I can’t take credit for this idea. It was all my 9 year old daughter’s doing. But, it’s turned out to be a wonderfully fun educational tool!
We gave our daughter an old digital camera on her 8th birthday last year, and from there, it’s been pure creativity! Picture Plays was born out that creativity.
All you need to do a Picture Play is
- a digital camera
- a computer word processor document
- an imagination!
(You could do this with a traditional camera and a piece of paper, but you don’t get the instantaneous learning the way you do with digital technology.)
When it’s time for a Picture Play, my 9 year old gathers up her siblings and dresses them from our dress-up box according to the characters she wants them to play. Her favorite stories to tell are from the Old West or of Native American daily life.
Next, she shoots individual scenes in a logical order to tell her story. When she’s finished taking all the photos she thinks she needs, we pull them off her camera and place them in a folder on the computer desktop, labeled “Picture Play,” so they are easy for her to find.
I showed her how to open a Word document and add an image. From there, she adds photos and tells her story in between the photos. She’s working on grammar, spelling, spatial skills, and reasoning. She’s also learning how to be a leader as she gains the cooperation of her siblings and coordinates the scenes.
The possibilities are endless as to how you can incorporate Picture Plays into your homeschool! Here are just a few ideas to get you started!
*Act out scenes from your history readings
*Take photos of plant growth for a science project
*Add the stories and photos to their own blog
*Use pictures and text to help them remember field trips
*Create a flipbook or storybook by printing the pages out
*Give the stories as gifts to grandparents
How would you make Picture Plays a part of your homeschool?
Amy can be found writing at Raising Arrows.
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I love your blog. I am going to link it on my homeschool/family life blog. It is so nice to know and hear from other wonderful homeschooling moms. It gives me home and makes me more excited about what I am doing! Thanks!
Kendra Wright
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