Create a Personalized Picture Book

Practice language skills with your child by creating a personalized picture book with familiar things. This idea comes from my friend, Rachel. She is a Speech-Language Pathologist and as such knows tons of reading and literacy strategies.  She suggested creating a homemade photo book of Aiden’s toys.  You can make your own picture book, too!

 

How to Create a Picture Book

1. I bought a little 4×6 photo album that holds 36 pictures for $1.
2. I took pictures of some of Aiden’s favorite toys.
3. I uploaded the pictures to Shutterfly, cropped them to 4×6, and added a border.
4. I added some pictures of Aiden and family members.
5. I sent the pictures to be printed at Walgreens. (The cost was 19 cents each.)
6. I picked up my photos, slid them into the photo album, and voila – a cute little book for Aiden to have.

Here are just a few of the pages in the book.

[flagallery gid=7 name=”Gallery”]

Total cost should have been $5.  When I went to Walgreens to pick up my photos, they couldn’t find them.  The computer said they were finished, but the guy who processed the order had left.  I was there for 20 minutes, but they reprinted the photos as no cost.  So the total I spent on the photo book was $1 for the album.

You could also print the pictures yourself.  (Patrick tells me it’s cheaper to print them at the store than to use up ink.)  Instead of the photo album, you could attach the pictures to construction paper or cardstock and cover them with contact paper (if you didn’t print on photo paper).

Aiden loves this book!  He “reads” it to us by saying the name of each picture.  I can see how this is an effective reading/literacy strategy.  He is practicing language skills by using items he knows and loves.  After Aiden says the name, I repeat the object’s name (saying it correctly).  For example, when Aiden was 2, he calleds a “frog” a “froff.”  I would say, “frog.”

Tips for Making the Picture Book

• Take colored pictures of a few of your child’s toys or familiar objects around the house (e.g. balls, rattles, bottle, keys…).
• Show only one or two objects in each photo and put each object against a plain background (white, light yellow).
• Put one picture on each page.

More Reading Ideas

• Rachel shares advice for reading with young children.
• Build literacy skills through storytelling. Here are 50+ storytelling ideas.
• For more reading ideas, check out my reading category.
• My Inspired by a Book Pinterest board has lots of activities to go along with books.

What pictures will you put in your child’s photo book?

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