A DIY Mini Book for Kids

I found a tutorial on how to make a mini comic book for kids a few months ago. I have a 6 year old boy who goes to school who's curriculum lies heavily on the creative side. So I knew this would be good project to do.

But since I am not exactly a creative person, it took me quite a while to come up with something.

After a bit of searching, I zeroed in on a Grimm's fairy tale called "Simeli Mountain". The choice was simple enough - I was confident I could draw a mountain. I highly doubted if I could pull off a big bad wolf or 7 dwarfs but I was sure I could do a mountain.

In a nutshell, Simeli Mountain is a story of a man who found a mountain filled with treasures. There is a secret door that opens and open when he speak the magic words. The villain is is his older brother, who upon learning that he suddenly became rich, beat him to tell him where he got his money. The older brother then went to the mountain himself and went crazy with greed when he saw the treasures. He spent too much time inside the mountain that he forgot the magic words and was trapped.

To make the mini book, I used the reverse side of a notepad so it's free of any characters signs or logos.

Then I used some colored pencils for the drawings.

Since I didn't have a picture book to copy from, I had to call out (or maybe beg) my inner creativity to come forth and inspire me. I drew the characters and events out of pure imagination.

After 10 pages, I made the cover page, put the title in it and sew it up.

Since this is mainly a picture mini book, parents/guardians can use each page as a guide to tell the story of the Simeli Mountain or any other story that they wish to create. It's that simple.

Enjoy!