Story Board

One way that I try to encourage a love for writing, along with reading, is by creating story boards of my daughter's favorite books and movies. 

We read a book or watch a movie and then pull out our large dry erase board.  I ask her "What happened first?"  Most of the time she skips a lot of the beginning and tells me something about the middle of the story (usually where the conflict starts building).  I write down whatever she says word for word.  If her wording is really confusing I will try and help her clarify what she means.  After we have the starting sentence I just keep asking "What happened next?"  I give her some prompts if she needs them and I try and make sure that she is going in order- "Where were they?" and "Did they save her first or did she get in trouble first?"  When we finish the story I always let her illustrate her story in the open space.

This is a fun way to encourage writing and it really helps to teach kids that stories follow a certain order for a reason and that important facts need to be stated.  If the princess never got in trouble then the carebears never have to rescue her so it's important to write down she was in trouble.

Sand Wall Art

Sand Wall Art

Supplies- Paper (I used 4x6 photo paper because we have a ton), Elmer's Glue, Sand, Tub and Shaker (optional)

Help your child use the Elmer's Glue to create a design or write their name on the paper.  Place the paper in the tub and let you child pour or shake sand onto the glue.  Gently pick up the paper and shake the excess sand back into the tub.  If a lot of glue is still showing try pouring sand on it a second time. 

 

Allow the art work to dry before hanging it up for display.

Early Writing Light Fun

 



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House Painting becomes Early Writing Activity

 

My husband brought home a large box and cut a door and windows in it.  After a few weeks my daughter asked if she could paint her house and of course I said yes.  I put down a drop cloth,  filled up an egg carton with six different colors of paint and I handed her an assortment of brushes.  She started out my painting a little bit of color on every side.  Then she started drawing lines.  She looked at me and said "Look mommy, I did H".  She went on to make an I and then a bunch of O's (Who doesn't want a house covered in O's?).  She was having so much fun painting her house that I was able to encourage her early writing attempts. Examples- "That's a nice O can you make a Q?" "That's a long line, can you make it look like a T?" 

 

After a while she got tired of painting letters and decided it was time to paint her hands and feet (none of my daughter's painting sessions are complete until she had managed to paint at least one body part).  After the house was dry (and she took a bath) I gave her a couple sheets of stickers to stick all over.  This was great for working her fine motor skills.