“Idea Jar” by Adam Lehrhaupt and Deb Pilutti
This is the darling story of a teacher’s “idea jar” that her students use for writing their stories. The real fun is that the ideas “take on a life of their own” and are personified as the various characters they represent. They then continue to help the students write some really amazing stories. The illustrations in this book are so cute and the premise for the story is genius. It is the perfect book for introducing students or children to idea jars and perfect for motivating kids to use them. SO good!
Click here to purchase “Idea Jar” *affiliate link
DIY Idea Jars
The concept of idea jars isn’t new, but it definitely never gets old. Idea jars are essentially just jars filled with slips of paper that have ideas written on them. For writing the ideas can be anything from delicious adjectives to interesting nouns. They are used in classroom settings where they can filled by teachers and/or students. They are also great for using at home as a family or individual for storing ideas.
Once you have some ideas stored in your jar on slips of paper the process is that when you need an idea for your story you simply pull one or more out and implement them. It really couldn’t be any simpler or more fun. What if you pulled out the words “bored” and “viking” for example like they do in the book? And what if he was joined by a “sassy” and a “goldfish”? The possibilities are endless!
Making an idea jar can be as simple as designating a jar and sticking it somewhere prominent. To keep it just as simple (almost) I created a free printable label (Free for personal and education use.) that you can print out on sticker paper and attach to your jar of choice. You could even go “all out” and personalize your jar with some decorations such as glitter or stickers. Make it fun! I hope that your jars provide you with many fantastic ideas that create the most enthralling stories. Happy Writing!
Download the Idea Jar Labels Here: Idea Jar Printable
If you give this Beyond the Book activity a try I’d love to hear how it goes! Share it on Instagram and tag me! (I’m on Instagram as @book.nerd.mommy) or even just comment here with your thoughts. It would make my day! Or to simply save for later pin the image below.
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