Things to Make - Bare Books

Kid art - what to do? On one hand, some of it is so precious. On the other hand, we always seem to have so MUCH of it. The internet is full of lots of great ideas for preserving kid art (click here for some ideas), but I personally always seem to fall flat - the recycling bin's near proximity to the art table makes it rather easy to . . . (well, you know how the story ends). Thus, I loved Sleepytime Gal's Bare Books idea. Books full of kid art are so much more manageable than looseleaf everywhere. I ordered a bunch of blank books from here (they're less than $2 each and wonderfully made) and let the kids do their own thing. Here's what they made:


For her first book, F created a simple story about one of her friends. One one page she wrote statments such as "once upon a time" and on the corresponding page she drew pictures. All together it tells the story of a girl who finds a rainbow and meets a new friend. For her second book, F drew and described things she loves, these included: her sister (a lot of stuff for her sister), her brother, hearts, and flowers. When I suggested she press her favorite flower into the pages she chose a dandelion (if you're wondering, dandelions DO NOT press well).



For P's first book, she made a book for her best friend, L ,and drew several pics of them together. She also drew pics of their other friends. She narrated the story for me to write, which was all about dancing in rain and loving each other.

And T, well, he ended up drawing on the table. But 2 out of 3 isn't bad. And now we have a special shelf for the books the children make. So much easier than looseleaf.