Begin to Learn about StorymakingÂ
In LITERACY@HOME, we share highlights from our family’s story-making mission as we engage hands-on with our children, starting with Reading and Storytelling. After building a solid foundation, we focus on the integration of Language and Visual Arts.
Free downloadable materials for Creative Writing:
Beginners can handle fun activities by themselves, such as filling in blanks for an existing story framework.
We are grateful to sites like education.com that provide hands-on writing worksheets.
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Words & Pics
While working on creative projects with my seven grandkids, I start with fun indoor and outdoor activities. We also do freehand drawing in sketchbooks and on a tablet/iPad, which is essential for our brainstorming sessions.
My grandson Brady taught me how to use the Art for Kids Hub on YouTube as we combined Words & Pics to learn the basics of storymaking for Star Life Keepers.
We are thankful that artist collaborators at Prayan Animation Studio in India are committed to providing stellar interpretations of our family’s stories.
The Value of Creativity
Albert Einstein, recipient of the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, captured the essence of why fantasy books and creative writing are invaluable for children: “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”
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High-quality children’s books and innovative Write with Your Kids educational materials—developed with inclusiveness, integrity, and openness—can help children to improve their reading, creativity, and writing.
It's All About the Kids
Children today often need transformation in addition to information. Parents and grandparents can help educators to create more opportunities for kids to develop to their full potential—and become a “literacy beacon of HOPE” to offset FADS undermining their promising futures.
Healthiness, Optimism, Positivity, & Excellence (HOPE) vs Fear, Anxiety, Doubt, & Sadness (FADS)
As Steve Jobs said, everyone needs to “find their through line.”
Our Family
Brady learning about 19th century dip pen
I passed on my literacy commitment to my kids and they, in turn, to their children. As I engage with my seven grandkids, I focus on collaboration, compassion, and respect for their uniqueness…and fanning the flames of their ultra-imaginative ideas.
We make sure that “fantasy adventures with a heart” reflect the core values of our multigenerational and multicultural family.
Our homes routinely have kid-related activities scattered around…artwork, puzzles, workbooks, etc.
Below is a table I set up in my office to teach grandkids about the history of writing instruments. I gave each kid a blank notebook to experiment with writing: from quill and ink…to a 19th century steel-tip dip pen…to fountain pens and ordinary crayons, colored pencils, gel pens, etc.
Literacy&Home
Literacy@Home, which includes activity centers, has been a major part of our family life. When our own kids were little, I bought arts-and-crafts materials and how-to books. We made up stories with Star Wars, GI Joe, and Barbie action figures, play sets, and ordinary boxes. Of course, sites like Pinterest and YouTube make it much easier to be creative with kids today!
You can create makeshift activity centers at home if you don’t have an available room. Interestingly, our kids have converted their dining rooms into arts-and-crafts areas.
As a grandparent, I've set up library of fantasy books for my seven grandkids as well as a dedicated room for kid activities. I used paint to create an e wall-sized blackboard plus set up plastic drawers full of pens, crayons, paper, etc. and containers of action figures.
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I also created ........As my grandchildren get older, they take the initiative to make up stories on their own. As you can see, one of them left me a surprise note!
ROLE MODELS
I expanded my “imagineering with grandkids” concepts when I learned about Jim Henson’s family while developing my second American history book. Jim’s mother, whom I was blessed to meet when she was in her 90s, shared stories about how her mother taught Jim Henson drawing, painting, and visual arts…which he then used to create the first Muppets!
Books Books Books
My wife and I had almost no books growing up and there weren't any public libraries in our community. After getting married, we created small bedroom libraries for our kids. Almost fifty years later, we continue to make books a priority for our seven grandchildren.
The mobile library in this pic looks like the Bookmobile that dramatically transformed my access to classic books in sixth grade. My younger sister and I both feel that books helped to save us from our dysfunctional home situation.
Here are some other pics of mobile libraries from around the world:
By Kritzolina - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89030172
By Acción Visual/Diana Arias - Contact us/Photo submission, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5099922
By Smallbones - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61068888
Our kids have continued the tradition of focusing on childhood literacy. Besides routinely getting books from public libraries, our grandkids also have their own books. (And our grandson with special needs has become a reader!)
An inexpensive way to create a home library is to buy used, good-condition books at school book fairs, library sales, and yard sales.
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Since I embarked on this writing-with-grandkids journey, I have been replacing my research books on American history with “fantasy kidlit.”
