The mere mention of book reports makes children groan. Reinforcing concepts from books does not have to be boring. There are many types of projects that use creativity and go beyond book reports. Next time your children read a book for school, you might want to consider one of these alternatives to a basic book report.
Have them create a board game to go with their story.
Let kids get creative with this one. Have them make their own board game about the book they read. Trivia type games are easy to make, but they do take a lot of time. This type of game is an excellent choice because kids will have to go back to the story to look up facts. Kids could use facts from the story to create a Chutes and Ladders type game. For example, Bobby told a lie, go back three spaces or Harry rescued a dog from the pound, go forward four spaces. Once the children have created their games, let them explain the rules to each other and try playing together. This is a fun way to reinforce concepts from their book.
Host a book club luncheon for kids.
Carol Phaling, elementary school librarian, hosts a monthly book club luncheon for students. She gives the students a book to read about a month before the luncheon. She encourages every child to participate on the day of the luncheon, even if they haven’t finished the book. Everyone brings a sack lunch and a copy of their book to the library and they sit around a big table to eat and talk. Carol leads the discussion and keeps the focus on the book if the discussion goes too far off course. Kids love the idea of talking about the book without having to write a report. Carol says, “What they learn is that reading is a fun, recreational activity.” Children believe that reading is a solitary activity and they find out that it can be social too.
Interview the author or one of the main characters of the story.
Of course, it is probably impossible to interview the real author of a book, but that doesn’t mean kids can’t role play an interview. Let two children work together, one as the interviewer and one as the interviewee. The child being interviewed will either be a main character from the story or the author of the book. The other child will write interesting questions to ask the author or the character. If they interview the author, they could ask, “How did you get the inspiration to write this story?” or “Why did the main character have to die?” Asking the child to write interview questions will really get them thinking about the story.
Make a movie out of the book.
Most children love watching movies. Why not let them make a movie of their own? After a group of children finish reading a story, ask them to turn it into a movie. The children can decide who will play each part. They can break the story down into scenes and write a script to go with each scene. Next, have children each take a character and memorize their lines. One child should be the camera operator and one could act as director. After they film their movie, invite other families over for a movie night.
Draw maps to go with a travel story.
Some children are more visual than others. It may help children understand a story better if they can visualize it more. When children read an adventure story or a book with a great deal of travel involved, ask them to draw a map of the heros’ adventures. It doesn’t matter if the hero in the story traveled to real countries or if the story involved a fantasy land. Here are a few examples of stories that involve travel: Gregor the Overlander, Magic Tree House books, Summerland, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Of course there are many more books you could choose from.
Make a crossword puzzle to go with the story.
Have your child create a crossword puzzle with important facts, characters, and details from the story. Write questions that will act as clues for the words that go down and across. When children have finished creating their crossword puzzles, make several copies of each one. Let children try to solve each other’s puzzles and see how challenging they are.
Take a crafty to approach to interpreting the book.
Children might enjoy expressing themselves with an art project after finishing a book. There are several ways to do this. They could create a collage by cutting out magazine pictures of important characters or details from the story and gluing them on a poster board or a large piece of colored construction paper. Did the main character have a dog? Did he ride a bike? Children can cut out pictures of dogs and bicycles to include in their collage. How did they imagine the main character looking? Maybe they can find a magazine picture that looks like them.
Another alternative to a collage is a diorama. Have children take an old shoebox and create one scene or chapter from the story inside the box. They can use scraps of fabric, paint, string, markers, etc. to decorate the box.
Finally, they might want to make a scrapbook to remember their book. This is a great way for children to remember a very special book. If the book had twenty chapters, each page of a twenty page scrapbook could represent a chapter.
Children will enjoy reading a lot more if they know they don’t have to write a boring book report when they’re done. Make reading memories with one of these special projects that go beyond book reports.
GREAT BOOKS FOR KIDS
Ages 4 – 6
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Bathtime for Biscuit
By Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Harper Collins Publishers
32 pages
Biscuit, the puppy, doesn’t want to take a bath. He runs away with his friend, Puddles.
Ages 7 - 8
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June B., First Grader: Aloha – Ha – Ha!
By Barbara Park
Random House Children’s Books
128 pages
Junie B. and her family are going on a vacation in Hawaii. She takes a camera to keep a photo journal of the trip. Will her trip turn out picture perfect?
Dragon of the Red Dawn
(Magic Tree House series #37)
By Mary Pope Osborne
Random House Children’s Books
128 pages
Merlin, the magician, will not sleep, eat, or speak to anyone. Jack and Annie set off on another adventure. They travel to ancient Japan in the 1600s to discover one of the four secrets of happiness.
Ages 9 – 12
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The Secret History of Tom Trueheart
By Ian Beck
Greenwillow Books
341 pages
Young Tom Trueheart lived near the Land of Stories. His family was full of adventurers. He had heard stories from all six of his brothers about their travels. Tom carried a secret in his heart. He was not brave.
The Mysterious Benedict Society
By Trenton Lee Stewart
Little, Brown, and Company
496 pages
Reynie, Kate, Sticky and Constance attend the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened. This story challenges readers to match the gifted main characters by solving riddles and finding clues.
Book Reports childrens books Renee KirchnerBook Reports childrens books Renee Kirchner
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