Make It! Write It! Read It!: Simple Bookmaking Projects to Engage Kids in Art and Literacy

By Wendy M. L. Libby

Crafting projects that provide literacy and curriculum ideas to enrich the classroom
 
Make It! Write It! Read It! develops art and literacy skills through the craft of bookmaking, inspiring elementary-aged children to read, write, and tell stories with their creations. Creative, fun, field-tested projects include 17 different blank book designs such as accordion fold, coffee filter, hanging tassel, and paper bag books. These designs are then applied to 23 specific book projects kids are sure to love, with suggestions for making literary connections—writing poems, paragraphs, or simple stories related to their creations. Kids will delight in making books that include three-part fish, a creature pop-up, a double-sided mountain, and an ocean scene, among many others. Carefully crafted with teachers and parents or caregivers of kids aged 4–10 in mind, each activity has educational objectives for the project; skills developed; materials needed; clear, illustrated, step-by-step instructions; and literary connection ideas. The text is specific enough for beginners who need more direction yet offers open-ended possibilities for imagination and creation for more experienced bookmakers, writers, and artists.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• Release date: Jul 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781613730331

Book preview

Introduction

MAKING ART AND telling stories are two basic means of self-expression and self-development in all cultures. They both require planning, developing, and organizing thoughts. Creating art develops social, emotional, cognitive, sensory, and motor skills. Art activities can provide abundant learning experiences for a child. Effective learning takes place when an art activity reinforces lessons with hands-on experiences. Facilitating learning and development in children requires creativity—learning should be entertaining and something they enjoy. Children learn through experience, and art is an experience that involves independent thinking, exploration, problem solving, creativity, and free expression. Many literacy-rich activities can be brought to a child through art.

A toddler will scribble long before he or she has the ability to write. For the young child, these scribbles are a way to explore cause and effect and to work on developing fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. As they use these new skills to create projects, children begin to use art and literacy together, and learning becomes more personal and engaging. Using visual arts can also generate lively discussions. Children become enthusiastic and excited about their world through stories and illustrations, and they can reply creatively through art experiences. Connecting art and literacy allows children to practice creativity while discovering a meaningful way to use language arts.

One way to make this connection is to use storybooks. After reading a book a child can integrate the story into his or her own experiences by creating an art activity based on the story or illustrations. Stories can coincide with a child’s interest or an area of classroom study. For example, in the spring when insects are out and about, children can read a book about bugs and look at the illustrations to spark conversation. Children can re-create a real insect or make an imaginary one by drawing, painting, cutting and pasting, or molding one with clay or even constructing one with recycled materials. When their bug is completed they can then tell or write a story about their creation, such as where it might live, what it might eat, or how it became their friend. These activities make connections between books and art as well as between new reading experiences and real life. Asking open-ended questions about their art projects helps children discover connections between what they read and what they are creating and keeps them interested and engaged.

Art and literacy activities develop skills and competencies through creative and intuitive thinking. They contribute to seeing more, recalling more, and expressing with more confidence. Problem-solving skills, motivation, and self-discipline increase, and concentration develops.

As children create, they begin linking words to their discoveries. Pictures develop into stories with descriptions, sounds, feelings, and meanings. The art of making books allows children to personally connect with their own stories and get excited about creative expression, the art of handcrafting something, and writing simple stories. Children will enjoy sharing their work and rereading their books over and over—to themselves and to others—thereby sparking a love for books that can last a lifetime.

Nurturing Creativity

Before starting an art and writing activity, use descriptive games to inspire and nurture creativity. Focus on using the five senses—seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling—to develop and strengthen project ideas. For example, ask a child to list five things that describe how a puppy feels, or ask which he or she can picture better: a bowl of ice cream or a bowl of creamy vanilla ice cream that has swirls of chocolate, is smothered in hot fudge, and is topped with whipped cream, crunchy cashew nuts, colored sprinkles, and a round, sweet, red cherry?

Encourage children to act like detectives. Detectives do not miss anything. They do not notice just that it is raining but also that the raindrops make a pattern on the windowpane when they drip from the roof. Children’s knowledge and productivity are strengthened when they learn how to see and how to respond to what they see. Use visuals to encourage more critical verbal interpretation and higher-quality communication. Pictures lead to words, and words reveal meanings, adding to the power behind the pictures.

The combination of art and literacy inspires both reading pictures and picturing writing. Reading pictures means viewing, discussing, and interpreting artworks. It helps students develop ideas for projects from their own perspectives. Often the