Looking Back to October Past

Towards the end of each month, I like to revisit some articles I've written in 2009 and 2010. Not only does this mean new readers of the blog may find something useful otherwise buried in the archives, but it also reminds me of content I can refer to when I write new articles.

2009

Fun with Words - Spell with Flickr A simple and fun way to focus on visual literacy.

Ten Ways to Involve the Whole Family in Reading Aloud Weaving read aloud time into the fabric of family life is often just a matter of looking for read-aloud opportunities and turning them into habits.

Creative Writing with PIC-LITS Use PIC-LITS to get kids started with writing their own poetry.

Blabberize Here's a cool tool that encourages kids to record their voices and use an animated photograph to "talk" for them.

Oh, What Nonsense! The Book Chook emphatically believes in nonsense. Here are some ideas for combining it with children's literacy and learning.

2010

Let's Celebrate World Animal Day Some Book Chook ideas for learning activities that focus on animals. Find more ideas on using special events with kids by clicking on the Celebrating button in my right sidebar.

Creative Prompt - Start with What If? When kids find their creativity is blocked, try using that magical question, What if…?

There is More to Life than Good Grades Thought-provoking article from writer and blogger, Susan Whelan of Reading Upside Down.

Creative Prompt - Look to Nature Going outside to look for a prompt for creative expression is a great idea.

Becoming a Story Detective - Guest Post Wonderful ideas to get kids writing by Australian author, Sandy Fussell.

Creative Prompt - Start with Some Story Elements I believe setting parameters almost forces our creative juices to start flowing.

Tips for Reading Aloud and Tips for Reading Aloud with Toddlers Making the most of story sharing time.

Creative Prompt - Start with One Word Some creative possibilities when choosing one word as a prompt.

(Poster above made by Book Chook from out-of-copyright image at Flicker CC, and altered slightly at Picnik. If you'd like to use it for your classroom or library, by all means do so.  Contact me if you need a higher quality image.)

Children's Writing - Make a Comic at Amulet

Amulet is a comic book by Kazu Kibuishi.

Scholastic have an online activity where kids can create their own Amulet comic book pages, using art from Amulet Book One - The Stonekeeper.

The first step is to choose a layout, and there's a good variety of templates to choose from. Once that's done, children can select characters, settings, objects and speech bubbles to create their stories. All the features can be resized, rotated and flipped, and the final result printed out. You can see an example in my screen grab image at left.

If your kids love graphic novels or comics, Amulet might be just the inspiration they're looking for to start creating their own material. Reluctant writers might be tempted to add text to speech bubbles and use ideas from Amulet to get started. I also like the way the website allows kids to interact with characters by selecting questions to ask them, then reading their answers. This might lead children to interview their own characters as a way of getting to know them when writing fiction. Kids will also have fun making the characters dance etc. Get an idea of Amulet: The Stonekeeper in the Book Trailer below.



Find more ways your children or students can make comics in Book Chook Favourites - Cartoon Creation, Children's Writing with Toon Books Comic Maker, Make a Comic at Digger and the Gang, Creating Comics with Professor Garfield and Make Your Own Comic at MakeBeliefsComix.

Children's Book Review, Belonging

Children's Book Review by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com

I love Jeannie Baker's books. My recent review of Mirror probably made that clear. Today I'd like to tell you about Baker's children's picture book, Belonging, published by Walker Books 2007 (originally published 2004).

A powerful wordless account of the greening, year by year, of a typical urban landscape.

As in the author's previous picture book, Window, this book is observed through the window of a house in a typical urban neighbourhood, each picture showing a year's developments. This is Window in reverse, with the land being reclaimed from built-up concrete to a gradual greening, shown through the artist's characteristic collage illustrations.

A key factor to my deep appreciation of Baker's books is the art work. Her collages are intricate, and kids will love to identify elements like earth, feathers, and wool. There are so many details to notice, and ponder over! Do the car models change over time? How does Tracy, the baby at the start, change as she gets older? What happens in her life? Let's read all the signs and graffiti. How do the people get rid of the grafitti? Why did that happen? I wonder how the artist made the roof?

Belonging works on many different levels. I love that it has a hopeful conservation message for the improvement of our planet but it offers much more. As a wordless picture book, teachers and parents will value its opportunities for language development, discussion and storytelling. Children can use it as a puzzle book, identifying the changes in each view through the window. And all of us can be inspired to make changes to our environment so we can nurture and be nurtured by it.

Find more Children's Book Reviews at www.thebookchook.com by clicking Reviews in the right sidebar. 

Make Your Own Poster at Juxio

***Note on the Juxio site says they will no longer continue. Thanks to Shauna who let me know!

Juxio suggests we make posters for a party, for walls or as a gift. I like the potential for children to use Juxio for a collection of images like their favourite animals, toys or books too. Kids will love the bright colours and simple interface.

To make a Jux, you select a poster template or custom build one for yourself. Adding photos, text, video, audio and links is easy, and really widens the potential of this application for education. Embedding video clips into a report or collection of research is an enhancement I like.

The template is customisable according to colour, font and number of frames etc. There's a huge range of templates, too. I liked the one that had each letter of the alphabet accompanied by its corresponding picture, and several that show off children's art work.

I decided to explore Juxio's possibilities for story writing, and added text and pictures to create a tale. You can see it in the image below. I don't think Juxio is an ideal vehicle for narrative, but it works. Juxio seems great though for non-fiction purposes.

Once your Jux is made, it can be shared via email, Facebook or Twitter. Making a Jux is free, but you can buy a printed version. You can choose to share or keep a Jux private, and also choose pdf as a format. Juxio is still in Beta. I hope they might offer the option to embed a Jux on blogs and wikis in the future.

If you're interested in making posters with kids, check out Book Chook Favourites - Making Posters.

Children's Book Review, Let's Go, Baby-o!

Children's Book Review by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com

Isn't it great when you find a children's picture book you just know that kids and adults alike will love? Let's Go, Baby-o! was written by Janet McLean, illustrated by Andrew McLean, and published by Allen and Unwin, 2011. (RRP $24.99 for the sturdy hard cover edition.) It's a glorious romp of a book, perfect to share with babies, toddlers and preschoolers. I can imagine all the dancing, clapping, flipping and flapping that will accompany it as a read-aloud.

When sleep-time is over, a little boy and his friend play action games, but in between they stop to look out the window. What do they see? Grandparents are digging in the garden, children are building a cubby house, the cat has her eye on the baby birds and the dogs have their eyes on the cat!

Let's Go, Baby-o! is a fun-filled story for parents, grandparents, teachers and childcare educators to share with babies and young children. This book shows that learning language and playing games go together and will encourage the conversations between children and adults that are so important for children's development.

I love the way Let's Go, Baby-o! encourages parents and kids to interact, and play with language. The strong rhythms promote movement too. Chanting and dancing a book really helps kids internalise language:

Let's go, baby-o, baby-o, baby-o.
Let's go, baby-o, you and me.
To the up,
To the down,
To the turn around.

Can you read that aloud without moving?

Andrew McLean's watercolour illustrations are gentle, detailed, perfect. The different views from the window give children lots of opportunities to comment on what's going on, and discuss cause and effect at a simple level. Kids will love noticing and pointing out details like the gradual addition of toys to the window sill as the story progresses.

Older siblings might like to join in and invent their own Baby-o rhymes. The simple model of looking out the window and creating a chant about something that's seen could easily become a family game for home or in the car. I love that this children's picture book encourages movement as well as language - it would make a perfect gift for a baby shower, an ideal suggestion for young parents, and an excellent choice for Storytime at pre-school or the library.

Find more Children's Book Reviews on The Book Chook by clicking Reviews in the right sidebar.

How to Support and Encourage Imaginative Play - Guest Post

How to Support and Encourage Imaginative Play

by Janice Davis

Janice Davis is a primary school teacher who has a real love and passion for learning and teaching. This passion followed her into motherhood as she found herself creating and developing new ideas and activities all the time. Learning 4 Kids focuses on the importance of learning through play and sharing these ideas, activities and information with other families. To find out more, visit the Learning 4 Kids website.

Adults often undervalue imaginative play. Play is a child’s way of engaging and making sense of the world. Role play may appear to be a very simple activity, yet within it, young children learn practical life skills such as dressing themselves or how to cooperate and share with others.

What is Imaginative play? Essentially it's when children role play and act out experiences they may have had, or something that interests them. They're experimenting with decision making, and also practising their social skills. Children learn from experience: from what happens around them, from what they see, hear, smell, taste and touch. To absorb those experiences and make sense of the world, they need to be engaged in imaginary play.

There are several things parents can do to enhance their child's imaginative play.

A place to play - Provide your child with a space in your home for imaginative play. It could be a separate room or even just the corner of a room. Wardrobes are good too. Another great place for imaginative play is the dinner table. When you remove all the chairs and cover the table with sheets, it becomes an instant cubby house or even a castle where a beautiful princess is kept captive by an evil dragon. Throw a sheet over the couch, to create a tunnel or a cave that an explorer needs to investigate. Canopies and play tents can create a great place to begin the imaginary world. Changing the play place regularly with different props and toys keeps children stimulated by it.

Provide props and toys - To help promote imaginary play, we can supply props and toys. Cardboard boxes can become anything in the imaginary world. I've seen them become computers, cash registers, and beds for sick animals. Provide a dress ups box full of clothes, scarves, hats, handbags, shoes and wigs. Dress ups are irresistible to young children to spark the imagination. Consider creating a props box filled with toys, objects and props to encourage your child's fantasy world. You might include: washing baskets, pretend plastic flowers, old telephones, stuffed animals and dolls, blankets, plastic crockery and cutlery.

Be your child’s playmate – Kids love to play with their parents! When your children bring you a pretend cup of tea, play along and ask for a cookie or a teaspoon of sugar. Show an interest in what they're doing and tell them that they are a wonderful chef and that they make the best tea! This helps to develop the story and encourage imagination, but lets your children be in charge. Arrange play dates with children of a similar age so they can support each other’s imaginative play.

Provide them with experiences to role play - Reading to your children will expose them to different scenarios, stories and experiences. Taking your children to many interesting places is also another way of exploring new experiences. This does happen naturally anyway, such as visiting the doctor and the supermarket. These will provide them with more experiences and more ideas for imaginative play.

Imaginative play is beneficial for children because:

• It provides opportunities for children to identify with the adult world and to work out problems and experiment with solutions.
• It develops social skills: practising negotiation skills, turn taking and sharing.
• It enhances emotional development. Kids gain an understanding of their feelings through the re-enactment of certain experiences.
• It encourages imagination: Children can be anyone and do anything in the pretend world.
• It promotes taking on roles that encourage discipline and empathy.
• It develops language skills: practising listening, looking and talking. Kids also develop an understanding of what is being communicated through body language such as smiles and nodding.

I wholeheartedly believe that kids should be allowed to be kids! In our world today, it seems as if we get caught up in being busy and forget to have fun. Encouraging our children to play and have fun will develop healthy connections and choices in their lives.

Book Chook Favourites - Customize Yourself

Several weeks ago, I had a letter from Katie, asking me to name my favourite creative literacy resources. Creative literacy to me, covers platforms that allow some sort of interactivity, combining literacy, like reading, writing, or communicating, with creativity. I've told you about several Book Chook favourites already: Book Creation, Making Posters, Cartoon Creation, Word Play, Storytelling and Reading.

Here are some favourite online places where kids can customise themselves, or create an avatar to represent them. There's less literacy in today's tools - I admit it. Not so much writing and reading built in perhaps as other Favourites I've mentioned. Also, this is not an actual photo of themselves kids are changing, rather an image they can make changes to. But creating something at these three web spaces is a fantastic prompt to get kids started on creating their own stories. And, oh boy, they're fun!

The Hero Factory

We've all imagined ourselves as heroes. I know your kids will enjoy creating their own heroes at The Hero Factory. Once you have a hero, the next step is the hero's story. What special powers does he have? What does he wear? Does she have any enemies? What problems might she have? How does she overcome them?

Build Your Wildself

Do you have a wild side? Do your kids? Find out for sure by using the art work on Build Your Wildself to imagine yourselves as critters. Add a tail, a crest, wings, whatever you choose, to a boy or girl outline. Just imagine how life would be like this! Where would you live? What would you eat? How about camouflage?

Bless this Chick

Bless this Chick reminds me of the fun I used to have playing with paper dolls. I think your girls in particular will love it. It's a little visually confusing at first, but take time to explore with your kids and it will become clear. The chick in the middle is there for you to adorn. Choose from hats, hair, clothes, pets etc by clicking on what you want. Scroll through choices with arrows. Once done, you choose the size you want and email it to yourself. Why not make a whole family of chicks and start writing their adventures?

Find more ideas that link children's writing with avatars in Writing with Avatars (1) and Writing with Avatars (2).

Children's Writing - Write a Procedure

We all love to do it. Sharing something we know how to do is as natural to humans as breathing. From recipe books to E-how, from Instructables to D-I-Y manuals, humankind is involved with imparting knowledge. Kids are no different. Becoming an expert on a subject is also a way to involve reluctant readers - read more on this at TWRCtank.com.

One way to get your kids expressing themselves, especially in writing, is to ask them to explain how to do something to others. In writing, this type of text is known as a procedure. Procedures explain how to do something and we see them everywhere. Recipes are one kind of procedure; an instruction booklet for building a LEGO model is another. Pointing out these types of materials is a good way to bring them to kids' attentions. See what children can discover about procedures - can they see lots of verbs, are there numbers or some other way of showing order, do diagrams or photos accompany the text? One blog I love where artist Scott Bedford shares instructions for great projects is What I Made, and They Draw and Cook has illustrated (hand-drawn) recipes.

Your child could write a simple procedural list, then go on to make a video. Or take photographs to help his explanation, and annotate them on paper or in a slideshow. No matter the media he chooses, there's lots of learning involved.

Before we start writing a procedure, it's best to think about it first. What exactly do you want to share? Say it's how to play a favourite board game. That's your goal, or purpose, and often it becomes your heading. List all the equipment or materials you need, then write the instructions as simply as possible. Keep to the order the steps need to be in, if necessary doing each step and then recording what you did by jotting it down. Ask someone to read your procedure to see if it makes sense. Has anything important been left out? Would diagrams or photos help a reader understand better?

There are websites that facilitate publishing a procedure digitally so we can communicate with a wider audience. Slideshow sites like Slideshare and PhotoPeach are two. Kids could also write a procedure and publish it at Glogster or Notaland. Software like PowerPoint and Keynote is another format to use. One recent find of mine is Tildee, where people create their own "how to do" pages. Here's an example of a tutorial at Tildee on how to make a handmade clothesline bunting card.

If you're interested in children's writing, you'll find more articles under the Writing label in my right sidebar. One of my most popular posts is How Do Kids Write a Book Review?

Children's Book Review, A Bit Lost

Children's Book Review by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com

The first thing to grab me in this delightful children's picture book was the title. I've been "a bit lost" myself, often for hours and hours! A Bit Lost was written and illustrated by Chris Haughton, and published by Walker Books (this paperback edition in 2011).

Little Owl must be more careful when he is sleeping... Uh-oh! He has fallen from his nest, and with a bump he lands on the ground. Where is his mummy? With the earnest assistance of his new friend Squirrel, Little Owl sets off in search of her, and meets a sequence of other animals. Yet while one might have his mummy’s BIG EYES, and another her POINTY EARS, they are simply not her. Chris Haughton's striking colour illustrations follow Little Owl on his quest. Which of his new friends will lead him back to his mummy?



I loved Squirrel, who listens to Little Owl's clues, then races off with unbridled enthusiasm to produce a range of different mother animals. I loved that Little Owl's clues are completely believable from the point of view of a small owl. And I loved that the text is simple enough to encourage kids to join in. Anyone who's been a bit lost will relate to Little Owl's predicament, and rejoice with him when he finds Mummy Owl again.

Kids will giggle over A Bit Lost. I found myself in a ripple of humour from the start, and smiling mistily at the end. It's a gentle book, beautifully simple, and visually enticing. Haughton's art work is vibrant, his choice of colours inspired. The starkness of Little Owl's black tree silhouetted against the pink, purple and orange background is stunning. Haughton's own background in design is evident - this is his debut children's picture book, and it has already been translated into 8 languages, and won 7 awards in 4 countries including the Dutch picture book of the year. You can discover more about Haughton's illustrating process on his blog.

Find more Children's Book Reviews on The Book Chook by clicking Reviews in the right sidebar. Check out other reviews of A Bit Lost at My Little Bookcase and Kids Book Review.

Develop Children's Literacy with Fingerplays

Fingerplays are a wonderful way to involve your baby in a game that will develop literacy. Not only will you find that a little one loves to have your undivided, loving attention, but you'll know that you're laying a foundation for reading, writing and communication skills when he's older.

Most people know some fingerplays, perhaps ones remembered from their own childhood even. A common favourite is:

Round and round the garden, (draw a circle on child's hand)
Like a Teddy Bear.   (keep drawing circle )
One step, two step (walk your fingers towards child's underarm)
Tickle you under there. (pretend to tickle under child's arm)

By participating repeatedly in fingerplays like that, your baby is learning to predict, learning about rhyme and rhythm, picking up language and making meaning from it, and learning new vocabulary in a context she will grow to understand.

I used to use fingerplays with my Kindergarten students. Some help children learn manual dexterity, as well as teaching them all sorts of vocabulary, and the fun of playing with words. Some fingerplays can reinforce particular sounds/letters too.

Old favourites:

Open, shut them, open shut them,
Give a little clap.
Open, shut them, open shut them,
Lay them in your lap.
Creep them, creep them, creep them slowly
Right up to your chin
Open wide your little mouth…
But do not let them in!
(actions follow words closely!)

One, two, three, four, five (touch each finger of one hand)
Once I caught a fish alive (place palms together to make a swimming fish)
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten (touch each finger of other hand)
Then I let it go again (mime releasing fish)
Why did you let it go? (hold hands out and shrug shoulders)
Because it bit my finger so (mime biting finger and sad face)
Which finger did it bite? (hold hands out and shrug shoulders)
This little finger on the right. (hold up bitten finger)

Here is the church, here is the steeple - demonstrated on video.



Online resources

• Education Oasis has words and actions for a great selection of fingerplays and action verses.
• Reading Is Fundamental has a lovely page with videos that demonstrate actions.
• Thebestkidsbooksite offers a list of fingerplays plus actions in a drop down menu.
• Dr Jean shares some favourite fingerplays on Youtube and Teachertube.
• There are lots of fingerplays shared on Story Time Secrets blog, and I love the children's literature links too.
• Story Blocks also has videos of great action songs and fingerplays that contribute to literacy.
• Songs for Teaching want you to buy their product, but generously share words and music for many fingerplays.
• Googling "fingerplays" will bring you many more.

Something else I love about fingerplays is that they lead naturally to songs with actions like When Goldilocks went to the house of the bears, (hear/watch it online)and Skinnamarink. I don't think it's important if you don't know the traditional actions - invent your own!

Fingerplays help children build vocabulary by using new words and sounds. With repetition, over time kids internalize so many facets of our language, and develop a love of word play, rhyme and expression. If you want to add to the fun, make some finger puppets with your child, or draw on your fingers to represent characters. Older siblings might enjoy creating their own fingerplays, too. If you need inspiration, check out Creative Prompt - Innovate on Something Else.

If you found this post useful, and know someone with babies or toddlers, I hope you'll share it with them. And if you can, find time this month to share a fingerplay you like with a baby or toddler who's close to your heart!

Children's Writing- Charlotte's Web Comic Maker

I love that the Scholastic website encourages young readers and writers. I told you a little about what it offers readers in Book Chook Favourites - Reading, and also described A Dog's Life and Myths Brainstorming Machine. Here's another offering from Scholastic - the Charlotte's Web Comic Maker. Creating a comic is a great way to get your kids involved in a little writing and creativity.

Making your own comic at the website is a simple matter of first choosing a layout. On the next screen, you are shown your layout and must add characters, objects, settings and bubbles to each frame. There are menu controls: flip, delete, make bigger/smaller, bring forward/back and rotate to help customise the pictures. The speech bubbles are easily edited for text. Kids can also see sample pages for inspiration. Once done, a child's creation can be printed out, or he can take a screen grab to save a digital copy.

If your kids have read Charotte's Web, or watched the movie, this comic maker might be just what they need to follow-up the experience. If you're a teacher, you'll also find a related lesson plan with helpful suggestions and downloads at Scholastic.

Find more ideas on children's writing at www.thebookchook.com by clicking on Writing in the right sidebar.

Children's Book Review, Yumi

Children's Book Review by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com

I love little wooden Japanese kokeshi dolls. I don't know much about them, but I often linger outside gift shop windows gazing at them. I'm not sure what it is - their simplicity? Shape? Style? So I snapped up a copy of Yumi when it came my way. Yumi is a children's picture book by Annelore Parot, published by Hardie Grant Egmont (2010).

Meet Yumi the youngest of the Kokeshi. She is adventurous and clever. She takes great pride in everything she does, and personifies the universe that artist Annelore Parot has created for her characters. She loves to dress up, go to school, go to parties and solve problems! Help Yumi to find the right Kimono to wear, and learn Jamanese phrases. Find Yumi's friends, and then choose an outfit for a dress-up party! Decide the best sushi for Yumi to eat and then fall into a Kokeshi filled dream!

The first thing I loved about Yumi was the cover. It's so elegant. Pale green, padded, and with the cut-out of a kokeshi doll stitched to the front. The illustrations throughout maintain that elegance and Japanese style. I found myself touching each page with reverent fingertips, tracing over patterns in belts and kimonos, enjoying patterns and colours.

It's important for kids to experience different cultures. Using a toy to snag their interest is a brilliant idea. Parot introduces some Japanese words, but the pictures show so many Japanese features - kimono patterns, signs, pictures of food, kites - ensuring that a dip into this children's picture book is a tiny introduction to Japan.

Yumi also works as a puzzle book. Children are invited to explore, to unfold, to find a match, to turn different-sized pages, to find a lost pet etc. There isn't much of a storyline - just enough to link the activities together. But the book has so much to look at, and marvel about, and delight in! Can I be sexist and say little girls will just love this book? If you're looking for something special to put away for your daughter for Christmas, or you're a librarian searching for resources to supplement your material on Japan, I recommend Yumi.

Read Susan Whelan's review of Yumi at KBR. Find more Children's Book Reviews on The Book Chook by clicking Reviews in the right sidebar.

Link Reading and Craft with Bookmarks

Making bookmarks with your kids or students is a useful way to help them focus on the importance of reading for them. It doesn't hurt if it stops pages being dog-eared either! Kids who are into art and craft will enjoy making bookmarks, and relish the chance to express their creative sides.

It's fairly easy to find cut and colour bookmarks on the internet. DLTK has lots with different themes you can print out. But I found some online tutorials for bookmarks that are way cuter, and provide more opportunities for learning and creating.

Peek-a-Boo Mouse Bookmark Instructions

Wacky Bookmarks

Popsicle (icy pole) Stick Bookmark (These would make cute puppets too.)

Stained Glass Bookmark is pretty.

The ArtistsHelpingChildren website has instructions for various bookmarks, from simple to more difficult.

Here are bookmarks teachers may like to help students remember reading strategies.

I quite like bookmarks with funny or inspiring messages about reading. Creating a caption for a bookmark is a great way to involve kids in a little writing, too. Once you've come up with a caption, draw a picture, or look for clip art to suit.

If all that sounds like more time than you have, check out National Geographic's Bookmark Factory. There you can design and print your own bookmarks, by mixing and matching borders, objects and words.

Maybe you'd like to make your own new bookmarks with your kids. You could use the Bookmark Factory captions (see below), or come up with new captions about books and reading of your own.

• Reading never gets old - draw or find a picture of someone/something old.

• Read your way to enlightenment - you could try for a simple lightbulb, perhaps using paint or collage for effect.

• Read your way to new worlds - perfect for a space-themed or fantasy picture.

• Discover reading - lends itself to pictures of test tubes and mad scientists, or maps and explorers.

• Reading is fun - try cute or special effects.

(Image credits, www.thebookchook.com, made at Picnik)