Sunday, March 11, 2012

Super Tot's Journal

I have received many inquiries regarding Super Tot's writing journal, and how I incorporate that into an age appropriate activity.  Does he actually "write" in his journal?  Not exactly, but what he does do is so important for his pre-writing skills and creativity.  He loves his journal time and I am happy that we are starting a positive habit at such a young age.

We are using a standard composition notebook for his journal.  I initially allowed him to decorate the cover (front and back) with stickers to really make it special to him.  Below are some of the pages he has done, with a brief explanation of each.  I will post follow-ups from time to time showing new pages and examples of how to make journaling exciting, fun & successful for tots and young preschoolers.

Front cover:

I asked him what shape he wanted me to draw, which was a circle.  I also wrote his name at the top of the page, though I have eliminated that from this photo.  He was given crayons and free reign to do whatever he wanted to the page.  He traced his name and drew his own circles, then colored each section.

Again, he wanted me to draw a circle.  He traced it, did a little scribbling and added a few star stickers.

The next day, I drew several shapes before giving him the journal.  He traced each one and did a variety of scribbling and coloring on the page.

 During our Dr. Seuss week, I drew a "Cat in the Hat" hat for him to copy.  I think he did a great job!!

This particular day I wrote "Jesus Loves Me" and drew a heart.  He had the entire 2 page spread to do what he wanted.  He traced the letters, drew his own heart and applied some stickers.  You can see he also did some additional drawing and coloring.  I was impressed with how well he traced the letters this time, and thought his heart drawing was spot on.

During our bear week, I had this page where I had placed 3 bear stickers and gave him instructions to draw a cave around them.  I had no idea what he would do, but I think he did a great job.

 This day I wrote a few letters on his page and gave him 2 sheets of alphabet stickers.  I instructed him to place the matching letter stickers UNDER the written letter.  He did a great job on this, too!

This was a self portrait.

Here I drew colored circles on the page and gave him a sheet of smiley face stickers.  He put each sticker into the correct circle, after which we counted the stickers for each color.

This was a "free" entry.  I asked him what he wanted to do in his journal, and he told me he wanted to draw a race track.  He happened to have the various race car theme stickers in his sticker box, so I pulled them out.  He drew the two circles on his own for the track and then placed all the stickers on.

These are just a few ideas to help spark your creativity should you want to start a journal with your tot.



12 comments:

  1. Thanks for these ideas! I really want to start one with my daughter. She's 2 1/2 and will be starting a 3-year-old preschool program this August (one week after her birthday!) When do you think I should start?

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  2. Love these ideas! We have journals, but haven't started yet, so this gives me some motivation to begin! Thanks!
    Andrea
    www.nodoubtlearning.blogspot.com

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  3. I really like your creative prompts!
    My 3-year-old has a journal as well, but we use a drawing pad, and I just let him do his own thing.

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  4. This would be something to keep forever in the baby book. I am putting this on my "to do" list!

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  5. Super cool! I love how it is right on her level! It drives me crazy when parents try to make their kids be perfectionists on things above their developmental level. I love the ideas!

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  6. This is wonderful! Thanks for sharing! Already set some notebooks out for the kids to discover in the morning ;)

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  7. What a great idea to start the habit of journal writing in a fun way! It's wonderful that you're following your son's interests and keeping things creative but simple! I featured your post at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LivingMontessoriNow

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  8. thanks for sharing this great idea. I would love to start doing this kind of journal with my little girl. She always messes up her big brother's journal. Now, she will have a journal of her own...super thanks..:)

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  9. What great ideas! My daughter doesn't have a "school" journal yet, but I gave her one of my blank books and she doodles while I write in MY journal, then I usually ask her what the drawing was and write her explanation below. I love journals!

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  10. I really like this idea. I wouldn't have thought to start a journal at such a young age, but seeing what you did with your son, I'm inspired to give it a try.

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  11. Great ideas! We've been doing preschool journals at school this year. Here are some of our ideas: http://mamabeefromthehive.blogspot.com/search/label/journals

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  12. THose are great ideas! We've been doing journals at preschool this year too, here are some of our ideas:
    http://mamabeefromthehive.blogspot.com/search/label/journals

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