Bookmaking in Schools: Activities & Resources
Writing Prompts
Activities & Resources
These activities and resources can be used together or alone, in just about any order. They are easily adapted to meet the needs of your situation. You can use them collaboratively with other teachers, in a class; you can use them on your own in a makerspace or club. Once you've tried a few activities find which ones work for you, or even make your own!
Everyone Has a Story to Tell
Everyone Has a Story to Tell by ISBN: 9781987455656Publication Date: 2018-09-27This book has lots of prompts and activities for designing single creative writing workshops or a whole series of them
- Creating Complex CharactersThese two activities allow students to create a character profile either using autobiographical information, or a picture prompt.
- Mythical BeastsThese activities help students exercise their imaginations by developing their own non-human characters and thinking about what they might think and do and say.
- Fiction ElementsThis activity helps students to articulate the different pieces of their stories and how they will work together to make a story arc that makes sense.
- OutlineThis activity has students condense their story into just 10 sentences. While 10 is not a magic number, it helps students to understand that even if their story is much longer, their plot and the ideas should be very easily communicated.
Elliott, Zetta. Everyone Has a Story to Tell. Rosetta Press, 2018.
Original Resources
- Picture Book BingoThis activity can be used and adapted with any books in your collection. It will get students looking at literary elements as well as elements of art and design; and they can transfer ideas to their own books.
- Picture Book RubricThis rubric is what we use to assess students' final products, and determine the winner for different categories in our school celebration. The top performers go to committee to decide which book will be entered into the city-wide competition.
- Peer Feedback FormStudents use this form to give each other feedback at different points in their process. The form can be adapted for different steps along the way.
- Storyboarding WorksheetsThese worksheets can be used to support students in storyboarding or story-mapping. They can choose to use a single-page or double-page spread, and there is a blank story arc available as well.
- Thumbnail gridThis grid is a template for a 32 page spread that includes milestones in the plot development of a picture book.
Writing Boxes
- Writing Boxes, Lisa Von Drasek
This open-access book is full of ideas for ways to incorporate creative writing and art into a library program or maker space. There are also lots of different prompts and activities.
Von Drasek, Lisa. (2019). Writing Boxes: The Reading/Writing Connection in Libraries. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, http://hdl.handle.net/11299/204534.
- Chapter 6 - MapsVon Drasek outlines different activities you can do with maps. This can help students develop setting and plot. It includes great printables at the end of the chapter!
- Chapter 10 - LettersThis chapter has different activities for students to write letters to different people. A great reflection activity for students to think about the message or moral of their stories.
- Chapter 11 - PoetryLots of poetry activities including "poem in your pocket" and blackout poetry. The "Where I'm From" poetry at the end of the chapter is an excellent prompt for bookmaking.
- Chapter 13 - Informational Writing & ResearchWonderful activities and examples of how you can support students in writing research-based, non-fiction books. A great opportunity to collaborate with content teachers!
- Chapter 14 - MemoirThe memoir activities in this chapter will help students to reflect on their own lives and inspire real or fictional stories about actual events and turning points in their lives.
Booklyn Education Manual
- Booklyn Education Manual
This education manual is produced by the nonprofit organization, Booklyn, and provides activities and tutorials on bookmaking.
The Art of Bookmaking Collection on Sora
- The Art of Bookmaking
Titles in this collection have been curated to support all aspects of bookmaking with students, as well as professional titles for teachers about facilitating bookmaking activities, and their connections to literacy.
Bookmaking on Sora
Making Books with Kids
Spread the joy and craft of books in your family with Making Books with Kids. This inspiring collection features more than 25 creative, kid-friendly projects in design, illustration, paper decorating, binding techniques, and more. Book artist and author Esther K. Smith offers an exciting resource of easy-to-follow instructions supported throughout with step-by-step, full-color photographs and illustrations. Each sequence is accompanied by finished samples and variations as well as the inspiring work of a prominent book artist. Whether you use these projects independently or as a curriculum for hands-on, family-friendly, bookmaking experiences, you'll find that the lessons in this book are open-ended so they can be explored over and over--with different results each time! Colorful photos illustrate how different people using the same lesson will yield different results, exemplifying the way the lesson brings out each artist's personal style. Making Books with Kids is the perfect book for creative families, friends, and community groups and works as lesson plans for both experienced and new art teachers. Children of all ages and experience levels can be guided by adults and will enjoy these engaging exercises. Encourage the artistic spirit in the children in your life with Making Books with Kids.
Little Book of Book Making
Making books by hand has never been cooler, with this inspiring guide to 30 top bookmakers working today, plus 21 tutorials for essential techniques to make your own books. Crafters, artists, writers, and book lovers can't resist a beautifully handbound book. Packed with wonderfully eclectic examples, this book explores the intriguing creative possibilities of bookmaking as a modern art form, including a wide range of bindings, materials, and embellishments. Featured techniques include everything from Coptic to concertina binding, as well as experimental page treatments such as sumi-e ink marbling and wheat paste. In addition to page after page of inspiration from leading contemporary binderies, Little Book of Bookmaking includes a practical section of 21 easy-to-follow illustrated tutorials.
How to Make a Book (about My Dog)
How do you make a picture book? Well, you need an author, an illustrator, and . . . a dog?! Acclaimed author Chris Barton and his trusty pooch Ernie show readers how to make a nonfiction picture book . . . about Ernie! From coming up with ideas, researching, and writing a first draft to finding the perfect illustrator, deciding what goes on the cover, and getting every last wrod--er, word--just right, you'll see how a book is made from beginning to end. From acquisitions and editing to graphic design and dog treats, find out what's required to bring a book to life. This title perfectly blends how-to and humor for an informative look at book publishing. And look, this is part of the marketing step!