Guest Post; Summer Project: Creating a Comic Book with the Family

Today we have a guest post by Ken Myers from @go_nannies about a great activity you can do with your family over the summer.  Being that we are Fandads, we thought that this would be a great article to share with our friends.  Imagine making a comic book starring your family.  Hopefully this will inspire you to create a comic book and if you do please share with us here and the Fandads community.  So without further ado, here is Ken's post. 

The technologies involved in developing the Internet have brought a great deal of customization to society. Instead of settling for products that are created for the populace, web-based apps allow people to be as creative as they want. One idea that can be fun this summer is to create a comic book as a family. While it may not be some of the traditional ideas you may be accustomed to, a lot of good can come from the experience of putting one of these graphic novels together.

Unique Creations - Developing a comic book as a family can help you build something that has never been seen before. Instead of doing the same activities every year, something new on this scale could fill a child with pride and accomplishment. It can also provide an interesting story for classmates and teachers when asked how the summer was spent. Realistically, how many families work on a project on such a scale that has a tangible outcome?

Interactive Collaboration - Creating a comic book as a family provides an incredible amount of time for interaction. This could be a great way to bond with the children as story lines are created and characters are developed. It can be beneficial for building and strengthening those connections with family members especially once the finished product has been printed. It can also provide you with greater understanding of your children as you get to know them as individuals with specific likes and interests instead of merely relying on the stagnant parent-child relationship status.

Occupying Attention - With such a large development, the family could spend a large amount of time coming up with ideas for the perfect comic book. This provides the children with something to do during the summer that can occupy the excess time he or she may have on hand. Although you may love them, bored children can possibly drive you batty as boredom and restlessness begin to set in.

Inspiring Creativity - Being creative can help the brain develop. Like any other part of the body, the more brain power that is used the more acute it will become. Instead of relying on game consoles to entertain, children could use video games as inspiration to develop the comic book. It no longer becomes a diversion but analyzed in a critical sense to give your child ideas about how to proceed with the story line and character development. This is aside from developing ideas naturally without digital stimuli.

Heirloom Status - If you base the characters in the comic book off of family members, the graphic novel could easily achieve heirloom status. Although the comic book itself won't increase in value over the years as other popular formats, it can be a way for adults to reminisce about the time they spent developing the book as a child. Consider how fun it would be to see your grandpa featured in his own comic book from half a century ago.

While you could develop comic books professionally and try to sell the idea, the purpose of the project is to work as a cohesive unit to produce something unique that can be cherished for decades - if not longer. Many aspects of life can be involved within this project from teaching teamwork to creative writing. Use your imagination as a family and create something never seen before by human eyes.

Ken Myers is a father of three and passionate about great childcare. He’s always looking for ways to help families find the support they need to live fuller, richer lives. Find out more about expert childcare by checking out @go_nannies on Twitter.

The images on this post are provided by The Comics Factory.com  Check out their site when you can to transform your pictures into amazing works of art.  

Thank you Ken for your post and please visit GoNannies.com.

Until next time friends, thanks for reading.