Talking, drawing, and writing about the experiences fosters emergent literacy development. After a field trip or other shared learning experience, tell the children that you are going to help them make a book about it. Offer several sheets of paper and invite children to draw pictures of their experiences. These pages can go into the book next to the appropriate picture. Ask each child to help you put the pictures and words in the right order, according to what happened first, next, and last during the trip.
Children can create a cover from poster board or colorful construction paper.
Ask children to draw on and title their cover then write their name. Bind all pages together inside the cover, then place it in the reading area so the child can share it with the other children. Children can also make a group experience book, each child drawing a different part of the experience. At one of the Expressive Arts Outreach sites children became authors of a group classroom book. Each child had a page with his or her photograph, name, self portrait drawing, and emergent writing.