Book Projects!

37  Book  Project Ideas

These project ideas have been compiled from different teaching websites. I hope there are no repeats! Choose a project that you will enjoy working on and sharing with the class.

1.     Write a letter to a main character in the book or the author of the book. You can even mail it to the author, and you may be surprised to see how many authors actually reply!

2.    Pretend your child is a radio broadcaster, and have him make an informative advertisement for the book. Record him on MP3 player. This is fantastic for informational books. 

3.    Chapter X- If your child wishes his book had never ended or that the ending was different, this may be for him! Write an additional chapter.

4.   Create a comic book of all the main events in the book. This is terrific for children who like to draw.

5.    Make a diorama. This is a timeless classic. A diorama is usually made inside a small box, such as a shoebox. The background is drawn, painted, or pasted inside the box. The diorama shows a favorite scene of a story. Nurture your child’s creativity.

6.    Create a television commercial for the book. Tell the audience why the book should be purchased. Be persuasive and include props. Be careful not to give the ending away. Videotape your child, so he can watch himself on television. Let him be a star!

7.   Create a test or quiz about the book. Your child may write true and false, multiple choice, matching, and essay questions. Make sure to include an answer key. Let your child be the teacher, and you take the test. I hope you pass!

8.   Make a puppet of a main character, put on a puppet show, and write a character sketch that highlights several important characteristics or personality traits.

9.    Give a “Book-Talk” dressed as a main character in the book. Tell the audience specific reasons to read the book. Make it sound so good that everyone will want to read it. Do not forget the video camera!

10. Make a timeline of the major events pertaining to the main character or the main events in the book. This is excellent for biographies.

11.  Create a puzzle by drawing on construction paper or poster board a favorite scene or the setting from the book. Cut the illustration into at least five puzzle pieces. Put the pieces into a plastic bag, and have someone put it together.

12. Book in a Box  Decorate a box to represent the book and fill it with objects that symbolize different aspects of the story.

13. Book Mobile  Create a mobile using the four story elements (setting, character, plot, theme).

14. Book Collage  Create a collage on posterb board using pictures that represent different parts of the book.

15. Movie Poster  Pretend the book is going to be made into a movie and create a poster to promote the movie.

16. Main Character  Make a 3-D model of the main character and write an interview with that character.

17. Scrapbook  Make a scrapbok with items and pictures athat are important to the life of the main character and to the story.

18. Take and print out REAL photos to make a photo presentation that captures the main events of the novel. 

19. Create a soundtrack that could be used if the novel were ever produced as a movie. Burn the songs on to a CD and bring to class.

20.  Create a diary as if you were the main character of the novel. Have several entries to show that you really know the character.

21. Create the e-mail directory of all the people you can imagine your character keeping in touch with on e-mail. Explain why you selected the people you did and what it shows about your character. Then construct several exchanges between your character and some of the people in your character's directory.

22.To show your understanding of a character, go through several magazines and newspapers looking for advertisements of goods you think your character would like. Cut out the pictures, mount them on a poster board, and under each picture write a few lines about why this product would appeal to your character.

23.Create a sculpture of a character. Use any combination of soap, wood, clay, sticks, wire, stones, old toy pieces, or any other object. An explanation of how this character fits into the book should accompany the sculpture.

24.  Interview a character from your book. Write at least ten questions that will give the character the opportunity to discuss his/her thoughts and feelings about his/her role in the story. However you choose to present your interview is up to you.

25.Prepare an oral report of 5 minutes. Give a brief summary of the plot and describe the personality of one of the main characters. Be prepared for questions from the class.

26.Give a sales talk, pretending the students in the class are clerks in a bookstore and you want them to push this book.

27.  Make several sketches of some of the scenes in the book and label them.

28.  If the story of your book takes place in another country, prepare a travel brochure using pictures you have found or drawn.

29.After reading a book of history or historical fiction, make an illustrated timeline showing events of the story.

30.  Read two books on the same subject and compare and contrast them using a Venn Diagram.

31. Create a mini-comic book relating a chapter of the book.

32.Make one to three posters about the book using two or more of the following media: paint, crayons, chalk, paper, ink, real materials.

33.Write a diary that one of the story’s main characters might have kept before, during, or after the book’s events. Remember that the character’s thoughts and feelings are very important in a diary.

34.  Build a miniature stage setting of a scene in the book. Include a written explanation of the scene.

35.Make a newspaper about the book, with all a newspaper’s parts–comics, ads, weather, letter to the editor,etc.

36.Plan a party for one or all of the characters involved. Choose birthday gifts for one of the characters involved. Tell why you chose them.

37.  Make Up Your Own Idea.