by Christina Strong


Why buy a storybook for your niece or nephew when you can create one? Story time can be a treasured moment between you and your nieces and nephews, but helping them to develop their own storybook and then reading it together can be even more rewarding.  Creating a storybook with your nieces and nephews is simple; all you need are blank sheets of unlined paper, crayons, and an imagination.

Sit down with your nieces and nephews and ask them to create a story of their own: it can be anything they want, from fantasy to mystery. The idea is just to get them to create a story they would like to read. Once they have come up with a story, tell them to tell you the story and you will write it down. Write down everything they tell you on blank unlined sheets of paper. Once the words are written down, have them draw the pictures using their crayons to accompany each page in the book and to create the cover with their name on it. Make sure you encourage them to be creative; this is their book after all.

Once they have created their pictures, use a report cover to hold and protect the pages and also to allow you and your nieces and nephews to view the pictures and written portions at the same time. Create more than one storybook until they have a library of their own books. Not only will they enjoy reading, they will enjoy their new-found title: author.

Happy Reading!


Published: November 22, 2011