Make a Guidebook

Join Rashmi Sirdeshpande, Viviane Schwarz and Ben Shires to explore guidebooks, and examine maps, urban and natural landscapes, global foods and cultural histories. The session will spark excitement about non-fiction and enhance English and geography skills.

Students will be inspired to make their own guidebooks, focusing on a place of their choice: a city they’ve researched, a faraway nation, a historical landscape (e.g. Ancient Greece, Egypt or Viking Britain), the solar system, their own neighbourhood, or even a fictitious or virtual environment.

What to expect:

• Rashmi Sirdeshpand will read from her new book, Amazing Asia, and show beautiful examples from a variety of books, looking at maps, cities, nature and cultures from around the world
• through make-alongs and draw-alongs, Viviane will demonstrate how to create imaginative details for your guidebooks, including fold-out panoramas, lift-the-flap buildings containing cross-sections, postcards sent home, and plates of local foods
• Ben and Rashmi will offer creative prompts to help students develop ideas for their own guidebooks.

What to bring:

• each child should have a minimum of five sheets of A4 paper and a pencil
• please ensure a teacher or school staff member is present in the classroom for the duration of the session.

Share your students’ work with us on X @BL_Learning or via email to childrens.books@bl.uk to enter our prize draw and win book tokens for your classroom shelves or school library.

The guidebook activity can be adapted to support your existing summer term project.

Image credit: Anastasiia Torianyk