This activity helps build your child’s reading comprehension skills. Creating a mental image in her mind when she reads can help her better understand and retain what she is reading.
What you’ll need:
- Descriptive passage from a book
- Paper
- Art materials such as crayons, markers and paints
Here’s how to do it
Explain to your child what a mental image is. Discuss with him how the five senses can help him create a mental image. Review the five senses: sound, sight, taste, smell and touch. Have your child describe an object, such as an orange or a plant in the room, using the five senses.
Read aloud a descriptive passage from a book. Ask your child to close his eyes and create a mental image while you read. Ask him to think about the five senses. Have him draw or paint a picture of his mental image. Discuss the picture he drew. Ask questions such as “What words from the passage helped you create the image?” Ask questions regarding the five senses such as “What does it feel like?” “What does it smell like?”
