In today’s Creative Writing for Beginning Readers workshop, we created funny flip books with very random, strange characters whose traits were based on silly alliterations. We learned that alliteration means that all of the words in a sentence or phrase begin with the same letter sound. So we had animals like a “hilarious hiccuping hyena” and a “talented tattooed tiger.” Then we made a flip book so that we could interchange their silly traits. We brainstormed alliterative phrases for their hands and feet. We used different verb tenses to describe what their hands do while their feet do something else. A lot of English grammar and creative writing skills were subtly mixed into this project, but ultimately the project was just about having fun and writing something that would make your friends laugh!
Here’s my sample book:
I put sentence suggestions on the board under three columns for “Head,” “Hands” and “Feet” so that the kids could get some ideas for what their crazy animals might be doing, and how to make it all start with the same sound:
The idea for today’s class came from a book we own called Kids Write! by Rebecca Olien. Here are the pages that show how to help your child create a flip book at home:
Each kid got a pre-cut flip book with lines for writing a few words on each strip, as well as a cover page and a back cover “About the Author” section.
To help the kids with illustrating their books, I supplied them with some cut pictures for the examples we suggested on the felt board. If a child wanted to write about a “huge, hungry hippo” they could find paper cut-outs that would save them time on illustrating. But if they came up with something new, we gave them crayons, colored pencils and markers for drawing it.
Here are the funny flip books we created, a celebration of randomness!
I want to thank Miss Marie for working with me to put these creative writing programs together, helping with materials and supplies and cut-outs, and giving her patient, kind assistance to the kids when they need help spelling a word or brainstorming an idea. Thank you!
Want to read some great flip books other people have made? Here are some you can check out from the library! They are not at Central but you can request them to be sent here for free by logging in with your library card.
