51吃瓜网

by: Julia Luckenbill

Does your infant or toddler enthusiastically point out images of herself on your computer? 听Does your preschooler ask you repeat stories about him over and over? A powerful way to interest young children in reading books is to make books about their routines, families, life events and vacations. 听It鈥檚 a keepsake for you and a conversation starter for your child. 听It鈥檚 also an inexpensive way to help your child learn to love books.

Here are some tips for homemade book making:

1. Include photos of familiar people and objects to connect the book鈥檚 contents with real life. 听Take pictures of family members, your child鈥檚 favorite toys, and other familiar things to help your children talk and learn more about their world.
2. Keep it simple and short. 听A few photos on white pages with simple text make the book easy for a young child to follow. 听Clip art, stickers and scrapbooking decoration can be distracting. 听Keep the page content minimal.
3. Very young children find it hard to turn thin paper pages. 听You can buy thicker card stock at most stationary stores and glue your own images over cardboard pages. 听Using lamination or plastic page protectors are other ways to make pages thicker.
4. Preschoolers may enjoy co-authoring books with you. 听They can draw pictures and dictate text. 听You can ask questions to encourage them to add more ideas and you can write down what they say. 听Writing together helps children feel their stories are worthwhile and coaches them to think about the components of storytelling such as the concept of beginning, middle and end. 听You are also showing them that written words have meaning to people.
5. Children enjoy being able to predict what鈥檚 next. 听Repetition and rhyme help children with this skill. 听You can even make your book similar to your child鈥檚 favorite book. 听For example, if Thomas loves Brown Bear you could write, 鈥淭homas, Thomas, what do you see?鈥�
6. Choose your topic based on your child鈥檚 needs and interests. 听If you are moving, make a book about moving. 听If your child is anxious about the daily routine make a book about that. 听If your child loves trains, make a book about your visit to the train station.
7. Read your book with your child. 听Ask open-ended questions about the people, places and stories on the pages.
8. Be playful. 听Show your child that books and learning are fun!