From Cindy's Heart

Let’s Try Lapbooking...by Cindy Rushton

Let’s Try Lapbooking

(You are GOING to be HOOKED!)...

by Cindy Rushton

Want to try Lapbooking? Does it seem to intrigue you? Does it seem like the perfect place to keep all of those precious booklets that your children have been creating? Got your interest? That is what this chapter is all about! You are going to love it!

Lapbooking is going to addict you! Once you learn how and set up your first Lapbook, you will find yourself as addicted as we are. So, ready? Let’s first get an overview of how to make a Lapbook. Then, we will go back over the steps to make sure that we cover all of the things that you may need to know. Ready? Let’s try Lapbooking!

Quick and Easy Steps to  Getting Started Lapbooking…

Yes, there are only a few steps to making a Lapbook. Let’s go over the steps!

©       Learn the Lapbook basics!  That is what this book is about. Read it through one good time to get a good overview. Then, go back through it with your first project. I will take you through the steps of making a “Sample” Lapbook in a bit. I cannot recommend that highly enough. It will help you to try your hand at the different booklet options and it will show you how to put everything together in your file folder without risking that you mess up any of the booklets or original work that your children have made. In fact, you may also want for your children to make their own “Sampler” so they can learn the basics. Usually a child will be ready-to-go with a project once they see how it is done. Then, all they will need is access to their supplies…plenty of time to work…and a whole lot of “mommy” encouragement! So, learn the basics, try them out in a “Sampler,” show the little ones, and let them go! You will love it!

©       Learn how to make booklets. As you will notice in each of the clips with Lapbook examples (included in the Companion CD and all throughout this Book), each big folder consists of many small booklets, foldables, and information sheets. You are probably creating these already, but if you need help, check out some of the links in our website section of this book. There are great instructions for creating fun booklets. We also share a few ideas in the chapter on booklets included in this book. Let the sky be your limit! You can produce any style or shape for your booklets. They will all be adorable in your Lapbook.

©       Teach your children how to make booklets for themselves. Again, I highly recommend making a sampler with your children. Show them the basics of making booklets. If you are a bit overwhelmed, you may want to begin with just a few simple booklets. You can make them in different sizes to fit the material that you have. Just a different size or type of paper makes the same booklet look completely unique. The fun part is that ANYTHING goes! So, make it easy!  Show them the basics. Help them to learn just a few options (they will want to know more later and then you can dig up even more for them to try out). Give them a nice introduction. Then, you can turn them loose.

©       Teach children to record neat information into the booklets. Information is EVERYWHERE begging to be added to your Lapbook! Just look at the websites included with this book. Look at your materials that you have on hand. There is so much information right around you. You can add ANY of it to your Lapbook. Lapbooks are such a cute way to display pictures, maps, charts, information booklets, lists, coloring pages, etc. They are great for the reluctant writer who needs to copy information bit-by-bit. Teach your little ones how to record information from their study and how to add it to the booklets. Then, turn them loose!

©       Keep booklets in a plastic baggie until you are finish with the study and ready to build your Lapbook. We keep our booklets in plastic baggies in our notebooks during our studies. Once we begin wrapping up our study, we can begin to get an idea of how the booklets can be set up in our Lapbook to blend together and make a neat Lapbook. One thing to remember, if you have a certain theme, you may want to plan ahead by choosing matching specialty papers and coordinating supplies.

©       Take a file folder and fold into a “Shutterfold.”  We use colored file folders for our projects. I usually choose a color that coordinates with the theme. You can use other paper too. You can use the 11 X 17 cardstock, which gives you even more options for colors to match your themes. If you are not sure what a “Shutterfold” is, take a peek at the instructions for making a “Sampler” to see pictures and read the instructions.

©       Take out booklets from the study. Get an idea of how you want to display the booklets in the Lapbook. I like for mine to have a nice flow with the information. I try to group my booklets in an order that flows.

©       Add any “extensions” needed to hold and display all booklets and information. If you are like me, you will quickly run out of space for your booklets. The perfect answer to that dilemma is to use “extensions” which allow for more booklets to be added to your Lapbook. An extension can be made with another file folder or with cardstock paper or even poster-board. See the instructions for making a “Sampler” to see instructions on how to add an extension. We use clear packing tape to attach the extension to our folders. A friend of mine uses prong Paper Fasteners.  Those work great when you want to add a bunch of pages as extensions.  Extensions offer lots of room to display the different booklets and information from our study. They also provide even more stability to the book. One neat thing about Lapbooking is that you can keep on adding extensions and booklets for years if you come across more information that you want to add to your Lapbook. It can continue to grow with your child’s education.

©       Glue booklets, pictures, captions into your Lapbook.  We use glue stick for most of our additions. Some of the heavier entries need Spray Adhesive to hold better. We use a lot of our Scrapbooking materials, supplies, tools, and techniques for making our Lapbooks really special. Elisabeth and I are always ready to “Scrapbook” for any project. Perhaps that is another reason that Lapbooking just appealed to me! Lapbooks just seem to look more and more adorable as we add neat new touches to each one.

©       Add stickers and any other accents. Again, I use many of the goodies that are left-over from our Scrapbooking projects. For the Presidents and Elections Lapbook, we actually bought some adorable stickers and die cuts at our local Scrapbooking store. They were JUST what the Lapbook needed to be perfect!

©       Finally, decorate and title your cover. Titles can be designed and printed on your computer or made by hand. Just, make them special! Don’t forget to add the student’s name and age. Remember that although you CAN create one Lapbook for your entire family, it is really more special for each child to make his/her own book. Each Lapbook will show individual abilities and information retained from the study.  In fact, one thing that we really enjoy is making one each. It is so much fun (and challenging!) when I make one too. They are each different, yet really neat. Each of us prefer different booklets and different ways of making our Lapbooks. Plus, each of us picks up different information that appeals to us from the study. We love enjoying each other’s creations. Makes it fun!

©       You are done!  See how easy? Don’t you think it was fun? Yep! You just might get addicted to Lapbooking too!