Table Time Tuesdays: Journaling with Preschoolers

Journaling with preschoolers is a wonderful and increasingly popular activity. Even young pre-writers can engage with a variety of journaling activities and benefit greatly. This is one activity I am using more and more at our Table Time set ups in the mornings here. Additionally, journals are a great take-along activity when you are traveling or might have to wait at an appointment. Journals can be used with even young children in a variety of ways, and the benefits are multifaceted. Here are just a few:

• Little ones inherently have an interest in our grown up things--how many times does your toddler walk away with your pens and pencils or grab your day planner? Here's a chance to give them grown up things of their very own without worrying you may not be able to read who that meeting is with next Wednesday. 

  

  he got a hold of my pen, I gave him his journal to go with it

• For pre-writers, journaling can provide opportunities to practice fine-motor skills associated with holding writing utensils, practicing strokes and lines and even the skill of turning those pages.
• For beginning-writers, they are a great way to practice letters, spacing, and the many skills associated with developing penmanship.
• Journals can be used to respond to prompts or used in a child-led fashion. Creative story telling and picture describing can develop abstract thought and imagination. It is amazing from a teacher's perspective to see how and when children develop the understanding of how dictation works in describing their artistic responses to prompts or even their own creative ideas. Even my two-year-old is dabbling with dictation (although clearly in the preliminary stages)!
• I've had success with using journals in the classroom with processing conflict resolution or strong emotions. A child, for instance, who struggles at clean-up time to let go of his hard work in the block area can be given extra time prior to that transition to draw and dictate about what he built.
• Journals can meet the individual where she is at. Some children may come into a classroom already recognizing and writing their names while others are still mastering the skill of holding a writing utensil. Journals provide a discrete and personal location to practice and master these skills at a comfortable pace. More than once I've seen a "reluctant writer" sit with his journal and a name tag to practice and practice until he has mastered the skill of writing his name for the very first (second, third and forty-ninth) time!
• They are an instant keepsake! Children and adults alike love to look back on old entries and see their progress as well as reminisce about activities they enjoyed. Journals can capture family vacations, holiday fun, self portraits, first attempts at poetry and more.
• Art and writing are obvious skills that can be developed with journaling. Journals can also be a great tool for math activities, teaching about colors, shapes, letters, sight words and more. Pinterest is choc full of ideas and prompts for even the very young. I plan to share some of our journal activities here as well.
  
  
  

We brought our journal along on many summer excursions. Here we used it on a color scavenger hunt at our local Botanical Gardens to dictate/record what we saw in each color. I carried as well a pencil case with colored pencils-this was one of my son's first attempts with a pencil and had a lot of fun doodling and testing out lines and strokes with the new material.

While I directly teach about letters in English and Hebrew in our homeschooling, I often end up introducing colors and shapes more through exposure than formal lessons. Here I am introducing the color red and the shape of a circle along with a variety of mediums in the shape/color to see how my son will respond. Oftentimes I find journals to be an amazing assessment tool as well--with minimal instruction and adult-intervention, you can truly see and meet a child where he is at.

A peek at his "finished product." With older children, you might encourage "tracing" the circle with the red circle stickers and coloring in the circle with red, etc. My main "goal" here is exposure to shapes and colors in order to build recognition and vocabulary around it.

This was a favorite as we talked about the Five Senses and the sense of touch!

Although you can add a great deal to the basics, all you really need to start a journal with your child is a blank (even recycled) notebook and any writing/drawing/coloring materials you have on hand. Here's a brief list of general suggestions when it comes to journaling with preschoolers:

• Keep journals and if possible, a selection of materials to use with them at child-reach so they can be accessed independently.
• Never force a child to use their journal. If a child is reluctant, come back to it later. Many times, just leaving it where it can be seen and accessed is enough to draw their interest. In the case of children who are more reluctant or hesitant to begin, do not underestimate the power of seeing you, the adult try it out. Yes, journals are a wonderful tool for grown-ups as well!
• Take it with you! Got a family vacation or an expected wait an an appointment or restaurant? Pack your journals and a pencil pouch with some writing utensils. Instant entertainment!
• Pens, pencils, crayons, markers and colored pencils would be the obvious materials to use with a journal. Some less traditional additions are ink/stamps, paper/glue for collage, stickers, magazine cut outs, photos, or recycled greeting cards.

Happy writing, drawing, dictating and recording and as always, happy playing!