Write a Shape Book with your Pre-Reader

Unleash your child’s imagination with this creative storytelling activity! Let your kiddos dictate their own story while you do the writing. Use fun prompts like making lemonade, magical garden fairies, or a treasure map adventure. Shape the pages into matching themes, and watch your pre-reader beam with pride as they become the author of their very own book!

Yellow construction paper cut into the shape of a crookneck squash with The Big Old Squash written in block letters.

A shape book is simply a book in the shape of some important element of the story your child is going to dictate to you. So when our daughter started telling us stories about the garden fairy who lived in the giant squash (You know, the one squash that didn’t get picked until it became enormous? We had one that year.) We cut out a cover and several pages in the shape of a squash and I wrote down word for word the story of the fairy and the magic (giant) squash.

Create a Shape Book With Your Kiddo!

How This Works

Because a child has a much larger speaking and listening vocabulary than written, they can tell a story long before they are able to write it. And when they are “reading” their own words, with you sliding your finger under the words they begin to associate their spoken word with the written one.

This is called Whole Language Approach. I really like the Phonics Approach to teach reading much more, but this is still a stellar activity that kids can enjoy. Partly I think because they are completely in control of the topic, the story, the illustrations, the title and of course the shape.

There is something very empowering about having a book with your name as the author on the front! I knew a homeschool family who had so many shape books written by their kiddos dad built a special shelf for them! What a treasure those books will be when the kids are grown!

How fun (and inspirational) would it be to read a book your parent or grandparent wrote as a child?

Child narrated book with stickers telling the Christmas story

Other Options for Kid Written Books

If making a shape book seems daunting, why not try buying a set of stickers (or use those mismatched left overs!) and having your child use them to illustrate whatever story they spark in their imagination? You can fold and staple several sheets of typing paper in half along with a cardstock cover for the book itself.

They still get the thrill of creating the story and reading it back to you and others. If we ever had to chose bits of precious to save from our house quickly, one thing I would absolutely take is the Christmas story our daughter wrote with me when she was four using a set of nativity stickers! (The original squash book sadly was lost in a basement flood years ago.)

Another way to create a unique book is to peruse the card aisle (or maybe use that card you just can’t bring yourself to throw away). There are lots of cards that would make great shape book covers and could spark all sorts of fun stories from your kids. Again, you just fold several sheets of typing paper in half, staple or tie them in the fold of the card and then cut the paper so that it matches the shape of the card.

I recently found a card with, imagine this, squirrels with light sabers! My oldest grandson, a Star Wars fanatic, was thrilled to bits and came up with several story ideas on the spot! It’s just that easy!