storytelling with three dimensional illustrations

For this activity, I asked the children to begin by drawing a picture with a black marker.

We looked at their drawings and discussed the shapes they made. Then we checked our "Beautiful Stuff" collection for objects that were similar in shape and glued them on poster board remnants (another shout out to my coworker Heather and her dad who procured these superbly sturdy cast offs from his work). 


Meanwhile, I asked them to tell me a story about their drawing. I purposefully asked them to tell me a story at the end instead of first because sometimes the children find it difficult to illustrate their ideas after the story because the image in their minds is so complex they shut down. I feel I will have plenty of time to challenge them again later. 


Here are several examples of the children's work:


V's illustration and story:

"It's a house. Claire lives there, in Manteno. It's my cousin. Claire's my best friend and she plays with me the most."


H's illustration and story:

"It's a robot monster. Once the monster was going to blast off into space. Then the monster took a girl that was in space and took her to jail."
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Some new children to the program did not grasp many of the concepts I was asking them for but they worked diligently and described their picture to me, which is fine, too


T's work and description:

"Mine had a flower on it and buttons on it."


C's work and description:

"I'm making a beach party. I decorate it."


E's work and description: 

"My Mommy."


The end!