Mommy and Me Preschool Fun Book

By Monica Painter

The next time you and your preschooler are all out of ideas for something fun to do, you can pull out your Mommy and Me Fun Book. The purpose of the Mommy and Me Fun Book is to let your preschooler see what their options are for things to do. By looking at the photos in the Mommy and Me Fun Book, your preschooler will be able to visually recall what there is to do at each place and will be able to better decide what they'd like to do for the day. Once you've created the Mommy and Me Fun Book, you will no longer hear, "I don't know!" when asking your preschooler what they want to do that day.

What You Will Need

Several sheets of multi-colored construction paper
Printed photos of places you've visited (about three photos of each place)
Glue stick
Scissors
Ribbon or metals rings for fastening the pages together
Markers
Hole punch
Printed clip art or stickers (optional)

Preparation

Go through your photo files and find three photos of each place you've visited. They should be representative of the place enough so that your preschooler will recognize it.

Using a color printer, print the photos on to regular copy paper. If you don't have a color printer, you can paste them into a Word document, and then take the file on disc, to a local office supply store. An alternative is to use photos that you've had processed.

How to Make It

Cut out the printed photos. If your preschooler isn't comfortable with using scissors yet, you can do the cutting.

Select a a piece of colored construction paper, and then select the three photos of a place you've visited. Next, using the glue sticks, have your preschooler glue each of the photos onto the piece of construction paper.

At the top of each page, write the name of the place represented in the photos, and then let your preschooler decorate each page, around the photos, using markers, stickers, clip art and anything else s/he chooses.

Make a cover page and give it a title, e.g. "Mommy and Me Fun Book". Glue a photo on the cover of you and your preschooler. Let your preschooler decorate it.

Punch holes in each page for binding, and then use ribbon or metal rings to bind it. I don't recommend using staples or any binding that doesn't allow you to add pages to your book. As you visit new places, you'll want to add more pages.

If you'd like your Mommy and Me Fun Book to stay nice and withstand abuse, take it to a local supply store and have them laminate it. This is especially nice to do if you plan to take your book on the go with you.

Alternative Project Idea

The Mommy and Me Fun Book preschool project be altered to fit any relative or caregiver. Also, instead of making a Mommy and Me Fun Book, maybe you'd like to make a Family Fun Book for choosing what you'd like to do on the weekends when your family is all together.

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