Chalk

What kids don't love to draw with chalk in the summer?  My kids love it, so when my three year old accidentally found this book on the shelf at the library I was thrilled that it was a book that he actually wanted to read!  

Chalk by Bill Thomson is a picture book without words.  It is about three children and their adventure with chalk one rainy day.  While at the park the children find a bag of chalk.  Each child chooses one color of chalk and then draws a picture.  Each page shows the chalk illustrations come to life.  When the little boy draws a dinosaur that turns out to be a little too fierce, they have to figure out how they can make him disappear!

My three year old was really interested in this book!  We talked about all of the pictures and I asked him a few questions while we read.  The next time we read it he told me a lot of the story!  After reading this book I have a new appreciation for reading wordless picture books with little ones!

On the driveway one morning we were drawing with chalk so I decided to ask him to tell me about the book, Chalk.  I handed him a yellow piece of chalk and asked him if he remembered what they drew in the book.  

He remembered a sun and drew his own sun.

We did the same with orange and green.  He took a while thinking about what they drew with orange, but he remembered!

This activity was a great way to talk about a story and to summarize it.  This could be done with any book, but Chalk was a great starting point for us!