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!
Awesome post! I am avid followers of both of your awesome blogs! I need to make more books with my boys. Thanks for the tips! I used to do this all the time when teaching!
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