Teaching Kids Art Through Picture Books

How in the world do you get your kids excited about learning? I know a secret to doing this! I got interested in history when I started reading aloud to my kids when I was teaching them. What was the difference between reading paragraphs from a textbook and reading real stories from picture and chapter books? Quite simply, reading stories aloud. People and their stories are captivating when told in a well written book. Suddenly, history came to life with the fascinating, wonderful, and terrible adventures of people throughout the ages. I was hooked. When teaching my kids at home, I could see the benefits of reading aloud because of the way my own children were soaking up and remembering the stories--and often begging for more time reading.

Reading aloud can integrate so well with several areas of learning at once, even when you aren’t consciously trying to teach anything beyond enjoying a good story. Language arts is all about reading, writing, talking, and listening. Think of how you...

There is nothing better than a pile of picture books to create interest and engage kids in learning. My favorite way to grab kids' attention and pique their curiosity is to simply start reading a book aloud. It can be a picture book or a chapter book, but once you start reading aloud, if it's a good book, they will inevitably be drawn in, like I am these days, to the sight of a red tulip or yellow daffodil or purple hyacinth.

Today I'm going to share:

• three characteristics to look for in a good read aloud picture book
• a booklist of ten of my favorite read aloud flower books for you to print out
• some of my favorite resources for finding good  picture books.

As you head out to look for ways to inspire your kids this month, I hope you find some of these tips helpful to spark their love of reading! 

What separates the good books from the duds? When I look for a good read aloud, there are some that clearly make the cut, and some that I immediately reject. Here are three easy ways ...