Initial Ideas

My initial ideas include:
- A map on the back page- the map would be simplified and only indicating the main sections of the park which the kids will need to go to. For instance, they wouldn't need to go to the university lecture rooms, hence why that wouldn't be on the map.

- From the options that we could choose from, I have an idea that I could have a page with how to make a bug hotel and on the opposite page of the double page spread, I would have a box/section with all of the bugs that they could possibly find in the woodlands and then underneath, there would be a empty box maybe with a black and white drawing of a bug garden with the instructions for the child to draw the bugs that they have found in the woods in the box.

Front Cover Idea:
My idea for the front cover and the name of the activity book is that it is called '100 Things To Do Outside'. It would include 100 activities for children to do outside. I am not sure as of yet what I would include on the front cover but in this diagram, I have included an outline of a woodland tree which would host greens and browns which I said were woodland colours.

Front Cover Idea:
This front cover idea would include a green background and it would host a box/section which would say 'This Book Belongs To.....'. The child would be able to fill in the section with their name meaning that the activity book would be a lot more personal to them which could mean that they would be more willing to take part in the activities if they are difficult.

Lakeside Brief- Initial Research

The main aim of this brief is to get children out into the woodland and experience wildlife and getting muddy again. This activity book needs to be informational but at the same time present the idea that being outdoors is actually still as fun as playing inside on games consoles. Bright colours should be used, in my opinion as it is for kids but I think that there needs to be a great deal of colours which relate to the woodland such as brown, greens, blues (for streams/lakes).

I am going to begin my research by looking at the following areas in children's book design:
- Outdoor books for children
- Outdoor Activity books for children
- Activity books for children
- Woodland themes
- Woodland themed books (children or adult)

Outdoor Books:




The above book covers and double page spread all have a theme, although they aren't actually activity books, they are all books which look at the outdoors, whether it is an information book or its a story book. As the activity book that we need to produce is for both boys and girls and also as a learning resource, it would need to be relatively neutral in the colour schemes. The above examples tend to swing one way or the other and aren't really suitable for both genders.

Outdoor Activity Books:





The book covers above tend to be all suitable for children and adults as the adults will probably be the ones helping the children to complete the different tasks.The front covers all have some kind of illustrations on them, whether it is cartoon style, photorealistic images or line drawings of cartoon and photorealistic images. It is a difficult one to decide on as kids like cartoon images and it makes them less daunting but if they are overly whimsical then they children may not see or understand the cartoon in relation to the real life object.

Activity Books (in general):







 
Above shows some images from the inside of activity books for children. I like the idea of having the map outline, I plan on incorporating that into my map which would be on the back page of my activity book.

Woodland Books (Adult and Children):








The above book covers range from being suitable for adults and for children, I wanted to look at a range of book covers for different aged audiences in order to see the different techniques that have been used.


3D Cutout/Print outs:





I have focused on bookmarks as I think this will also encourage the children to read more.


Other Inspiration:

"I Can Cook"Cookbook Brief

I completed some research on current children's cook books that are on the market:






From the research that I have conducted above, I have come to the conclusion that there is a half and half split to the cartoon illustrated cookbooks and the photo realistic illustrations. The positive point about the photo realistic books is that the children can see exactly what the final piece of food is going to be where as in the cartoon section is a bit more vague to the final outcome. There are a large amount of pastel colours which would probably be described as pretty.

The main sections within the double spread of these cookbooks are the title stating the name of the recipe, the ingredients section, the equipment, the instructions/method and then any alternatives which would include options to swap certain foods for other food.

I chose to do the sticky chocolate cake recipe. Below are some sketches of concepts that I have come up with.

Below is the final outcome that I have created for this brief: