Draw Kids Into Reading
Today I have an easy, fun activity you can do with your young reader to improve reading comprehension, story writing and handwriting. It’s a very simple reading, writing and drawing activity that’s easy to adapt for any reading level. To do this you’ll need my story paper, a book or story your child can read on their own and a pencil.
The complexity of the book or story depends on their reading level. You want it to be something they understand and are comfortable with; especially for the first few times you do this.
Step One: READ
Start by reading the story, or part of the story. For kids 3-6 years old, you can read to them, and the activity will center around your child retelling what they heard. For kids 6-9 years old, they do the reading on their own.
Step Two: DRAW
After reading or listening to the story, have your child draw on the top half of the story paper. They will draw a picture of something that happened in the story. Don’t worry about the ‘quality’ of the drawing, or assume that if you’re not comfortable drawing, they won’t be either. Young kids, especially right-brain thinkers, will jump at the chance to draw what they’re thinking instead of writing it out.
Step Three: WRITE
Once they’ve thought about the story and done their drawing, they’re going to write a few sentences to explain it. First have them tell you about their drawing. This is huge for connecting and making sense out of what they read. This is what reading comprehension is all about! After talking about their drawing together, have them write a few sentences about their drawing on the bottom half of the story paper. Younger kids may need some suggestions to get started but the picture they drew will be a huge help.
This is a great activity to do with readers of all ages, just adapt it to match different reading levels. Enjoy talking about the story and the characters. Enjoy the story in pictures and overall keep it light. Make it fun. Remember this is not another chance to be graded or judged on spelling, handwriting and drawing – to be effective it needs to be spontaneous and organic.
