I made “About Me” or “Bedtime Lessons” books with my two little girls tonight. I did the same activity when my first two children were younger. Each loved their book and learned quite a bit from it. Since it worked so well as learning address and phone number was effortless I decided to do the same for my younger two. They each had a wonderful time creating a book all about them. Once the book is completed we keep them by their beds and go over them nightly. They love reading their own books and this helps them memorize their address, phone number, birthday, or reinforce lessons on counting, colors, shapes or whatever you are working on. You may want to include a bible verse or manners lesson to reinforce good behavior. You can create the book any way you want and use a variety of materials. The main focus is to create something together that will reinforce lessons, teach manners, or help them remember relatives that live at a distance. Tailor make it to your own child and be sure to leave plenty of blank pages to keep adding to it! In the end you will have a precious reminder of preschool years and a child who can rattle off important information like address and phone number.
I used Creativity for Kids, Create Books to make my girls’ books. It comes with everything you need to create two books. The two books are different in size and format. I had one for each of them so both books matched. When I made the books years ago I only used a small notebook. Either way it will have the intended result so no need to spend more money than necessary.
Supplies:
Binder, notebook, or hard covered blank book (can be purchased at educational stores)
Markers, crayons, pens
Stickers
Pictures of your child, your home, your family or anything relevant to what you will be putting in the book.
Glue or some type of adhesive for the pictures or anything else you may want to add
Directions:
Fill the pages with information you want your child to learn or something you want to reinforce. For instance on the page for address you may want to glue a picture of your home or have your child draw a picture of your home. Then add the address with a marker. Decorate as you see fit. Continue on as if making a scrapbook creating pages relevant to your child.
Things to include in the book:
Self portrait with a description such as “I have brown eyes.”
Favorites page
Address
Phone number
Birthday
Name (to learn to spell)
Seasons
Days of the week
Months of the year
Chores
Routines
Lessons you want reinforced like phonics, alphabet or numbers.
Manners
Prayers