The following post is by contributor Catherine Way of Adventures With Kids.

What is your child’s favourite food?  One of my son’s favourite things to eat is Vegemite toast.  What sports do your children like to play or watch on TV?  My sons love to play footy in the backyard and watch the AFL (Australian Football League).  That’s right, we’re Australian.  I bet that, wherever you are in the world, what your children like is different to what my children like.  That’s because everyone is different and everywhere is different.

Children are born belonging to a particular culture, but around the world there are many ways of living and being. Technology has connected the world and we can speak to and see people in far away places within seconds. As they grow, today’s children will encounter and need to connect, communicate and work together with people from a diverse range of backgrounds.  Encouraging your child to approach people’s differences with a mindset of learning from one another, rather than fearing or judging one another, will help them to understand that despite the differences these are people just like them.

Gaining knowledge of different cultural practices also helps children develop their sense of identity and understand their place in their family, local community, town, country and the world community.

Here are some ways to explore different cultures, traditions, languages and families with your child:

1. Snuggle up with a book.

   There are many books that can introduce you to places around the world or people that are different from your children.   Delightful Children’s Books has a wonderful list of books to help you Read Around the World.
   My favourite book for starting a discussion about diversity is Mem Fox’s, Whoever You Are.  It is a wonderful book showing the differences and the similarities of children in cultures around the world with the message that no matter where we come from our hearts are the same.

2. Cook (and eat)!

   I can’t imagine being confined to food from one culture.  I love to try international food.  Cooking and eating new dishes with your children is fun and a great way to start a discussion about other cultures.  There are many ways to introduce internationl food.  Have a theme night with food from a country you are interested in.  Or plan a project to cook and try international desserts.  Visit the supermarket and choose a new type of fruit.  How about eating with chopsticks, making your own pasta or rolling sushi?

3. Learn some new words.

   Guten Morgen! Selamat Pagi! Bom Dia! Learn how to say good morning, goodbye or thank you in other languages.  Learn to count to 10.  Challenge yourself to say good morning in a different language every day for a week.  Or learn some simple songs in another language – Frere Jacques, anyone?

4. Dance and sing

   Music is a wonderful way to give the world to your children.  There are some many beautiful styles around the world.  Have you ever heard Tuvan throat singing, played a guiro or seen an Irish dance.  This playlist on Simple Kids is a great place to start exploring world music with your kids, or Putumayo Kids has a range of world music CDs.

5. Look at the map

   Get a world map or an atlas.  Play games with your children.  Try to find countries from A to Z.  Pick and country and wonder about what it would be like to live there – would it be hot or cold?  what animals would be around?  what would your house look like?  Use Google Earth to take a closer look at the country of your choice.  What are the landmarks that tourists might visit in that country?
   If you have an ipad, Barefoot Books has an amazing World Atlas app to help you explore the world.

6. Be open to discussion

   Be available to your children when they have awkward questions about differences between people.  Don’t automatically shush them or ignore their question (although you may need to tell them that they need to ask again at a more suitable time).  By honouring your children’s questions, you teach them that it is okay for people to be different and is not something that we ignore or are ashamed about.

7. Take an excursion

   One-on-one contact is most effective way to teach about other places and cultures.  Take your children to restaurants that serve mulitcultural food.  Look out for multicultural festivals and events in your town.  If and when you have the money, travel to other countries and let your children experience different cultures first hand.

8. How can you help

   Unfortunately, not all countries in the world are created equal.  Many people around the world are much less well off than us.  So, as you explore the world with your children, think about whether you could do something to help those people.  Perhaps you could make a donation, sponsor a child or loan money through Kiva.

What culture would you  love to explore with your child/ren?

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The following post is by editor Kara Fleck.

I don’t know what this time of year has looked like so far in your neck of the woods, but where we live Spring has been teasing us.  One week we’ll have gorgeous, sunny, blue skies with warm temperatures and the next week the skies will open up and pour freezing rain down upon us for three days straight.

This week is one of those cold, rainy, and gray ones so I’m digging up some of my best ideas for rainy days and Mondays – determined that they will not get us down!

I’m rounding up good ideas for indoor play and busting boredom on these rainy days and pinning them on my Rainy Days and Mondays Pinterest board.

Here are a few of our kid-tested favorites:

Ideas for rainy days and Mondays

• Newspaper Acting ::: A Magical Childhood (just grab a newspaper and dive right in)
• Paper Cities ::: Made by Joel (free printables with a variety of themes)
• Secret Messages ::: Education.com (use pictures for younger kids, written messages for older, you could even try codes for an added element of fun)
• Paint Chip Mosaics ::: Chica and Jo (don’t stop at paint chips – what else could you recycle into mosaic art?)
• Story Stones ::: Fairy Dust Teaching (both the creating and the playing with the stones is fun)
• Toilet Paper Tube Marble Run ::: Two Chicks and a Hen (another idea where the making and the doing are part of the fun, and again, what other items can you find around the house that would add to your marble run fun?)
• Make Molly’s Friendship Bracelets ::: The Purl Bee (a terrific idea for older kids, one that takes me right back to my own childhood)

There are some terrific indoor fun ideas in the Simple Kids archives, too including:

• Creative Pretend Play Props and Ideas
• Poetry Projects
• Book Making
• Simple Activities for Excited Kids
• browse our recommendations for Books and Music

Fancy and fun food

• Kermit’s Green Apples and Peanut Butter Dip ::: Disney Family
• Peanut Butter and Jelly Banana Burritos ::: Mission
• any of the amazing and bun ideas from Hawai’i Bento Box
• Sweet-zas from American Girl magazine

One of the best ideas for rainy days and the Mondays blahs is building a blanket fort in the living room.  We also recently had a movie marathon of our favorites.

Rainy days are also good for brewing some tea, baking cookies, and curling up on the sofa with your kids and a pile of favorite books.  That may be my favorite way of all to pass a dreary day.

What about you and your kids? What are your favorite rainy day activities?

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The following is by contributor Amy Anderson of Let’s Explore.

Happy National Poetry Month! From rhyming lines to haiku to free verse, I love sharing poetry with my daughters. We think of poems as paintings made with words, and they are a wonderful way for kids to use their boundless imaginations.

While we love reading poetry, writing our own poems is one of our favorite ways to play and create with words. We try all different kinds of poetry forms, and for the most part, I take dictation at the computer while they compose their poetic masterpieces.

There is something satisfying about putting a few simple words together and creating an amazing poem. Have fun capturing a bit of your child’s creative thinking with two of our favorite poetry activities:

Random Word Poem

Photo by Amy Anderson

This is a free-form poem that encourages kids (and grown-ups, too) to play with words and be silly. My girls love doing this kind of poem on a regular basis, so we are always adding new and interesting word cards to our stash.

First, you will need to create your word cards. I cut index cards into small pieces and play the job of secretary. Everyone shares interesting, funny, unusual, or favorite words to write on the cards. We try to get a good mix of things, colors, sounds, places, names, and animals. You’ll want at least 20 words per poet.

Once you have a stack of words, toss them all into a hat or bag. Decide how many words you will use for your poem – we used 15 words. Pass the hat around, choosing one word at a time until you have enough.

Now it’s playtime! Move your words around into phrases and lines. We kept our lines short, with one to four words each. My girls love creating the craziest phrases possible, like spaghetti tulips or gardening pig reading rain.

Photo by Amy Anderson

When you are happy with your poems, take turns reading them aloud. Sometimes we add exclamation points or question marks for fun, too. If you want to save your poem, glue your words down to paper and illustrate. Words are fun!

When It Rains: A Weather Poem

Photo by Amy Anderson

Weather is a wonderful sensory experience that most kids have a lot to say about. This poetry activity uses a simple structure, where each line begins the same. It happened to be pouring down rain when we wrote ours, so our lines begin When it rains… You could easily write a poem with the starter When the sun shines… or When the wind blows…

To get the thoughts flowing, you can ask your child questions, such as:

• What do you see/hear/feel/taste/smell when it rains?
• What does the rain remind you of?
• How do you feel when it rains?
• What do you like to do when it rains?

Write as few or as many lines as you like – no rules!

We chose to publish our poems by typing and printing them out. The girls then decorated a piece of tracing paper with a rainy scene to create an overlay for their poems. So pretty!

Photo by Amy Anderson

For more poetry fun:

Carry a poem in your pocket for National Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 26.

Explore poet Jack Prelutksy’s super-fun website.

Read and write poems at Fern’s Poetry Club from PBS Kids.

List poems are the perfect first poem to write with preschoolers.

Follow my Poetry for Kids Pinterest board for a growing collection of poetry activities to try with your kids.

Do you enjoy poetry or does it intimidate you? Have a favorite poetry book for kids to share?

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The following post is by contributor Robin Zipporah of Not-Ever-Still.

My sweet kindergarten girl is a beginning reader. She can read almost anything, slowly, as long as she doesn’t get frustrated or lose patience. Her handwriting is the same – it’s quite good, really, but sometimes when she’s tired or hurrying she still transposes those Bs and Ds or draws a backwards 9.

She’s like many smart kids, I think – she’s quite capable but she has perfectionist tendencies and because she is bright, she’s not accustomed enough to confronting challenge. Put those two qualities together, and sometimes she gives up entirely too easily. She wants help or declares her disinterest in favor of coloring or another activity.

So I’ve been intentionally building in little bits of reading and writing practice into our regular daily activities…without, you know, really drawing attention to the fact that we’re practicing anything. They aren’t drastic and they don’t take too much time; mostly they’re little ways of changing our routines. And as a bonus, they’re so much more than reading and writing activities – they’re fostering self-sufficiency and confidence in my girl.

Here are a few of my favorites:

My hands are wet

My daughter will notice a new birthday party invitation hanging on the fridge or a colorful flyer tucked in with the newspaper. But let’s say I’m washing the dishes (or changing her brother’s diaper, or pouring her sister some milk – you can imagine it, right?). Instead of saying, “give me a second” and turning off the faucet and grabbing the dishtowel and meeting her at the fridge, now I’ll just continue with the dishes and say to her, “why don’t you read it to me?” Her curiosity sustains her through the challenge, and if she struggles on the harder elements I’ll ask her to spell the word to me, and I’ll let her know what it spells before she continues on to the next one.

Photo by qwrrty

About once a week I take my sweet girl out to her favorite pasta place for a little mama-daughter alone time. Invariably, she wonders why the food (we just ordered) hasn’t arrived yet. If this were a date with her two-year-old brother, I’d be pulling the matchbox cars out of my purse, and if it were with her four-year-old sister, I’d pull out the old Altoids tin filled with crayons. But for her, I pull out a pen and I flatten the paper ring that held our silverware in its napkins. “Let’s play with math!” She loves to practice addition and subtraction on her fingers (and mine), so I write out a few equations. She writes out the answers.

The digital allure

Is your six-year-old a list-maker? Mine sure is: she’s made lists of the next 40 or so costumes she plans to wear at future dress-up occasions; the order of what books we should read next; the hierarchical ranking of her most favorite colors. She loves to talk about her lists but once they grow beyond three or so items, I can’t remember them long-term. I’ve taken to handing her my iPad and now she has her own set of files in the Notes tab. When she makes her lists in digital format, she’s no longer practicing her handwriting, but she is practicing spelling and typing – another important skill. She is allowed to type whatever she wants…as long as she reads it back to me when she’s done.

Photo by arimoore

Since I’ve identified intentional moments for adding in reading and writing throughout her play time, I’ve seen a real confidence boost in her skills. These are just things we do with 20 seconds here and five minutes there. None of them feel like worksheets or forced practice time; they’re just little modifications to some of the moments of our day. I don’t think she’s even realized how much she’s been practicing or how fluent her reading and writing have become, but I certainly have. Now she’ll try so much harder and longer before the frustration sets in, and I’m so proud of her.

How do you encourage your kids to grow their academic skills? Tell me your tricks!

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The following post is by editor Kara Fleck.

This Spring we’ve been talking a lot about gardens and green things growing.  Last week I ran a post about creating garden spaces for your children by contributor Catherine Way.  This week I’d like to ask what are you and your kids are growing in your garden spaces this year? 

A Few Green Resources

Gardeners, like knitters, are eager to share what they know.  Luckily for me, I happen to know a few people who are more successful gardeners than I am so I have smart folks to bounce ideas off of and ask questions.  Between my Dad, my uncles, my brother Nate, and my sister HanaJean I’ve got a lot of living green resources to help me in this gardening adventure.

The good people here at Simple Living Media are a good gardening resource, as well.  Did you see Danny Bourque’s raised bed tutorial on Simple Bites?  And definitely don’t miss Simple Homemade’s (formerly Simple Organic) Gardening 101 series.

We love the books by Sharon Lovejoy for gardening with children as well as the practical gardener’s guide series.  I have the kindle version of Indiana‘s on my smart phone.

Our Plans

We have a simple raised bed system in our backyard and a few containers on our patio.  We keep things pretty simple around here, in no small part because, while I have an adventurous gardening spirit, my thumbs are pretty black.

digging in, and de-rocking, after the long Winter

This year our plans include:

• Growing as many different colors of heirloom tomatoes as we can
• Expanding our raised bed system
• Start more plants from seed – I love Christen’s egg carton idea for seed starting
• Growing the ingredients for salsa, a family favorite
• Growing a morning glory fort for the kids, a la’ Sunflower Houses
• Our neighborhood has been hit pretty hard by the economy, we’ve got empty lots and abandoned houses that could use some cheer, so Jillian and I are hatching some sort of Miss Rumphius-style gurrilla flowering gardening plan.  Exactly what we’ll do, I’m not quit sure yet, but we’re in agreement we want to do something for the little neighborhood we love so much (stay tuned!)

Let’s Talk: What are you and your kids growing this year?

Whether a small container garden in a sunny windowsill or acres of land, let’s talk:  I’d love to hear what you are growing in your gardens this year. 

Do you have any suggestions for our neighborhood Miss Rumphius-style flower project?

Have you ever participated in a neighborhood or community gardening project?

What is your garden space like?

How old are your kids and what kinds of things do they like to grow?

Is this your first year having a garden, or are you and your family old hats at this?

Let’s talk! The comments are open for discussion.

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The following post is by contributor Catherine Way of Adventures With Kids and originally appeared March 2011.

There are many physical and mental health benefits to children in spending time outdoors.  One easy way to increase the amount of time your child spends outdoors is to make your garden an appealing outdoor play space.

What do children want in an outdoor play space?  Children prefer natural playspaces that have plenty of opportunities for exploration, challenge, interaction and learning.

There are many ways that you can add child-friendly  elements to both big and small gardens.   Adding some of these elements to your garden will help make it a space where you child loves to be.

Add Water

It comes as no surprise to any parent that children love water and want to use it in their play.

• the easiest way to add water in a garden is to create a fountain or water feature. This can be a beautiful bowl filled with water and coloured pebbles, a ready-made water feature or a water course complete with a waterfall.

Attract Birds and Animals

Children love to observe and interact with anything that moves.  Attracting birds, insects and other animals to your garden will appeal to your child’s curiosity about the natural world. Planting trees and shrubs native to your area will help in attracting wildlife.  But you can also add some other features to make your garden even more attractive to wildlife …

• add a bird bath or bird feeder
• use plants that attract butterflies and other insects
• create a frog or fish pond

Create Refuges

Children love cubbies and places to hide. Here are some ideas for adding refuges and places to rest or hide in your garden …

• build a cubby house or fort
• add a table and chairs in a quiet corner
• use a tent or teepee to create a temporary refuge in your garden
• create a secret path for walking or bike riding

Create Places for Play and Movement

Create places in your garden that let children use their different muscles – places to run, jump, climb or play with a ball.

• find space for a sandpit.  Even a small container of sand will be a magnet for your children.  Sand Play: Making it Work gives some great tips for setting up and maintaining a safe sandpit.
• plant trees for climbing
• create open grassy areas for running around and active games
• landscape with rocks and logs for climbing and balancing
• add loose parts – dirt, sand, sticks and stones – that can be moved and rebuilt in children’s construction and dramatic play

Introduce an Element of Make-Believe

Adding a few surprises to your garden can encourage your children’s creativity.

• create a fairy garden, big or small, or a dinosaur garden
• add art, for example sculptures or mosaics, to your garden
• grow a sunflower house

Add opportunities for learning

Much of children’s learning occurs through play.  Planning a few areas of the garden alongside your children can encourage them to look closely and develop their interest in the natural world.

• plant an edible garden
• create signposts for your plants
• add a sundial
• plant a perfume garden, full of plants that smell beautiful, or a touch garden, full of plants that are begging to be touched.

Try adding some of these elements to your garden to entice your children outdoors. It will benefit their physical development and encourage their understanding and appreciation of the natural world.

Here are some additional resources for creating a child-friendly garden that you might find helpful:

• a series on How to Create an Irresistible Outdoor Playspace for Children from let the children play
• 10 Unique Gardening Activities for Kids from Code Name: Mama
• A Parent’s Guide to Nature Play from Green Hearts

What are your children’s favourite places to play and things to do in your garden?

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The following post is by editor Kara Fleck.

After such an odd and dreary Winter, I’m so happy that Springtime is here!  The cold, grey days are (mostly) behind us, and in my part of the world we’re already enjoying the green, sunny days and the blues skies of Spring.

While I’m not convinced we won’t still see a March or April snowstorm before Winter truly says farewell, I see Spring’s arrival as an opportunity to use all of our senses to savor the season. I’m especially looking forward to celebrating baby Mia’s first Spring and I can’t wait to introduce her to flowers and exploring outdoors in the sunshine.

I thought it would be fun to carry on what has become a seasonal tradition here at Simple Kids, and list some of the different ways we can experience the sights, sounds, smells, textures, and tastes of Spring with our kids.

What Does Spring LOOK Like?

The hallmark of Spring is the return of color.  The skies seem bluer, the grass begins to grow again, and the flowers bloom, bursting open with color and fresh life.  The trees begin to bud and the birds and animals are very active.  The whole world seems to wake up from the long Winter’s nap.

In our neighborhood, a Spring shower brings with it the sight of children in bright raincoats and boots and a rainbow of umbrellas opening against the falling raindrops.

Look UP

• The trees are beginning to bud
• The birds have returned
• The Spring constellations

Look DOWN

• What is happening to the grass?  The flowers?
• What are the insects and animals doing?
• What does the garden look like now?
• Do you see any acorns?  Walnuts?  Seed pods?

What Does Spring FEEL Like?

As the weeks pass, we begin to trade our heavy woolens and coats for lighter jackets and short sleeves.  Perhaps we’re even donning sandals or going barefoot and letting our toes wiggle in the grass or squish in the mud.

There are other ways to feel the season:

Go on a nature walk and ask your child …

• What does the sun feel like on your skin?  What about the shade?
• Is there any wind today?  Can you feel a breeze?
• What do we smell outside?  What sounds do we hear?
• What does the air feel like?  Dry?  Humid?

What Does Spring TASTE Like?

For me, Spring tastes light and crisp after a season of hearty, heavier fare.  Spring marks the return of salads and early veggies to the dinner table.  We had a string of sunny days last week and grilled out for the first time of the year.  That night Spring tasted like grilled chicken, new potatoes, asparagus, and french bread with blue cheese followed by ice cream cones for dessert.

What recipes does your family enjoy in the Spring time?

What Does Spring SMELL Like?

There are good smells coming from our kitchens in the Springtime, it is true. What other wonders can we experience with our sense of smell this time of year?

To my family, Spring smells like …

• dirt
• fresh breezes
• laundry drying on the line
• rain
• daffodils, crocus, and tulips

What Does Spring Sound Like?

Springtime is a noisy time, when new life is bursting forth and the birds return to chirp and sing.

Consider …

• the delicate pitter patter of a gentle falling rain
• the glorious roar of a thunderstorm
• windchimes
• the birds singing

At our house, Spring time might sound like a reading of Miss Rumphius.  Do you and your kids have a favorite read-aloud for this time of year?

Living in a part of the world where you are preparing to enjoy Autumn?   Consider the Sights, Sounds, Tastes, and Smells of Fall.

What about you? What does Springtime look like to you? What sights, smells, and sounds evoke this time of year for your family?

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Spring is finally upon us after a long, cold winter!  Today at Simple Kids, we are celebrating with a fun,  educational project to inspire you and your little ones to get your hands dirty in the garden – Egg Carton Gardening!

First, I have a confession to make. While I love fresh, homegrown vegetables as much as the next gal, my thumb errs on the side of black. My husband typically bears the gardening responsibilities of our home while I handle the cooking. However, this project  is easy enough for a toddler to do.  It’s a great introduction to gardening for kids and novice adults alike.

Materials Needed:

• Styrofoam Egg Carton (we like Styrofoam for its waterproof quality)
• Package of Seeds (we used pole beans)
• Organic Garden Soil
• Water

Purchase seeds that will be ‘in-season’ according to your particular climate and prepare according to package directions. (For example, we had to soak our bean seeds overnight in water.)

Retrieve a used egg carton from your recycling bin. Cut the top of the egg carton off and set aside. Turn the bottom of the  carton upside down and poke holes in each “dome”, as this allows adequate water drainage. Then, place the top of the carton underneath, like a tray. Fill each of the domes with soil.

Have your child poke holes in the soil of each egg compartment – about 1/2 inch deep. Then have her place the seeds (one to three seeds in each compartment, depending upon the plant variety – see individual seed package for directions) in each hole. Gently cover seeds with soil, lightly water, and place in a sunny window sill. Make sure to place it in a location where your child can water and  monitor its growth each and every day.

For children (and children at heart) seeking instant gratification,  the sprouts appear in a matter of days. Once the seedlings are well established and weather permits, transfer directly into the outdoor garden soil and watch them flourish.

Photo by NurtureBaby

The day after…

A few days later….

About a week later…talk about instant gratification!

Egg Carton Gardening can be a wonderful learning experience that makes a long-lasting impression on your child. First, it teaches a simple lesson about conservation, as the otherwise trashed egg carton is repurposed for an entirely new use.

Second, your child is more likely to try (and like) the vegetables she’s grown. She feels invested in the project and therefore wants to reap the tasty rewards like the rest of the family. (To my delight, I found my three year old sneaking broccoli florets straight from the garden a few days ago!)

Last, it teaches your child patience and the value of hard work -  all while creating fun, family memories. We hope it will inspire a lifelong love of gardening and healthy eating as your child begins to experience the wonderful fruits of her labor.

What ways do you inspire your children to help in the garden? We’ve love to see what you and your young green thumbs are up to. You can share pictures at the Simple Kids flickr group.

This post originally appeared in April 2010.

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The following post is by editor Kara Fleck.

Mia is six months old.  Can you believe it?  At this age she is starting to become a bit more self aware, especially as it relates to cause and effect and her own power in this regard.  This means rattles and shakers are a big hit right now.

One of my favorite things is the expression of happiness on Mia’s face when she realizes that she is the one creating the noise with the rattle, that she is causing it. That means rattles and shakers are some of this mama’s favorite toys right now, too.

Rattles and Shakers

Homemade

We’ve made shakers for Mia out of items from around the house.

I made a simple shaker out of a small gift box.  I filled it with dried beans and glued the lid on.  This box is made of cardboard, so I do have to watch very carefully to make sure Mia doesn’t suck on the box and break down the cardboard and accidentally swallow any or choke, but she really seems to enjoy having a shaker of this size and shape.

I have also made shakers from an empty water bottle and from empty plastic spice bottles.  I put dried beans and rice inside and secure the lids.  Mia alternates between wildly shaking and slowly turning the bottles over to watch the beans move inside.

 Note: If you do this, please use common sense and always keep the safety of your baby in mind.  Be on the lookout for choking hazards and be sure lids are secure.  I recommend always supervising baby during shaker/rattle play with homemade toys. Let’s be extra cautious and extra safe, okay?

For Valentine’s Day, I plan to needle felt a jingle ball for baby Mia.  I think she’ll love the feel of  this (I’ll let you know how it goes and make a video if you guys would like to see how I do it).

Purchased

Over the years we have purchased rattles for our babies, too.  One of our favorites, and our babies’ as well, is the Haba Kringle Ring.  It is brightly colored and wooden and fits easily into baby’s hand.

For Floor Play

Some of our favorite rattles are for floor play.  As Mia pushes and rolls them, they make a noise she enjoys and encourage forward motion as she follows them to push them again (and again) to hear the noise.

We have two rainsticks for this, but again, Mia’s favorite is the one that she can see inside of and watch the tiny pieces move around.  I like the rainsticks because they are a toy that will grow with her:  for now she can roll them around on the floor, later, when she is sitting and standing, she’ll be able to turn them over to make them “rain.”

Remember, too, that you don’t have to purchase or even make a rattle or a shaker to keep your baby happy.  I bet you have items around your home right now that would delight a baby with their rattling and shaking.  Mia is often entertained by our measuring cups and measuring spoons.

What are your baby’s favorite things to shake, rattle, and roll?

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The following post is by contributor Robin Zipporah of The Not-Ever-Still Life.
Every so often my oldest child, almost six, will flip through a pile of papers on the lower shelf of my bedside table. “What bedtime story did you read last night?” she’ll ask.

Those papers are all books that she or her sister have made, and it stands to reason, doesn’t it? that if she chooses a few books from her bedside table to read every night, so do I. I love when she asks that question. I love how integrally we’ve made reading part of the rhythm of our home.

With their innate curiosity and creative problem-solving, children are natural storytellers. In our house, we’ve been capturing our kids’ stories and making books from them for several years. They needn’t be fancy; most of the time our tools are just some paper and crayons. And this is a project you can complete with kids of any age:

For toddlers and preschoolers

Even our earliest talkers have big ideas. When my daughters were very young, I’d interview them with a series of two-choice questions and a few open-ended ones, like this: “do you want to make a story about a princess or a monster? Okay, a monster. A girl monster or boy monster or something else? A boy monster! Does he have one head or more heads? More! How many?” And so on.

I’d take their answers and construct a simple narrative and print it out in two- or three-sentence snippets. “One day the five-headed monster woke up and decided he wanted to have a picnic for breakfast. So he asked Mommy Monster to help him, and she carried his favorite monster food out to the backyard.” Then I’d glue each snippet to a piece of blank paper and ask my girls to create an accompanying illustration.

Suggest a topic for illustration on each page, and encourage your young artists. Embrace your love of abstract art! “What does monster food look like? Can you draw some here?” My four-year-old, when she was two, would describe her plan for every drawing in the same way: I’m making a beauuuutiful scribble-scrabble!

Photo by Tillwe

For early readers and writers

My first girl, the one who’s almost six, is enjoying her year of kindergarten and thoroughly loves the process of learning to read. For her, I don’t type up any words. When she wants to make a book, we have a meeting in her office (her bed) or my office (my bed).

The formal planning process is important to her, and providing structure to her project as such translates to the structure she pours into her creation. We talk through her story and then she sits down to paint or color each illustration.

Once the images are complete, we go back and add a line or two of text to each page. Scrap paper is important. I have her try to write out each word on her own. We normally don’t worry about perfect spelling or backwards letter-writing, but a book is a different story (ahem). Because she loves to reread her books again and again, and because flaws really bother her enjoyment of her creations, I help her perfect her spelling of each word on scrap paper before she copies it carefully onto her illustration.

Photo by RISD Museum

For fluent readers and writers

I haven’t reached this stage yet with my own children, but I’m beginning to imagine the possibilities. We have beloved characters who appear again and again in our family narrative, as I’m sure you do, as well. Instead of having them wander through individual stories, as my girls (and eventually, my toddler son) grow bigger, I’d love to help them codify our personal oral traditions into a series of stories. Or maybe you invent a new superhero story every night at bedtime? How about making a chapter book?

I also plan to use our tradition of bookmaking as a safe and familiar way to introduce some new technology skills. When my kids are ready for longer blocks of text, they can learn to type on the computer. When their ideas for illustration grow more sophisticated, they can practice their internet and mouse skills with some mama-approved digital illustration sites. I see this hobby of ours as something we can do together for years.

The finishing touches

After the body of your book is finished, read it through together and celebrate your child’s accomplishment. Plan a story hour: wait for Daddy to come home or invite some neighborhood children over to read your new book. But before the moment of the big reveal, you have one more important step to complete: creating a cover. Come up with a clever title, create one more illustration, and put the most important line of the whole book on the front: written and illustrated by ______.

Have you and your kids done any illustrated writing? Do you make books together? What is your process? We’d love to hear how you and your kids write and illustrate your stories!

CURRENT SPONSORS:

• UPrinting - Spread your message.
• Sparkle Stories - Audio stories for children and families.
• A.Vogel - Help your immune system fight colds and flu.
• GNOWFGLINS - Enjoying God's natural, organic, whole foods, grown locally in season.

© 2009-2012 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Kids subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplelivingmedia.com to let us know. Thanks.