When I was little I loved mad libs because creative writing was a favorite past time of mine and madlibs allowed me to play around with silly writing topics and ideas that were fun to read to others. They were great for learning parts of speech as well.
But today, I want to encourage you to get your little one to “write” stories, letters, or poems by filling in the blanks of incomplete sentences in their own way.
My sister shared the following poem that my brother completed years ago before mad libs even existed. It is different from a mad lib because you don’t choose the words beforehand; you fill in the blanks of incomplete thoughts which is more age appropriate for little ones.
Here are a couple Fun with writing templates for you; made by me:
I love making my niece’s Christmas gifts because it gives me the chance to make them something they can use for their learning adventures. This year I decided to make personalized clipboards because little ones feel so grown up using a clipboard and it encourages writing practice. My niece’s get so excited about the handmade gifts which makes it so worth my time!
It was as easy as this….I bought a wooden clipboard from walmart:
Bought an alphabet stencil at Hobby Lobby and painted my little niece’s name on the front:
And I painted the entire stencil of abc’s and 123’s on the back:
Finally, I put a little paint on one of my baby’s wet wipes and brushed it over the surface to give it the distressed look I wanted it to have:
Growing up, when my cousins and I would get together we would always come up with new and inventive ideas for dramatic play. At times we ran a shoe store with all of my grandmother’s shoes that we would place a tag of our own, made-up price (which was a great math activity). Other times we would run a snack shop or bakery.
My personal favorite scenario was our News Stand. We made newspapers based on the information that we gathered from our own experiences or imaginations and modeled them after the structure of an actual newspaper article.
There are so many learning opportunities wrapped up in this scene. I recommend sparking the idea with your little one “Oooh, let’s make our own newspaper today that Daddy can read tomorrow morning before he goes to work!”
I realize that times have changed and newspapers are not the main source of information, but I still think that this should be something that you and your child can do together that will build researching skills, teach your little one how to collect information and re-create it inventively, develop creative writing skills, and much more. How exciting to see what your little one might come up with or what he/she is interested in writing about. How many different articles might you have (a comic strip, a weather report, a community article, etc.)? You and your little one could team up – you could be the journalist (writing down everything your little one dictates) while your little one is the illustrator. There are so many open-ended possibilities!
I couldn’t be more excited to share one of my latest discoveries and favorite products out there for kiddos. My fingers were itching to start writing about all the things I love about my new “Quiet Book” from Pacific Kid.
Look inside and then just nod in agreement as I rave about all the things I love about it:
I love how practical it is as an on-the-go, time filler for independent reading… like road trips, waiting rooms, sporting events, etc.
I love that it is an interactive book with so many skills to practice and talk about.
I love that it incorporates numbers, telling time, colors, and matching shapes through hands-on learning.
I love that it is one of the greatest books for fine motor development (get those little hands ready for everyday skills like buttoning pants and writing).
I love that it incorporates sensory development like touch and feel because it provides a great framework for building vocabulary.
I love that it is so well made. The quality is just beautiful!
I love that you can zip the book closed and cart it around with a carry-along handle because it is so travel-friendly!
I love that I couldn’t give one away without owning one first 🙂
I’ve already spread the word to friends, teachers, and pediatric therapists because I really believe that every little one would benefit from and ENJOY owning this incredibly interactive book.
So, here are some ways that you can enter to win this fabulous book:
Enter by Midnight on Friday, November 4th so that I can announce the winner on Saturday 🙂
Pacific Kid has a lot of fabulous products like calendars, story boards, play walls, and puzzle blocks that are 3-dimensional stuffed pieces of art sewn by hand, and for a limited time you can use a promotional code just for being a mommy teacher. From November 1st to December 15th you will receive 10% off your orders placed through Pacifickid.net by entering the promo code “Mommy10”!
Take advantage of this deal in perfect timing for holiday shopping!
One of my favorite art projects to do with kids, to develop the little muscles in their hands, is to have them tear apart little pieces of colorful construction paper and glue them onto a template to make a beautiful work of art that I usually help little ones write a sentence about. One example is a fall picture that all you need in order to make it is crayons and construction paper:
You can have little ones tear apart little pieces of their favorite color construction paper (or seasonal colors) until the shreds fill a paper plate.
Then, have your little one help you come up with a template; mine was simply made up of a tree trunk and a circle for the pumpkin.
On top of this template apply a thin layer of glue…..I use rubber cement (or spread regular glue with a small paintbrush).
Before the glue dries, let your little one assemble the paper pieces onto their picture.
Finally, ask your little one to help you write a sentence about your picture. For example, “I like the Fall” or “The leaves are falling.”
If you and your little one make your own Tear-Art please share on The Mommy Teacher Facebook Page:
