by Kathy Stemke

Created on: August 24, 2009

Young children learn by reading books and participating in experimentation and play. Books increase their vocabulary and understanding about many exciting subjects. Reading opens up new worlds and cultures to them. It can also enhance their social skills. Reading print books improve their eye-hand coordination as they turn the pages, and e-books teach them computer skills. Most of all, reading is a source of good, wholesome fun! Our job, as parents and teachers, is to bring books to life, and give children opportunities to experience the pleasure of reading. Try some of the following activities with your children and watch them blossom into lifelong readers.

1. Make a book of your favorite story characters with drawings. It might be fun to cut out figures and use crayons for their clothing and details.

2. Make a colorful timeline of your favorite story.

3. Create sock or paper bag puppets of your favorite characters and put on a puppet show. You could even extend the story to show what happens next.

4. You and your friends dress up like your favorite book characters, and have a tea party. What would Snow White say to Amelia Bedelia?

5. Make a character mobile for your room. You can criss-cross two metal hangers and use string to hang your characters on. You could even use lightweight real objects or felt objects to represent the book.

6. Sculpt your favorite children's story character from soap, clay or paper mache.

7. Build a diorama of a scene from the story. Use a shoebox, smaller boxes, pieces of wood, magazine pictures, construction paper, crayons, paint, cotton, grass, twigs, toilet paper rolls, and anything else you can find to make the needed objects.

8. Create your own website or blog about your favorite story and characters.

9. Draw a fancy family tree with your favorite characters and their relatives real or imagined. You can add a line or two about their personalities.

10. Use scraps of material to design costumes of the characters in your favorite story and put on a play or dance concert for the neighborhood.

11. Write a poem about your favorite character. Have your favorite character write his or her own poem.

12. Make a rhyming book. Staple some pages together to make your own book. Pick out an object from your favorite story to draw on each page. Roll one die to see how many rhyming words you need to add for each page. Foe example, if you draw a cat, write hat,

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