Journaling--Getting the Kids to LOVE it

My children LOVE to draw.  Anything and anywhere, they love using markers, pens, pencils, crayons, paint brushes, chalk, the messier the better.

I've been looking for ways to introduce more writing time in our day to the kids and so on my trip to Wegmans when I saw those colorful composition notebooks I bought 3!

That day while I threw lunch together I labeled their new "journals" and told them that everyday we would draw and label a picture.  NO PROBLEM!

Mark likes any homework assignment these days.  I don't know why I didn't think he would jump on the school wagon, but he has with BOTH feet!

So Mark has a green journal and Julia has an orange one and they both have to draw a specific themed picture a day and then they present it to the group (Mommy and their sibling) and we label the parts.

The first day was easy.  Draw a picture of your family.  I loved this one because Julia actually drew Micah in my belly.  Adorable!  When we started to go over the pictures I said you guys forgot someone! (Our dog Paris) Immediately they said, "Paris!"  So they had to go back and try to draw a dog...very cute.  Then we labeled each member of our family.  The labeling part is good for site words for the kids to be able to recognize each other's names, and words like dog, family, baby, mom, dad, etc.

Day 2 was Draw a picture of your friends.  Julia's picture could have gone on for days.  Mark I had to really sit with help and remind him of the boys at church, and Awana that he plays with.  Why is it that boys seem to have fewer friends than girls?  Maybe because they are always so busy building towers and such they forget to introduce themselves (we are working on this one!)  Our labeling part this time was people's names.

Day 3 was Draw a picture of your favorite place.  This one was harder for the kids but once I threw out some ideas and got them rolling they were both drawing pictures of the park.  Labeling this one we used words like Sun, Swings, Slide, Dirt, Grass, Trees, etc.

So for ten minutes each day we pull out our journal and write our name at the top, and the date, and the themed topic and we start drawing, coloring, and labeling.  The kids enjoy explaining their picture.  This also helps their vocabulary to grow along with their budding confidence!