Read & Illustrate

I love books. I love reading to my children. And I love the imagination kids have. I love when I read to my children a book without pictures and they tell me what they are picturing in their minds. Here are a few ideas to get those little imaginations working!

Make up a story using your kids as the main characters. It is easier for them to picture what is going on if they know what the main character already looks like. I used to make up stories of my 3 finding a mysterious cave, teleporting to a different land through their magic teepee, helping fairies find a special magic flower, and so on. My kids would tell me all about what they imagined themselves doing. They picked those stories over a picture book every night.

Listen to instrumental music and ask them to come up with the story the music goes to (like it is the soundtrack to a movie). We started doing this with the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies at Christmas. When the song would come on, we would pretend we were the fairies running around the house and having to hide from any people. We would tip toe around until the music got faster and louder and then we would run like crazy trying to find a hiding place! So. Much. Fun. We literally drop everything we are doing when this song comes on.

Read a book and have your kids draw the picture for a particular page of the book. Maybe it is a page without a picture or maybe it has one, who cares. Kids imaginations have different areas they are stronger in than others. My oldest will come up with ideas looking at a blank sheet of paper. My middle child gets overwhelmed and feels defeated with a blank sheet. My oldest will draw what is on his mind regardless of the picture in the book. My middle son needs that picture for inspiration. Now, if you ask my 2 sons to build something from Legos or K’nex, my middle son is quite the inventor.

These activities are great for working the imagination and helps your children learn about how words, pictures and music can all tell a story. And most of all… HAVE FUN!