Book Projects

A fellow homeschool mom on the FB boards was sad to see the Book Projects to Take Home supplement is out of print. So this post is for you and me for that panicked moment when I forget all these great ideas!  I'm really sad to see the book projects go as we have had lots of fun with them, tho sometimes we have made up our own because the kids thought the options were a bit boring... On that note I have compiled a list of projects we have done, created or those that are simmering in my brain to help you get some ideas on what to do the 4th week of DITHOR. (Drawn Into The Heart Of Reading).

Make a diorama of a scene in the book.

Make a video of a skit you created off the book.

Build a deck of go fish cards with main characters, moods, and scenes.

Make a commercial and record it on your digital camera.

Make a flipbook of one of the scenes. (for the cartooner child)

Make puppets on popsicle sticks of all the main characters and label the backs with their character traits.

Make a game of concentration that tells the story.

Design a movie layout board for the opening shots, a middle scene and the closing (with credits).

Mock up the story as if it was a food package (fruit roll ups, cereal, chips bag, etc.)

Paint a picture of the mood of the story. (This can be a landscape or scene without people for a bigger challenge). Write up a description for the painting as if it was placed in an art gallery.

Biography: Create a autobiography scrapbook of your life (which can be added to each year), or the life of a family member (aka grandpa, grandma).

Biography: Interview the main character and write up a newspaper article (for your highly imaginative journalistic child).  Or interview a interesting person and use it for Non-fiction.

Sculpt the main character.

Make a poster as if it will be a movie, or for Non fiction make an Educational poster for your homeschool classroom.

Make a patchwork pillow by choosing fabric from a craft store that expresses the moods, scenes and characters in the book.  Crafting challenged option: a no sew fleece blanket instead.

Get a white pillow case and using fabric markers to decorate the pillow with words from the book that describe the 2 main characters one on each side of the pillow case. Or use the  protagonist and antagonist. Decorate appropriately and don't forget to put a piece of cardboard inside when drawing so it doesn't bleed through.

Fill a box with things that remind you of the book. Write tags for each one as to why you picked it. Then tell the story using the props you picked.

Make a collage of magazine pictures that remind you of the story, on the back explain your choices.

Mystery/Suspense:  Make a "clue" style game out of your story, use air dry modeling clay to create pieces.

Bake a cake, and decorate it as if it is the main characters birthday. (Then Eat!)

I hope that helps give you some ideas of what you can do for fun, when DITHOR says to do a book project to take home.  Please post any other ideas or things you have done in the comments so this can be a great resource for others too!