During 2012 our students participated in a most exciting ‘Handmade Picture Story Book Project’ linking our classroom Literacy and Visual Arts and LOTE programmes.

It was a whole school celebration with the aim that each child would produce high quality books but even more importantly, make this a springboard for engaging  all our students in  their own subsequent story writing and publishing in a variety of  forms- in books, magazines, using ICT, Drama, etc.

Students created their own stories in their class Literacy sessions. Topics ranged from fairy tales to adventures in space to friendships, pets, kitchen garden adventures, dinosaurs, characters with super powers to the farm and amazing magical muffins! In Visual Art we discussed the process of creating a picture storybook-the direct relationship of the text and illustrations and the importance of detail in our illustrations. We explored published storybooks and how they are created. We researched the process authors/illustrators go through and techniques used to gain the reader’s interest and visually appeal to the reader.

Students were introduced to and experimented with, a range of techniques they could use or develop further when creating the illustrations for their own picture storybooks. The level of engagement and enthusiasm for  writing, designing and producing their own ‘hand-made’  books was amazing and so exciting to see the way all students, no matter how simple or advanced the story was were so proud of the finished product.

A VERY  big thanks to Jan and ZART for their support managing to source the gorgeous card we used for pages for our books…giving them a more special ‘finish.’

Our picture books were proudly shared across the school and with our families and friends.

Julie Lach
Visual Arts Teacher
Aspendale Gardens Primary School
Suitable for levels 1-4