- Monday 19 October 2020
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It’s now Book Week, that super-exciting time of year when schools and public libraries across the country spend a week celebrating books, and Aussie authors and illustrators. It’s an amazing way to foster a love of reading for pleasure in children, which the folks at the Children’s Book Council of Australia have been doing for generations, since the first CBCA Book Week way back in 1945. If you grew up in Australia, you probably have many fond Book Week memories yourself—from the colourful displays at the library, to dressing up as your favourite storybook character, discovering new favourites from the Book of the Year Awards and more.
This year’s theme is 'Curious creatures, wild minds', and we’d like to share some teaching ideas, activities and resources that can inspire your own young, wild-minded curious creatures! (And of course, please keep your local social distancing requirements in mind: if some of these activities aren’t appropriate to your area, put safety first!)
Read about curious creatures and wild minds
When you hear the term 'curious creature', what comes to mind? Perhaps Where the wild things are, or the zany creatures of Dr Seuss? Curious creatures could come from the imagination or be real-life oddities of nature. For wild minds, think about how creativity inspires artists, writers and more with the flair to make amazing things. Find some exciting literature for your young readers to enjoy, and create a curious and wild-themed book nook—they’ll be more than inspired for the next activity!
Draw your own curious creature
Courtesy of the fine folks at the CBCA, we love this idea: getting children to draw their own curious creatures! Award-winning children's picture book creator Gwyn Perkins shares his tips for drawing wild and curious creatures.
Collect all the artwork together and create a colourful display, and share your young readers and makers’ masterpieces with CBCA via Facebook @theCBCA or Instagram @cbcaustralia (use #CBCA2020).
Wild, wild writing prompts
Collect some of those great books you’ve got in the book nook, read them together and use the broad themes to inspire your young storytellers, along the lines of 'What if you were in the forest and you happened upon …” They can tell stories about the creatures they’ve drawn, bring their friends’ creatures into the mix and all sorts of exciting things.
Pop-up bookshop
Pop-up bookshops are a fun way to get the kids excited about reading! Parents can give kids a bit of extra pocket money for the day to purchase some of the exciting shortlisted books for Book Week. Teachers, talk to a local bookseller about making it happen!
Book Week parade
Many schools will have a Book Week parade, and it’s one of the most exciting parts of Book Week for kids; it’s the ultimate literary dress-up party. Talk about outfits, why they’ve chosen them, why they love that character and so on.
Make books part of the conversation
Children want to feel like part of a group, and they’re influenced by what you do and what their peers do. Making reading cool by modelling how much you enjoy reading, asking each other to talk about favourite books etc. can really inspire a love of reading during Book Week (and anytime!).
We hope you’ve found some great ideas to make your Book Week memorable and fun! Don’t forget to check out our great English resources for reading, and head to our blog for more teaching ideas.