For a great keepsake item or a in-between school times project, turn your kid's made up stories into printed books. The result is priceless and it creates a real sense of accomplishment for kids. My daughter is so proud of this book and keeps it in a place of honor in her room. It is amazing to look back at what she has come up with for stories over the years.
To start, you could have your child make up a story for you. If the child is old enough to write, have them write it out or you can just have them tell you and dictate for them. Another option is to write out a story that your child has already made up. This is a great way to have your child continue to work on their writing and story telling skills when they are not in school too!
My daughter loves to make up stories, so this process isn't difficult for her. My son, however, struggles more so I often help him with a template. We work out first: who is the main character? Then we figure out what the problem or conflict in the story could be. We create a solution to the problem or conflict and then fill in the story with details on how the character got into the problem and how the character solves the problem. This process has improved his writing and story telling so much over the years (just yesterday, he made up a whole story on his own from beginning to end!)
For The Moon is High, my daughter just made up a story and we quickly wrote it down for her, just as she told it. If you want to create a more complete story, ask questions for your kids to build the story. Some questions for this story may have been: Why did the little girl want the moon? Where did the moon go after it disappeared? Why did the moon disappear? How did the little girl feel after the moon disappeared? You can ask questions about the character themselves, about details of what steps happen in the story, about how the problem could be resolved best (what are different options and which one does your child likes the best), and about what happens after the story. Have your child make up a title for the story too!
Then, write out the story on separate pages, broken up as it would be for a book. Older children can do this themselves if they like or you can do this for a younger child. We broke up this story since Eden was only four when she made it up.
Have the child then draw pictures for each page of the story. Depending on the length of the story and focus level of the child, this may take several sessions or days. You could have the child draw the picture on the page with the writing or have them draw on completely separate pages. I had Eden do separate pages because it was easier to take pictures of the drawings in the end. I gave her a piece of drawing paper and then read the page to her. She designed and drew her picture for that page. Then we repeated for each page. Remember to get a picture for the title page too.
I then took digital pictures of the drawings and uploaded the pictures to a photo printing site (there are a huge number of these out there, many are completely free, just make sure they print photo books from their site). I added the pictures to a photo book and then typed the story in too so that it had a more finished look to it. I also asked Eden about what she would like to say about herself and completed an author's bio on the back, just to add to her finished product. The picture is of her creating the book.
If you don't have access to a photo book print site or don't want to spend the money on a bound version, you can always bind (or staple) the original pages into a book as well.
Building Development Skills (options):
- Use questions to build personal skills: Asking about feelings or how actions affect others are great ways to build empathy and an awareness of other people. Asking questions about what happens after the character or other characters do something builds cause and effect skills, especially when you can encourage multiple answers. Asking questions about multiple possible solutions builds problem solving and deeper thinking skills.
- Enhance writing skills: Allow your child to write out their story if they are able. This could be quick sketches (great for enhancing pages later) if they are pre-writers to fully writing out sentences for older writers. For early and emerging writers, remember to let them write out fluently without interrupting to correct spelling so that they can get their ideas down; have them read it to you if you need to so that you can understand what they wrote.
- Build editing skills (and helps children realize that it is ok to go back and fix/change things they have already completed): - Use questions like the ones above to add to or modify the story to make it better. If children are confident or comfortable with something they wrote after a question and don't want to change it, allow them ownership of their ideas and don't force a change. - For older children, work on improving spelling and grammar appropriate to age (think about what they are working on in school, e.g. if they have target words they have learned or are learning, have them fix the ones they may have gotten incorrect in their hurry to get the story written or if they are learning to capitalize and punctuate, make sure they go back an check their sentences for those elements)
- Address social and emotional needs: - Have children focus on the emotions of their characters, explaining how they felt in different situations in their story and making sure to draw those emotions in their pictures. For older children, have them work on more nuanced emotions like frustration or confusion rather than just mad or angry. - Have children write a story around something they have recently experienced, like having to share or losing a friend. It is ok for the story to get fantastical because it helps the child work through the situation but is important for them to find solutions.
The Moon is High - Book Reading
