Out-of-the-Box Book Reports

crayola supplies

Markers
Model Magic®
Giant Floor Pad

household supplies

recycled boxes
craft sticks

Why?

Decorate a box that describes your favorite book. Sculpt a character to jump right out of the story!

Steps

1. Choose an interesting book to read independently or with a partner. As you read the story, think about what the characters are like. How do they look (either in the illustrations or your imagination)? Pick one character that appeals to you.
2. Use Crayola Model Magic® to sculpt a model of your character. Use your own ideas about body shapes, features, and typical poses. Use a craft stick to etch in details. Model Magic fresh from the pack sticks to itself, so just press on pieces.
3. On a recycled box, write the title of the book, author, and character name with Crayola Erasable Markers. (You may need to cover the box first with paper.) Decorate the box to fit the story theme or character’s personality.
4. Place your character in the box with its lid ajar so it appears to be leaping or crawling out of the box. Be ready to tell your classmates why it’s a book they should leap into!

adaptations

Use buttons, fabric scraps, craft feathers, and other decorative items to create more ornate characters.

List characters and their actions. Discuss and compare impressions of main characters. Make character maps to organize story information: List characters with bubbles or circles around them. Draw lines from each character to branch out to lines with events on them to show in which events characters were involved.

Choose books on a theme, such as inventors, with each of you reading a different book. Read Amanda Bean’s Amazing Dream and incorporate it into math story problems.

Younger children and those with special needs may need to listen to the book being read to them. They could dictate the information about the book for an older child to write.

Assessment: Children present their reports orally to the group. Reports include details about characters, plots, and settings. Questions from the group are answered completely and correctly.

benefits

Students read a book independently or in pairs.

Children identify significant characters in the story and attributes of each one.

Children prepare a three-dimensional book report by sculpting a character of their choice and decorating a box that communicates the context of the story.

grades

Pre-K and Kindergarten
Grades 1 to 3
Grades 4 to 6
Special Needs

subjects

Language Arts
Visual Arts

time

30 to 60 minutes

curriculum standards links

US: Research U.S. Standards
UK: Research UK Standards
Canada: Research Canada Standards

safety guidelines

Crayola Modeling Materials including Crayola Model Magic®, and Model Magic Fusion™, Crayola Air-Dry Clay, and Crayola Dough—

Keep away from open flames. Do not use to make candleholders, hot plates, trivets, or other similar objects that will be used or placed near fire and other heat sources.
Do not put in an oven, microwave, or kiln.
Do not make into vessels/containers that will hold unpackaged food.
The use of modeling material to make items that look like food is discouraged for children younger than age 5 to avoid their confusion with real food.
Unless sealed with a water-resistant glaze, do not make projects exposed to or immersed in water, such as boats or outdoor bird feeders. They would disintegrate when exposed to moisture.
Crayola Dough—contains gluten (wheat flour) as an ingredient.
Crayola Air-Dry Clay, Crayola Model Magic and Model Magic Fusion are gluten-free. However, they are produced on the same machinery as Crayola Dough which does contain gluten. Although the machines are cleaned prior to the start of each production run, there is a slight possibility that trace amounts of gluten from Crayola Dough may be present in the other modeling compound products. For information regarding specific ingredients or allergic concerns, please call our Consumer Affairs department at 1-800-272-9652 weekdays between 9 AM and 4 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Wood—By its nature, wood is rough and may contain splinters or sharp points