Last night, when I read a Lego book to my son, he asked me to change the character’s names to Daddy and other people Daddy works with. He thought it would sound more interesting with the names of people he actually knew. He was engaged and laughing the whole time. I just know I’m going to have to read it like this forever. I hope the babysitter can figure it out! It started me thinking, how can I make books more fun for my kids? Here’s what you can do.
One idea is to put on a play of the book. I remember doing this with the kids in my neighborhood, but you can do it with puppets, paper bags, or the stuffed animals in the toy bin. Have your child choose a character from his favorite book, and act out the story with the puppets. There are many commercially available stuffed animals from stories: Pete the Cat, Olivia, and even Fly Guy! Make the ending change, or mash two stories together, like the Big Bad Wolf from The Three Little Pigs hangs out with the three bears from Goldilocks and the Three Bears. What would their conversation be like? What would the bears offer the Big Bad Wolf to eat? Could they convince him that porridge is much better than bacon? Another idea is to find different versions of the same story and read them to your child and discuss them. Compare and contrasting stories is a way to practice your child’s higher level thinking skills. My favorite is The Three Little Pigs (the classic version) and The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig (Trivizas and Oxenbury). It’s just a different version of the same story you know and love. You’ll be interested in how much you can discuss the differences between the stories. There are tons of other examples. Just Google Cinderella books and you will find lots of different versions. For those children who like to write, they can write their own version of their favorite story. It can be in a regular book, or do something creative with technology! I also like to read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (Scieszka and Lane) and talk about point of view. It is told from the wolf’s point of view, and he was really only looking for sugar and had a cold. He didn’t want to huff and puff and blow the house down; he just sneezed an innocent sneeze. He was framed! That story can lead to a nice conversation about what framed means, and why someone would put a saw in a cake and bring it to a jail! Another idea came to me while my daughter had a fever and was doing nothing but watching movies. She chose an American Girl movie to watch, and we had just finished reading the book. As we watched it, we noticed things that were different from the book, and how it changed the story slightly. Not enough that she didn’t enjoy it, but enough where I noticed it and discussed it with her. This is really easy to do because movies are hardly ever exactly like the book. Your child can create her own movie version of the book, and film it using props or create it on an iPad! I’m sure there are tons of other ideas to change books and make them your own. Feel free to add your ideas in the comments section, so we can all share and learn with each other!
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AuthorMy name is Laura Coffin, and I am the reading specialist at Lake Placid Elementary School. I have a BA from William Smith College and a M.Ed. in Reading from Lesley University. I also hold a Wilson Language Level I certification. I teach reading, writing and spelling strategies to help all students! Follow me on twitter @lgaetacoffin Archives
December 2017
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