subject.  We also added questions.  My 4 year old wanted to know what ate rabbits.  (He’s not at a point where he can write things other than his name, so he told me what to write down or we wrote it together.)
• Read your book and add to your list of facts.  I wrote our added facts in a different color.
• Choose paper for your book and add your facts.  We put one fact on each page.  (We only had 5 facts – take your child’s lead.)
• Take pictures of your subject.  I let my 4 year old take the pictures of our rabbit. (You could also use drawings, but since most nonfiction books contain photographs, and my son loves the camera, that’s what we used.)
• Once your pictures are printed, select your favorites and glue them on the pages where they fit best.
• Bind your book together.  We laminated the pages and used packing tape to assemble the book.  A 3 hole punch, stapler, or string are all great ways to make your book, depending on your little author’s preference.

My 4 year old was so proud of his finished book!  I hope you decide to try this and that you visit us over at Reading Confetti!

 Lorie is a reading specialist turned SAHM to a toddler and a preschooler.  She blogs about fun foods and activities related to children’s literature at Reading Confetti. Go check out her blog for tons of great literacy activities for your little ones!