Two of the questions I hear frequently as people are learning about lapbooking are How can I make a lapbook when I don’t have a printer? and How can I do it without spending a lot of money? To help answer these questions I am going to share with you the first lapbook my children and I made. We did this to review a unit on weather. I believe my children were 5 and 8 when we did it. I am going to explain how we did several of the items you see pictured.
Some of the mini books in this picture are simply copies from a teacher resource book I used for the unit. The pages are designed to be copied and put together as little books. We simply put them in to the lapbook to keep track of them and not lose them. Booklets like these might be able to be easily copied at a library for a small fee per page if you don’t have a printer/copier.
The lift the flap pieces can just be cut out and titles written on them by hand. The rainbow booklet is a circle folded in quarters with a sticker for the rainbow. Inside is a simple description of how rainbows are formed.
I don’t remember where I found the template for the thermometer, but something similar could easily be drawn by hand. To make it “work” I taped a piece of narrow red and white ribbon together to simulate the mercury. Then I cut slits in the top and bottom and threaded it through. By having ribbon tails on both ends my children could “make” various temperatures and we discussed what types of activities were traditionally done and clothing worn at each temperature.
The library pocket holds a puzzle about cloud types. This is also a copy from my teacher reference book, but you could just as easily have the child draw a picture of different cloud types after looking at them outside or in a book. This type of activity works for many topics.
The vocabulary list is simply a piece of paper folded in half. On one side I cut flaps, one for each word I wanted to include, and underneath is room to write a definition or explanation.
The large cloud shape and thunderbolts are simply traced from a book of patterns. Sources of patterns include simple designs from childrens’ coloring books, bulletin board design idea books, and both children’s and adults’ craft books. These craft books often feature a wide variety of patterns so it’s usually not hard to find something which will fit your topic. Many libraries have an abundance of craft books, it just takes time to find what you are looking for.
The cloud is a book of multiple shaped pages where each page is about a different type of cloud. The lightning bolts attached to the cover list a definition and fun facts about lightning.
Folded booklets and designs are quite simple to make. Take a long rectangle shape and fold it back and forth to create a fan shape. For a triangle shaped book simply take a long rectangle of paper and fold it diagonally until you have the number of spaces you want. If you end up with an odd length simply trim the excess length off.
Stacked booklets are just as easy. Simply cut paper to the size and number of pages you want and staple together. You can also make tabs (like the top of a file folder) on the top or side by cutting away part of the edge. You can make staggered edges if you wish.
Additional decorations can be added to a lapbook as well. Some ideas are stickers or craft foam pieces which relate to your theme or associated sayings written on paper and attached where there is room. To add visual interest you can cut theme related shapes for these sayings.
While some people may think I took on a big challenge for my first lapbook project by putting it together myself I‘ve decided it was probably a good thing I did it then. I say this for several reasons –
1. My children were younger and didn’t need the same amount of detail then. This is true of both the lapbook and all subjects in general. I had more time to plan and it didn’t need to be as complex.
2. If I hadn’t gone out on a limb and organized this one I probably never would have put together one of my own. After using predesigned kits and collections and seeing what other people include and feel should be there, I wouldn’t have felt as free to put in what I /my children wanted.
I hope some of these ideas are a place to start if you would like to lapbook but feel you can’t because of money or equipment.
