Types of Activities That Help Market Children’s Picture Books
When trying to market a children’s picture book, there are different types of activities that authors can pair with their books to market them
One of the most effective ways to market your children’s picture book is by turning it into a teachable tool.
What do I mean by this?
When teachers, parents, or programs look for books to share with their children, they often consider it a bonus if they have a book that extends beyond the pages. Books that are going to provide branch-off activities and experiences that can further the children’s learning and their connection to the book.
This is why it’s important to conduct market research to figure out what types of projects are going to engage children and provide value to parents and teachers.
The best place to begin is to figure out the umbrellas of learning the activities you create are going to fall under.
Here are the umbrellas of learning the activities will fall under:
Math
If your book has anything to do with counting, taking things away, or adding things together or patterns, it will fall under the math umbrella.
When you are creating math activities, you should take pieces from your book and create math activities from them.
For example:
Finish the character pattern
Can you find these 8 objects from the book in this hidden picture
Include a recipe from the book and encourage parents and children to measure and mix it together
Science
If your book has anything to do with plants, the environment, animals, weather, or dinosaurs, it will fall under the science umbrella.
When you are creating science activities that pair with your book, take pieces and pictures from your book and use them to create these activities.
Some activity examples include:
How do plants grow posters paired with what plants are good to start growing inside
Matching animals in the book to their habitats and finding them things that they like to eat
What type of weather is there and where does this weather appear
How big were dinosaurs and where did they live?
Art
Art is perhaps one of the most overlooked learning umbrellas despite its ability to teach patterns, fine motor control, color schemes, and techniques.
If your book talks about painting, drawing, colors, photos, sculptures, and anything of this sort, it falls under the art umbrella.
Some activity examples include:
What colors did you see in the book and can you use them to create a picture
Where do we see these colors in nature?
Mixing colors (provide a color wheel and talk about how to mix colors)
Symmetrical drawing activities, connect the dots, coloring pages
Show step-by-step how to create characters from the book
Share recipes for homemade playdough and give examples of what sculptures can be created with it and what tools to use to have the best results.
Literacy/ Reading
They are already reading the book, so this is covered, right?
Actually, this area of learning pertains to ABC books, books that focus on rhyming or particular letters, and letter/ sound recognition.
Some activity examples include:
Matching the object to the letter it starts with
Uppercase to lowercase letter matching
Find the things in the book that begin with the letter B
Retelling the story cards/ sequencing cards
Folktale comparisons
Music
Music is another area that is often overlooked in the literacy world and learning world.
If your book has anything to do with singing, making instruments, playing music, jobs of musicians, or the like, you fall under the music umbrella.
Some activity examples include:
How to make a homemade instrument
Where we hear music
What is music used for?
Explanations of how music is used in the community and what these people's jobs are
What music teaches
History
If your book has anything to do with historical events, you obviously fall into this category.
The aspects that qualify you are:
Real-life story retellings
Stories about major historical events
Informational stories about everyday jobs or careers
Some activity examples include:
Creating a timeline of the story
Sharing how to make a historical device (perhaps a telescope or something from the time period of the story)
Sharing what was popular at the time the story takes place
When it comes down to creating teachable activities that work hand in hand with your book, it’s important to make sure that it’s easy to use and accessible.
Be sure to:
Include instructions
Make them easy to use
Find ways to make them shareable and create a community
Help readers easily access your work
Creating a printable file and offering it online where parents/teachers can download and print it can prove useful. Or create a learning kit that includes the activities and the book together.
When you create these printable files, be sure to also list where people can access them in the back of your book. Or you can even create a QR code.
If you can accomplish these things, you will do well.