Write your own story book

Pin It We all know kids love stories – why not get them involved in writing their own? Even if they’re not at the writing stage, there is a way to help teach them that too with this free font download they can trace. Would make a very appreciated gift to a grandparent on their birthday!

What you need:

• Computer
• Printer
• A4 paper
• Stapler
• Crayons

Number of players:

Activity:

Step 1: Download the free font “Print Clearly”. You want to work with the “Print Clearly Dashed” version.

Step 2: Have your child tell you a story and type it into the computer. They just might rework their own favourite story, but their version will no doubt be amusing – it’s always funny to see what parts they include and exclude!

Step 3: Format your story in a word processing program – have the page layout in landscape and make the font large, with just one or two sentences on each page. The better they are with writing letters, the smaller you can make the font size.

Step 4: Print out place in a pile with the first page on the bottom and the last on the top (facing you). You’ll know they’re in order if you hold the left-hand side and are able to “flick” through them, like you would a real book – text on the left; a blank page on the right. You’ll need to insert an extra blank sheet between the cover sheet and the first page. You can glue them together or just leave blank for your child to draw on.

Step 5: Staple neatly along the left-hand side to turn your pile of printouts into a book.

Step 6: Have your child trace the letters so they book is “really” written by them.

Step 7: Now get them to choose something from each page to draw next to it so their words and images tell a story. And be sure to make it your bedtime story that night – they’ll get a huge kick out of you reading “their” book.

This craft was created by Belinda Graham, who blogs at The Happy Home Blog.