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Family Tales

Help your child create an illustrated accordion book of a favorite memory.

Materials

  • Paper
  • Pencil or pen
  • Drawing materials
  • Tape

Directions
Have your child tell a story from his or her life. It could be a favorite memory of an experience shared with grandparents or other family members or friends; or a story the child has heard often about the day he or she was born or something he or she did as a baby or toddler; or it might be a recollection about a time the child was sick or hurt and someone helped him or her feel better. As preparation, you may want to try the family story sharing suggestions in the Talk About It section.

Write down your child's words on a series of pages, one part of the story on each page. Tape the pages of the story together in a long row. Help your child come up with a title for the story. Write the title on a page and tape that page to the beginning of the row. Encourage your child to illustrate each page and write labels or caption on the pictures. Fold the pages at each tape seam, back and forth accordion-style, so the long strip of paper becomes a zigzag. The accordion pages can be folded flat to be read as an accordion book, or stretched out part way to stand on a table, or attached flat to a wall as a strip story display.

Talk About It
As a family, share and compare stories of family memories. For example, you might tell stories about

  • something special you like (or liked) to do with another family member (parent, grandparent, child)
  • a school or daycare or babysitter memory
  • a time you or another family member were sick, hurt, lost, or upset and how someone helped make things better
  • something amazing or funny that you witnessed or discovered
  • a favorite private place or an especially wonderful day
  • the story of how you were given your name or nickname, or how the names of other people and pets in your family were chosen.

Related Books
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
Pablo's Tree by Pat Mora
Three Cheers for Catherine the Great! by Cari Best


Next: Fantastic Hats
Back to Activities Index

Age Range: 4-6

Skills/Subjects:

  • Creative Expression (Storytelling, Art)
  • Language and Literacy Development

Related Episodes: