The purpose of this study is (a)to identify reading effect on the imagination, and (b)to compare reading effect with audio-visual materials. For these purposes, 25 elementary school students and 11 university students participated in the reading project. The participants of this project painted a car and a beast after reading a book and watching a movie, Main findings and conclusions made in this study are summarised as follows : (1)Reading is better than a movie for the people's imagination. (2)Children can imagine much more freely than the adults. It is expected that these results can be used for the children's reading education and programs.