Use the Force! Building imagination through book-inspired imaginary play

When Star Wars first appeared in movie theaters in 1977, I was nine years old. My younger brother and I were completely hooked on this space fantasy, as were our two cousins. The four of us couldn’t wait to find out what else was in store for Princess Leia, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

So we didn’t wait. We took George Lucas’ characters, made them our own and played Star Wars on many long, hot summer days.

Star Wars was a revelation for our imaginative play. It presented us with new characters, new situations and an incredible story with an amazing setting. We created our own characters; we thought there should be more girls. We all wanted to be part of the rebel forces, so we made the evil Empire an invisible terror we alternately ran from and attacked. I’m sure neighbors wondered why we were all in the yard wildly wielding sticks as we battled our unseen enemies in lightsaber duels. Other than the sticks, we didn’t have props or any costumes. It was just our four imaginative minds, working together.

Our biggest problem playing Star Wars was who got to be Princess Leia. Thanks to my brown hair, I won out most of the time. But my cousin did not ever want to be Chewbacca. So we added another princess to our band of rebels and Chewbacca went the way of Harvey. 

For some kids, imaginative play comes easily. Others need input and encouragement.

Often kids choose to "play" a favorite movie or TV show because that’s their experience. They know the story, the characters and what the characters usually do. But for some kids, all they do is repeat what they’ve seen. If you have few experiences to draw from or no one to show where imagination could enter in, it is hard to figure out how to play at a more sophisticated level. And children need to reach a sophisticated level of pretend play to help build skills such as creative thinking, visualization, self-regulation, reasoning and problem solving.

So what can you do to introduce alternate settings, characters and experiences and encourage kids to use this knowledge in play? Share books! 

Here are some simple examples:

• Show kids how stories can be changed. Read or tell the traditional tale “The Three Little Pigs” (such as the version by James Marshall) along with The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf by Mark Teague. The kids will immediately see that the original version has been changed and will find the changes fascinating. Any story with an original version and variations will work. Fairy and folk tales are especially good.

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• As you read these titles (or any books!), ask open-ended questions, such as “What do you think will happen next?" Pretend play is all about “What happens next?"

• Talk about the characters—their actions, what they are feeling and what they talk about.

• Talk about how the versions of the story differ.

• Get kids to act out “The Three Little Pigs.” Encourage older kids to take the lead and guide younger ones as they play. Make sure everyone understands the role they are playing and remembers how the story is structured. They should use their own words but stay true to their characters and the classic story.

• Then, the idea is to get kids to change the story, using their imaginations to develop more elaborate scenarios for their characters or even create new characters, and play! If they are having trouble coming up with ideas on their own, help them mash up the pigs’ story with their own experiences or other stories. For example, the pigs might decide to go and stay in a hotel when they lose their houses. What happens? Or Batman comes to stop the wolf from doing any damage. Or Star Wars fans might come up with their own version—“The Three Little Droids”!

There should be a good bit of negotiating and lots of talking when play is working. You might need to step in occasionally to help things keep moving smoothly and model some good play behaviors. If you are playing along, you might also consider throwing some obstacles in the way to encourage everyone to work together to meet a challenge—“let’s figure out how to organize the furniture in the pig’s new house”—or solve a problem—“what can we do to help a little pig with hay fever?”

Listening to stories read aloud gets kids' imaginations working as they create images of the story in their heads. Getting them to act out and change the stories takes their imagination to a new level, encouraging creative thinking, problem solving and reasoning. Especially since so much of our culture is screen oriented, it's important for kids to have practice creating their own images and scenarios. 

Guest blog post by Belle of the Book, Rachael Walker.

To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Illusion and Imagination Create a Magical Read-Aloud Session

Volunteers on Team Three at ARHA recently put together a captivating Read-Aloud session about magic. Team Three piqued the kids' interest from the get-go when Read-Aloud volunteer Kevin produced his imaginary dog "Cupcake" on her invisible dog leash. You can imagine the excitement.

Kevin, who is a professional dog trainer by day, had answers to all of the kids' questions about Cupcake. To carry out the illusion, Kevin said that Cupcake needed a nap and put her in the crate (a prop he had brought along) when it was time to begin reading.

To get the kids thinking about magic tricks, Kevin had a brown paper bag and asked the kids to throw imaginary balls into it. When the kids threw their balls, Kevin made the motion of catching them in the bag and snapped his fingers on the back side of the bag to the make the sound of the ball hitting the bottom. The effect was so realistic that even the volunteers had to ask how it worked.

For the large group Read-Aloud, Ellen read Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld. This book explores a simple optical illusion. If you look at the drawing one way you see a duck and if you look at it another way you see a rabbit. It was a great introduction to optical illusions, and the simple text and engaging illustrations kept the children interested. Volunteers talked with the kids about how many magic tricks use optical illusions.

After the large group Read-Aloud, the group watched a YouTube video featuring Steve Frayne. This video contains three tricks: he walks on water, puts a cell phone into a glass bottle and walks through glass. The team showed the kids the bottle trick and the walking through glass trick. All the kids (and the grown-ups) were amazed and unable to answer the inevitable question of "how did he do that!"

For small group reading, the volunteers read some of these books:

Abracadabra! Magic with Mouse and Mole by Wong H. Yee
Amazing Coin Tricks by Kirk Charles

The Big Book of Magic Fun by Ian Keable

The Magic Rabbit by Richard Watson

Possum Magic by Mem Fox
The Strega Nona books by Tomie DePaola
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
Young Cam Jansen and the Magic Bird Mystery by David Adler

For the activity, the kids learned how to do the imaginary ball in a paper bag trick. They were excited to learn how the trick worked after watching Kevin do it at the beginning of the Read-Aloud. To make this trick work, all the kids had to do was to fold down the top of the paper bag to keep it open and work on their finger-snapping and acting skills. With some practice, all the kids were able to succeed at the trick and could not wait to show it off at home.

The real trick to having a successful Read-Aloud about magic is to keep it as simple as possible. Easy props such as a magician's hat, cape or wand would also be great additions, even if you don't have an invisible dog!

To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here. 

Encouraging creativity

Creativity is an essential quality for children to have. It urges them to ask questions and learn about things they've never heard about. It pushes them to problem solve when put in an unfamiliar situation. It was the gem behind the creation of inventive devices and thought processes that make our lives easier and more interesting.  

There have been many articles published recently about the importance of creativity and how to foster it, both in adults and in children.  For adults, the Wall Street Journal suggests that one of the most important keys is to step back from the issue and daydream. Your mind just have the ability to find a solution or an invention on it's own, but thinking about it too hard may inhibit that ability.  For kids, the BBC reminds us how imaginative kids can be when given the time. Allowing them to be bored or to have unstructured time gives them the chance to invent imaginary worlds to act out, write or draw.

Sometimes we need a spark to get our brains thinking outside of our everyday boxes. Prompts can come in any form, even a picture. One of the great things about art is that even the youngest kids at Read-Alouds can be successful, they don't need to be able to read or write yet. 

Give kids a clipping of a picture, such as a part of an animal or a piece of a building or something that relates to your theme. Bring multiple options so each child has their own starting point. Glue or print it onto a page in a random location. Then ask each child to complete the picture in their own way. Their creative wheels will start turning with all of the directions they can take their art. 

Ask each child to share the story behind their picture. You'll be impressed of how much they've thought through their scene. If they struggle, ask what season it is, why the animal or person is there, where are his friends and any other question to prompt the child to explore the scene.

If kids want to continue to expand on their scene, ask them to write the story of their scene. Who knows, it could be the start of a great storytelling experience. 

For other ideas of open-ended crafts check out this recent post. The inspiration and artwork from this post comes from ArtMommie.

To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

STEM Read-Alouds: Volunteer Seminar overview

What do Lincoln Logs, sun dials, rockets, grizzly bears, rainbows and oobleck have in common? TRC volunteers found out at a volunteer seminar all about incorporating STEM topics into weekly Read-Alouds.

For the record, STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. It is one of the hot topics in education circles these days, but TRC isn’t just being trendy by focusing on STEM. Here are good reasons for exploring science and math with books and activities:

First and foremost, it’s fun. Shooting rockets, making rainbows: that’s fun. TRC Read-Alouds are intended to help kids build positive experiences with books and reading. In many cases, we’re helping kids and families overcome anxieties or stereotypes about reading and readers just by having fun with books. What's more, STEM topics may appeal to kids who don’t get excited about more traditional Read-Aloud themes.

STEM-themed Read-Alouds can help kids overcome anxieties and stereotypes about math and science, too.  A kid may say she’s not good at math, but she does like baking. Baking is full of fractions, proportions, temperature and time. You start with a book about baking and the next thing you know, you are doing math, with a tasty result. When you put it that way, math is fun and delicious, not scary or boring. 

It’s not just fun and games, though. Science and math use many of the same skills as reading. In science, you predict, observe and evaluate. You make guesses, look for patterns and outcomes. Afterward, you circle back to evaluate. In math, you often make guesses and look for patterns. Reading involves the same process and skills. You also use your imagination and your background knowledge to predict what might happen in science, math and reading.

A great book can foster curiosity, imagination and creativity. These traits are essential for success in math and the sciences. A STEM-themed Read-Aloud isn’t about getting a certain predetermined result.  It’s about asking questions, exploration and reading great books. 

Check out these STEM-themed Read-Aloud outlines prepared by TRC staff. Books and activity materials were provided for the volunteers to use at the volunteer seminar. In each outline you'll find books, activities and conversation starters for your Read-Aloud.

Science:  States of Matter and Colors

Technology:  Rockets

Engineering:  Building Houses

Math:  Time and Measurement

Many of the books and materials listed on the outlines are available at the TRC office for volunteers to use at their Read-Alouds.

Next week's post will explore the great STEM Read-Aloud ideas generated by TRC volunteers and more resources for creating your own STEM-themed Read-Alouds.  

Get inspired. Try something new. Explore, wonder, imagine!  The kids will love it.



To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Focus on the process, not the product

“All young children are great artists. The importance of their art is in the act of creating with confidence and in using their imaginations. It is our sacred trust not to take away this gift from our children, but to encourage and nurture it at every opportunity.” ~ Susan Striker, creator of the Anti-Coloring Books.

All too often when planning art activities for kids, we focus on the finished product and forget to leave room for kids' individuality in their creations. Providing a model for an activity is a good idea because it provides guidance, but it is always best to encourage the children to follow their whims. Some kids will take just a few minutes to add just a bit to what you give them. Others will add and add and add more and more materials. Some of the difference is a matter of age. Some kids just love to manipulate craft materials and use their fine-motor skills. 

We believe open-ended projects help build children's confidence in their skills and their individuality. It is important to praise equally those children who make elaborate extensions to the activity AND those who seem to engage only briefly. Who knows what elaborate extensions may be being built in the second child's imagination?

Open-ended activities work well for Read-Alouds because they are easily adaptable to wide age ranges. A four-year-old will enjoy these projects as much as an 11-year-old, but will likely produce a less ambitious product and spend less time at it. At a recent Read-Aloud at Next Steps Housing, the volunteers read Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews and gave each child dots with which to create an image of their choice. All of the kids, ranging from four to fourteen years old were thoroughly engaged in their creations and loved the freedom of the activity. 

Here are some open-ended ideas that could be adapted to fit a variety of themes.

From ID Mommy blog.

Collage.  Save or collect old magazines, catalogues and newspaper pages. Cut out pictures, paste them together on a sheet of construction paper to make a collage. Kids can create their favorite meal, if reading about food, or their ideal vacation spot, if talking about travel. Libraries often have old magazines for sale for $.25 each. You can also include nonpaper materials. For example, beans and rice, add so much to this farm scene.

Paper cutting. The classic example of paper cutting is making paper snowflakes. Show children how to fold the paper and where to cut so the finished product does not fall apart. Then give them the freedom to create snowflakes in different shapes and colors. Copy paper, tissue paper and coffee filters are great for this activity. 

Papel Picado is another great example of paper cutting. It's a traditional Mexican decoration that is easily adapted for kids. Fold colored tissue paper much like you would for a paper snowflake and cut out designs. These are often strung together to make colorful banners.

Clay and other manipulatives. Give each child some clay, play dough or pipe cleanesr and let her to create something related to what you've been reading. A team at Virginia Gardens last year let the kids create dinosaurs out of pipe cleaners. The kids were so proud of their creations. Have a look here:

Creating a scene. Provide each child with a piece of heavier stock paper as the base and a variety of materials to create a scene based on your theme. If creating a winter scene, provide cotton balls, glitter, pine needles, colored construction paper and stickers and let the kids create winter vistas.

When doing open-ended crafts, there is no "right" or "wrong" result, and it is finished when the child decides it is finished. The focus should be on the process of creating, not necessarily the end product. To spark conversation, ask each child to tell you about his art and what he used to create it. Let each child's personality and skills shine through their art.

For more ideas for open-ended crafts, read this pamphlet by 123child.com.



To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Ninjas! Read-Aloud

Our team took a stealth approach to our last Read-Aloud with a theme of "Ninjas!" We gathered as a large group and began with the non-fiction book, "You Wouldn't Want to Be a Ninja!" to learn exactly what a ninja is and where the name comes from.  

To set the stage, we also read a bit about the historical role of ninjas in 16th century Japan. We moved on to some picture books, including: 

• Wink, the Ninja Who Wanted to be Noticed by J. C. Phillipps 
• Wink, the Ninja Who Wanted to Nap by J. C. Phillipps 
• Nighttime Ninja by Barbara DaCosta
• Ninja Cowboy Bear Presents the Way of the Ninja by David Bruins and Hilary Leung
• The Boy Who Cried Ninja by Alex Latimer

We also had a large selection of older reader books that were thematically appropriate (Stone Rabbit, Choose Your Own Adventure, etc.). However, most were graphic novels and did not lend themselves well to being read aloud in a group setting, and the kids opted to stay together this night as our group was smaller than usual.

After reading we moved to the tables to create ninja headbands. We took 3" x 44" strips of muslin fabric and used fabric markers to write our ninja names using a ninja alphabet one volunteer found online.  

While we worked the kids were able to taste a variety of Japanese snacks including green tea drinks, ginger cookies, rice cracker snack mix, and plain and wasabi dried seaweed.  

Kids who finished their headbands quickly moved back to the rug to play Sensei Says (like Simon Says with ninja moves). We said things like "Master Tsutsu [from one of the books we read] says put your hands at your heart and bow," or "Master Tsutsu says kick your leg once."

We had planned ahead and added a few ninja books to the book selection choices and those were well received during the give-away portion of the evening.



To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

The power of imagination

We often hear it said that reading feeds the imagination. But the imagination also feeds reading. 

Being able to imagine what she is reading allows a reader to better understand the words she is reading. Experience (that builds background knowledge) and a healthy imagination work together to support reading comprehension.

An article by Doug Buehl for the Wisconsin Education Association Council explains how we use our imaginations to understand what we are reading and provides strategies to help kids develop their imaginations.

According to Buehl, kids need chances to practice creating mental images based on their senses. Here are some ideas (from Buehl and TRC) for beefing up imaginations.

• Encourage kids to describe things they’ve seen or experienced. (What did you see at the zoo today? What did you do at the birthday party?) Remembering and describing objects and experiences can help a child learn to use descriptive words.

• Pause when you are reading aloud to talk about what you are imagining as you read. Next, encourage the kids to tell you “what they see in their heads” when you read a passage. (Now the child is using descriptive words she gets from the story to create a new mental picture instead of using words to describe a memory or mental picture she already has.)

Grace acts out Anansi the Spider

• Ask the kids to imagine themselves as an eyewitness, and to describe the story as if they were there. 

• After reading a passage from a book, ask kids about their first impression of a character, an event or the setting. Ask them which words or phrases helped create that impression.

By helping kids strengthen their imaginations, we build their reading comprehension and, in turn, their motivation to read.  When you understand what you are reading, reading is more fun. 


To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.