I Know What You Did Last Weekend – Homemade Picture Books

Homemade Picture Books

Children love making books, and homemade picture books about what they did last weekend, or on a special family outing are a perfect way to help your child tell a story starring their favorite person!

Before going on vacation, to the zoo etc… be ready to take a lot of pictures. And remember to take pictures of the things your child was really into. If your child was napping during the parade or didn’t see the dolphin show at the aquarium – don’t bother including those pictures. Talk to your child about what they see before you take the picture. So when it comes time to recall it even younger ones will be able to!

1. Once home, gather your materials. You will need some pictures of your outing/weekend, construction paper, crayons or markers, some glue or double stick tape (I love this stuff!) and a stapler.
   
2. Have your child decorate the pages before you add the pictures.
3. Fold the paper in 2 to make multiple pages.
4. Add the pictures, using double stick tape or glue. I suggest the double stick tape because it is easy and clean. It won’t make the pages stick together like glue will if it dribbles out.
5. After adding a picture add some text, ask your child what the picture is of, and to tell you about it. Write verbatim what they tell you if they are old enough have them write it!
6. Staple the pages together. I ended up using ribbon and sewing it together because my art closet is a mess and I couldn’t find my stapler!
7. Read the new book with your child!

***If you are doing this as a class, have enough pictures for each student to pick out a picture and tell you what is going on in it. When I would do this with a class the books always became favorites. And we would read our homemade picture books all year long. The students loved to look back at how they’d changed over the school year too!

These are 3 new books I found at my library and wanted to share!

“A Kiss Goodbye“ by Audrey Penn is a sequel to one of my favorite books “The Kissing Hand”. In this book Chester, the little raccoon has to leave his home to move to anther tree because his is being chopped down. I love that Audrey Penn has tackled the subject of moving because it is such a stressful and scary event for so many children, and this book really addresses those feelings. The text is too long for toddlers in my experience but preschoolers will sit and listen, to this wonderful story.

“Little Baby Bobby“ by Nancy Van Laan is a story about Bobby and his runaway stroller, oh and his babysitter Britta who chases after him. We follow Bobby all over town as a larger and larger group of people join the chase, all the while bumping into things and Bobby is happily bouncing along. The illustrations are fun, the text has cute rhymes but overall this is just an ok book. My son sat for a few pages but wasn’t too thrilled. It’s worth a look if you are at the library though!

“Scaredy Squirrel makes a friend“ by Melanie Watt is hilarious! I laughed out loud from start to finish. My son who is 18 months old didn’t get the humor at all but laughed at me laughing! Older preschoolers will get most of the humor though and like my son will love the pictures! Here is my favorite line: in very small print on the inside cover it reads “* Caution: this story not suitable for walruses.” Oh, how I laughed! The dry humor aside, the book follows an anxious squirrel looking for a friend. But one that is safe and won’t bite! Of course, the message is about taking risks and kids will get it! I love this book!

Does your child like making homemade picture books?  Or do you have other fun things you do with family memories?  Comment below or share on my Facebook page!

For more quick tips on helping your child learn to read check out my book; Raising A Rock-Star Reader. It is packed with fun ideas for families, book lists, and advice for parents.