Here’s A New Activity To Do With Your Child :: Write A Book Together
The other day as I perused the craft aisle of the dollar store, I scooped up a pack of blank books. My son loves to draw and write on paper, and he loves it even more when the paper is bound together (oh, the things they cherish).
Over the weekend he was telling me a story about something, a ninja or a dragon. It didn’t make much sense, but I listened, or at least pretended to. Then I remembered the pack of blank books. I asked him if he wanted to write a book about whatever it was he was going on and on about and he excitedly replied, “Yes!”
I told him to tell me the story he was telling me from the beginning. But, as any parent of a four-year-old can attest, guiding a young mind to craft a coherent story is no easier than herding cats. So we thought of a few topics he would want to write a story about. The usual suspects emerged: dinosaurs, ninjas, superheroes, something about a circus on the beach. We narrowed down our list and decided on Superheroes. Superhero School to be exact.
It started off fine – a kid with his namesake wakes up one morning and goes to superhero school. But once he started talking about eating ice cream on the back of a lion, I figured I had to reign in the narrative and I guided him through the plot of the story. Well to be perfectly honest, I pulled out the secret weapon, ChatGPT, and our AI muse guided us in telling the perfect story. With a few tweaks of course, to make it our own.
As I penned the words onto the blank pages, my son took a more curious interest.
So anytime we came upon a sight word in our story, I handed over the pencil and had him scribe the word. Once the story was complete, I gave the book to my son and he took on the role of illustrator. He drew pictures of kids in capes lifting really heavy pillows (his idea, not mine or ChatGPTs), running at super speed in the cafeteria line, and helping save a friend who had fallen off the swing set.
“Cam Goes to Superhero School” became our nightly book that week, and my son was super proud to show it to anyone who would read it. We have a list of other book topics just waiting to be written and ever since, my boy has been practicing his storytelling skills.
