I have received many inquiries regarding Super Tot's writing journal, and how I incorporate that into an age appropriate activity. Does he actually "write" in his journal? Not exactly, but what he does do is so important for his pre-writing skills and creativity. He loves his journal time and I am happy that we are starting a positive habit at such a young age.
We are using a standard composition notebook for his journal. I initially allowed him to decorate the cover (front and back) with stickers to really make it special to him. Below are some of the pages he has done, with a brief explanation of each. I will post follow-ups from time to time showing new pages and examples of how to make journaling exciting, fun & successful for tots and young preschoolers.
Front cover:
I asked him what shape he wanted me to draw, which was a circle. I also wrote his name at the top of the page, though I have eliminated that from this photo. He was given crayons and free reign to do whatever he wanted to the page. He traced his name and drew his own circles, then colored each section.
Again, he wanted me to draw a circle. He traced it, did a little scribbling and added a few star stickers.
The next day, I drew several shapes before giving him the journal. He traced each one and did a variety of scribbling and coloring on the page.
During our Dr. Seuss week, I drew a "Cat in the Hat" hat for him to copy. I think he did a great job!!
This particular day I wrote "Jesus Loves Me" and drew a heart. He had the entire 2 page spread to do what he wanted. He traced the letters, drew his own heart and applied some stickers. You can see he also did some additional drawing and coloring. I was impressed with how well he traced the letters this time, and thought his heart drawing was spot on.
During our bear week, I had this page where I had placed 3 bear stickers and gave him instructions to draw a cave around them. I had no idea what he would do, but I think he did a great job.
This day I wrote a few letters on his page and gave him 2 sheets of alphabet stickers. I instructed him to place the matching letter stickers UNDER the written letter. He did a great job on this, too!
This was a self portrait.
Here I drew colored circles on the page and gave him a sheet of smiley face stickers. He put each sticker into the correct circle, after which we counted the stickers for each color.
This was a "free" entry. I asked him what he wanted to do in his journal, and he told me he wanted to draw a race track. He happened to have the various race car theme stickers in his sticker box, so I pulled them out. He drew the two circles on his own for the track and then placed all the stickers on.
These are just a few ideas to help spark your creativity should you want to start a journal with your tot.
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