For classrooms, libraries, and home
Ideas + Resources
Free guides, activities, and teaching ideas.
Start with a book or find what your readers need.
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What will your readers discover?
Select below to find activities, articles, and listening for your readers.
Find what your readers need
Reading + discussion
Choose a download, read a teaching idea, or listen for inspiration. Check each activity’s book requirements before you begin.
Downloads + activities (8)
- Download the guide
Visual Literacy Classroom Toolkit
Use the pictures to notice facial expressions, motion, and details the short text leaves for readers to infer. K–5 toolkit, with teacher adaptation for Pre-K.
General picture-book activities
- Download the guide
Discussion + activity guide
Read, discuss, and write with Warning: Do Not Open This Book! and Please, Open This Book!.
Both named books
Guide created by Marcie Colleen
- Download the guide
Discussion + activity guide
Explore nouns, verbs, and the way language makes a story work.
Book-specific guide
Guide created by Debbie Gonzales
- Download the guide
Zoey + Sam’s Word Search
Find words from Zoey and Sam’s world, including school and space vocabulary.
Chicken-series printable
- Download the printable
Noun Coloring Sheet
A Wordplay character printable for color and language exploration.
Wordplay printable
- Download the printable
Verb Coloring Sheet
A Wordplay character printable for color and language exploration.
Wordplay printable
- Download the printable
Noun + Verb’s Word Search
A quick Wordplay word-finding activity.
Wordplay printable
- Download the guide
Interactive Reading Lesson Kit
Invite readers into a story through interactive reading techniques. Includes Bear Snores On, Jam, Too?, and Mahogany as examples.
Adaptable; named-book examples
Teaching articles (3)
- Read the article
Interactive reading techniques
Invite readers into the story with interactive reading techniques.
Teaching article
- Read the article
Visual literacy in the classroom
Read visual clues and explore how illustrations tell a story. Includes I Will Not Eat You.
Teaching article
- Read the article
Turn a picture book into a classroom activity
Find a starting point for extending picture-book reading into classroom activity.
Teaching article
Picture This listening (3)
- Open episode audio
Interactive Read-Alouds with JaNay Brown-Wood
Join JaNay Brown-Wood for ideas about interactive read-alouds, literacy, and STEM.
Picture This podcast
- Open episode audio
Picture This: visual literacy
Explore why visual literacy matters in elementary classrooms.
Picture This podcast
- Open episode audio
Creativity with nonfiction picture books
Explore creative possibilities for teaching with nonfiction picture books.
Picture This podcast
Have a book in mind?
Select a title to find its guides and activities.
This Is a Good Story
A story worth building.
Discussion + project guide
Ready-to-use creative activities help students see how stories work and start building their own.
Book-specific guide
Download the guideGuide created by Debbie Gonzales
Also useful: activities to adapt
- Download the guide
Creative Writing Lesson Kit
Explore narrative structure and writing with picture books. Choose a narrative picture book that fits the lesson; examples include We Love Fishing!.
Requires a suitable narrative picture book
Start here. Take it further.
Need a more participatory read-aloud? Start with the first selection. Want readers to look more closely at illustrations? Try the second. Each article, activity, and episode works on its own.
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A newsletter from Adam
A story idea worth trying.
A resource worth saving.
Creative activities and useful discoveries for your classroom, library, or kitchen table—with ways to make them fit.
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Read the sample issueA dragon withthe wrong job.
Newsletter signup is optional. Activities and downloads stay free.
School visits
From the page.Into your school.
Bring creativity, critical thinking, and storytelling to life with a visit built around your students.
Spark curiosity.Curiosity
Build creative thinkers.Creativity
Give ideas a voice.Confidence
School-visit planning
Planning an author visit?
For your principal or PTA
First, share the idea.
A one-page look at the student experience, classroom value and visit options.
Get the one-page overview PDF · 1 pageThen, plan the day.
The Complete Guide to Hosting Successful Author School Visits helps you prepare a visit around your students and goals.
Get the planning guide (PDF)