Parent Connection – Making a Book With Your Child

Perhaps you thought that books were found only in stores and libraries. Books can also be created by you and your child simply by putting a few ingredients together. These “personal books” can become treasured selections on your child’s bookshelf. If it sounds familiar, you may discover that it is simply an updated and expanded version of the old scrapbook idea.

Needed ingredients:

Photographs of family members
Pictures of enjoyable family activities, favorite places to visit, familiar animals and pets, and family trips.

Art work created by your child
Drawings, paintings, or any creation that your child makes to represent his ideas and feelings about the subject of the book.

Your child’s ideas and feelings expressed on paper or on a tape recorder.
Young children need help to print their ideas on paper. With children about five or six who want to do their own writing, “inventive spelling” is the way to go. That just means that the words are written as they are heard by the child; correct spelling is not necessary. Children who express their own words on tape can enjoy seeing their story after a parent has printed it on pages that will make up the book, or created the pages for them on the computer.

Optional ingredients
Postcard, ticket stubs, pressed flowers, cards; anything that is personal and helps to convey a child’s story.

Together decide on the pages that will make the book, using both text as well as art or photos. Then put the pages in order and bind together using a stapler or punching holes and tying it together with yarn. Be sure to have a cover page with the title and the author – none other than your child. For really lasting memories try laminating the pages so they do not fray or tear. You may even find a place to actually bind your books professionally.

Making a book is one way to help your child begin learning important reading skills and increase his interest in books. Your child’s homemade books will become a source of family enjoyment and will be treasured for years to come.

…..Karin Klein, Administrator, Red Hill School, Red Hill, PA

Parent Connection Archive

The Busy Bin
Praise and Encouragement
Your Child’s Fears
Your Child and Play
Teaching Your Child Responsibility
Make a Book With Your Child
Getting Ready For School
Learning to Laugh
Learning to Eat Healthy Food
Encouraging Creativity
Stress and Children
TV and Children