Materials:

• oaktag
• tempera paint and brushes
• marker or crayons
• white paper and pen
• hole punch
• small binder rings or yarn

Objective: This collaborative project will help children develop fine-motor, creative-thinking, and language skills as they share photos and stories about their families.

In Advance: Send a note home to families asking them to send in copies of family photos (labeled).

ACTIVITY

Talk to children about their families. What things do they like to do with their families? What relatives do they enjoy spending time with?

1. Talk to children about their families. What things do they like to do with their families? What relatives do they enjoy spending time with?

2. Invite children to share their photos. Help them talk about the people in the photos and what they are doing.

3. Provide paper and art materials and invite children to create pages for a class book that will include drawings and photos. Invite children to make drawings of themselves and/or other family members. Ask them to use tempera paint on one side of the paper and to create their drawing using crayons or markers on the other side. Groups can be divided so that some children are painting while others are using drawing materials. Oaktag paper can be hung from easels for children who prefer to work standing.

4. After their drawings have been completed, help children paste their photos onto the pages. Then invite them to create a dictation for their pictures. Encourage children by asking them questions about their work. Record their comments on a small, separate sheet of white paper that you can later glue onto the oaktag.

Remember: Some children may not be able to label or describe their work, but they can identify colors, shapes, or the materials they used to make their pictures.

5. Invite children to create a cover and think up a title for the book. Use a hole punch to make three holes along the left side of each page. Bind the pages together with small binder rings or yam.

Curriculum Connection: EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

A Family Book. Staple together several sheets of drawing paper to create a blank book. Send home the blank book along with a note asking families to create pages to make a family book. Suggest that each person in the family make a page by creating a drawing, cutting out pictures from a magazine, or including a photograph. Request that they include a description, short story, or poem to accompany their illustration. Read each child's family book during circle time. Display books for all to see and enjoy.