Home » Articles »

Creating with Media: Preschoolers

Other ages: Grade schoolers | Pre-Teens | Teens

Media tools — computers, digital cameras and sound recorders — can help your child discover that, as great as it is to be entertained and enjoy somebody else's version of fun, it's even better to enjoy fun that is entirely of her making.

Through the process of making her own productions, your child will begin to appreciate that TV shows, video games and movies do not simply appear. People make them. As a result, her hands-on production experience will influence the way she sees, listens to and plays with media made by other people, allowing her to ask questions about how they were made and why. It also will help her discover that she can be more than a consumer: she can be a Web developer, a digital artist, an online storyteller, a game designer, a composer, a filmmaker or just about any other kind of creator she wants to be.

• Talk about what a story is when reading books or watching TV.

  Help your child understand that a story has a structure — it has a beginning, middle and end — and that there are different kinds of characters, like princesses, witches and villains. Ask: Did that happen at the beginning of the story or the end? How come? What happened next? Why do you think the witch did that?

• Make a scrapbook out of pictures and other items from activities you do with your child.

  Use a double set of prints from a traditional camera or images that you have taken with a digital camera to assemble a book. Give your child opportunities to make choices, such as which picture goes where and what a caption should say.

• Give your child a chance to play writer and director.

  Write down a script as your child tells you a story then have her cast family members in various roles. Have everyone play his or her part as you read back the story. Ask about the characters: What do they like to wear? Do they have any special powers? Who is in their family?

• Use the computer to create art with your child.

  Print out black-and-white pictures and help your child use crayons or paints to bring them to life. Better yet, use a scanner to make a digital version of your child's artwork. That way she'll see that something she has made can end up on a computer.

• Make a recording of your child singing and reciting rhymes and funny words.

  Have fun making up new sounds and songs. Remember to stop often to play back what you have recorded, letting your child enjoy the sound of her creations.

• Help your child send a letter or email message to family and friends.

  While you type or write and your child dictates what she wants to say, you can offer prompts that will introduce her to the conventions of writing, such as how to begin and end a letter.