One night as I was trying to
wander off to sleep, I got an idea to have the kids create their own storybooks.
We do stories and songs
everynight before bed and the story time includes everyone making up their own
story to tell. I love the opportunity to hear their imaginations come to life
and I love being able to use stories from me and Eric's childhood and weave it
into their memory. So creating a storyline and putting it down in a book was
something I knew they would love.
I had some blank books that I
purchased years ago and finally had a reason to use them. The next day we
brainstormed ideas for their storybooks. Audra's is Abigail Goes to
Grandma's (a story about a girl who goes to Grandma's and has so much fun.
When her mom is supposed to pick her up, she can't because she got in a car
accident so her Grandma drives her home. They sing songs on the way home and
when they arrive back to her Mom's, all is well.)
Preston's is David gets
Lost (loosely based on his own experience - a story about a boy who goes to
Target with his family to pick up a few groceries for dinner and gets lost. He
goes to a worker who calls his mother over the loud speaker and him and his
family reunite. They get their groceries and come home, make dinner and have a
nice picnic dinner out front with the misionaries.)
I helped guide the story a bit
but I wanted everything to be authentic to them. Even down to the illustration.
I wrote the words of the story and they created the pictures. I had to help
Audra some but she colored each page. She is still learning to stay within the
lines but I didn't care if it was perfect because I wanted her to feel like the
way she did it was perfect. Preston wanted to draw each scene and color it
himself.
They really enjoyed creating
their own storybooks and feel proud that they made it themselves from beginning
to end.