15 Día Nuggets: #9 Literacy-focused Craft Ideas for Children and Families

One more Nugget today, resulting in #s 1-9 available individually and as a downloadable packet.

To assist those of you planning Día celebrations at your schools, libraries, etc., we’re sharing 15 Día Nuggets, 15 lists of 15 items to assist you in your planning. During our second Díapalooza during April 2011, we’ll showcase the 15 Día Dynamos, 15 Mora Award winners and the 15 Día Nuggets, etc.

15 Día Nuggets for Día’s 15th Anniversary

Nugget #9 Literacy-focused Craft Ideas for Children and Families

Here’s a wonderful opportunity to involve teen or college helpers and service organizations.

1. Make paper plate clocks, printing “Time to Read” on each clock face. Decorate.

2. Embellish canvas bags with fabric paint and use as book bags.

3. Create personalized bookmarks, bookends, and bookcases (use cardboard boxes) using stick-on foam shapes and gems and colored stickers. Use blank stickers too, so kids can write a reading slogan or book recommendations.

4. Plant a Poetry Garden. Write poems, paste them on sticks and plant them outside of the school or library.

5. Make accordion books with the last panel pre-printed with the words LOVES READING! Children can write their name on the beginning panels and decorate the book with collage, colored pencils or paints.

6. Make papier-mâché globes and let each child note the different countries they’ve read about with colored sticker dots. Use the globes in a display of books set in other countries.

7. Make memory books with stories and pictures about reading and books.

8. Take photos of kids reading in a special chair (a reading throne) they’ve helped decorate. Buy cardboard or foam photo frames that each child can decorate.

9. Construct masks of favorite characters from books.

10. Distribute envelopes containing a pre-made paper booklet and cutouts of pictures and photos. Each child writes a story about the pictures and uses them to illustrate the story.

11. For very young children, create reading puppets using cutouts glued to craft sticks.

12. Use recycled papers (printed on one side) to make personal reading logs. Use recycled book jackets or patterned papers for covers.

13. Create necklaces of words.

14. Create a Día Alphabet mural or frieze, associating a word or short phrase about Día with each letter of the alphabet such as “F – Families.” Decorate and hang on the wall or use as a banner in a hallway.

15. Use a template to create book-shaped magnets. Color image with colored pencils and laminate, then glue magnet to back.