A homemade, portable writing suitcase can help make it fun for your child to express herself through spontaneous writing and drawing.
What You Need
- large cereal box
- construction paper
- glue
- scissors
- markers and crayons
- variety of decorating items (glitter, stickers, and so on)
- sturdy string or yarn
- paper and pencils
What You Do
- To create a writing suitcase, help your child cover a cereal box with construction paper. Encourage her to use crayons and other art supplies to decorate it.
- Cut a small hole near the top of two narrow sides of the box. Then insert the ends of a long piece of string or yarn into the holes and tie them into knots to create a shoulder strap.
- Set the "suitcase" aside and discuss the types of things your child would like to write about or draw. Then encourage her to use the writing materials to form letters and spell in her own way.
- Listen to your child talk about her work. Then help her place the paper, pencils, crayons, and markers into her suitcase. She will be able to use the materials to record stories wherever she goes!
More Ways to Learn
My Journal. Help your child staple sheets of unlined or lined paper together to make a journal so she can write about and draw pictures of important events and daily happenings. To encourage spontaneous entries, suggest that your child add the journal to her suitcase. Enjoy noticing how her mark-making and invented spelling progress over time.
Send a Letter. To whom would your child most like to write a letter? Ask her to think about what she would want to tell that person, and encourage her to write and draw her thoughts. (Or she can dictate them to you.) Help her make a list of other people she would like to send letters to, and offer her envelopes for her writing suitcase. She might be inspired to start a pen-pal relationship with a friend!
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