When I saw an activity from my friend Stephanie Haass’s blog Two-daloo I knew it would be perfect for a kindergarten readiness play-of-the-day. There is just so much fun and learning in a personalized photo book. Can you imagine how exciting it is to read about your very own adventures? It inspired us to make one.
One of the basic concepts for learning to read is the simple notion that letters and other squiggles hold meaning. This seems obvious to us but it isn’t to kids. Until kids understand that print makes sense in the first place, they can’t make sense out of the print-squiggles. This activity is a powerful way for kids to connect what the words are saying to what the picture is saying.
Another basic concept is that the words say the same thing every time. It doesn’t matter how many times each picture is read, did you know it would always be the same? Of course, adults know that but it’s something that kids have to learn. Just reading over and over will help young children’s brains develop these ideas.
Once kids know that the words hold meaning and that they stay the same, some children will begin to recognize some of the same words. This is how children develop sight vocabulary. And they do it on their own when we give them lots and lots of experiences. Here is the book that we made (our book had all the words on the photos.) Can you and your child make a personal photo book for reading, learning, fun, and sharing too?
My children have always enjoyed reading books about themselves. Check out this blog post I wrote on using apps to create fun, silly and creative books for little ones. My two year old can not get enough of these books. You can read about here – https://growingplay.blogspot.com/2013/02/using-apps-to-make-books-for-little-ones.html