Hello! 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!
Tags: books
