My four year old was upset because she got left home alone while all her brothers and sisters went to the store with Papa. So I came up with this quick lapbook for her. The puppets on the side are from the Making Friends website and the coloring pages are from the membership area of the Danielle's Place website. My five year old was very jealous when she got home and complained that she shouldn't have gone.

I love how they think a lapbook is a special treat. :-)

My 13 year old just finished the Live and Learn Press Lapbook for General Science. Although he isn't a fan of science or of lapbooking, he did admit that he learned a lot this year. And, much to my surprise, he requested that I order the lapbook to go along with Physical Science next year. The price is a bit steep, but as I plan to use it with all of my eight children I think I will get more than my money's worth.

I really like how easy the LNL booklets are to cut and assemble. There aren't many shapebooks, so most of your cutting is on straight lines. Although some of the graphics are "silly" the overall look is nice.  I did compare this with the Knowledge Box Central lapbook and prefered the Live and Learn Press overall, though the lab forms in the KBC version are a really nice addition.  

If you're interested in making your own comparison, both companies have samples available.

Live and Learn samples

Knowledge Box Central samples

Here is the chocolate lapbook my 13 year old son just completed using a kit from Hands of a Child. He also made chocolate using a kit which can also be purchased from Hands of a Child.

I've been working on this lapbook with my two little girls off and on for several months now. We've had a lot of fun, but we are glad to finally be done. The printables for this lapbook come from an Evan Moor Literature Pockets book that I purchased at Currclick. I just printed at half-size, and everything was the perfect size for a lapbook. The girls have had the best time going back and playing with the minibooks and puppets and reciting the poems they learned.  They are so proud of the final product. I think this has been their favorite lapbook so far.

Here is the lapbook completed by my 4 year old:

And here is the lapbook completed by my 5 year old:

I've been working on a lapbook to go along with The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer. This is an excellent book with lots of wonderful ideas on how to realize your full potential, while creating a fuller, richer homelife for yourself and your family. Mrs. Schaeffer works from the premiss that everyone has God given talents, gifts of creativity given to us by a creative God, and we shouldn't allow our present circumstances to keep us from using those talents. For instance, Mrs. Schaeffer describes how to create a "home" that reflects your own personality- whether you are renting in the city, single and "waiting", living in a nursing home, or even living in a drain pipe. She also points out how stiffling our talents hurts us and those around us, and gives pointers on ways that everyone, even a mother with many young children, can use their gifts of music, drama, drawing, or writing to bless their own small audience.  This book covers a multitude of other topics as well, including cooking, flower arrangement, clothing, creative recreation, and even integration. It is not a "how-to" manual , but rather an idea manual, guranteed to get those creative juices flowing. 

In the process of re-reading this book, I was convicted of an area where I have been sinning against my children.  While I am all for art and creativity, I also have this practical side which can't tolerate what I consider to be a waste. So when my children spend hours creating elaborate, artistically decorated  notes, I get rather impatient with them.   Why spend all that time and effort, not to mention the "waste" of paper, on something which could have been spoken in a matter of seconds? Yet I now see that this just one of their ways of practicing "hidden art." It is a good thing, given to them by a God who created all things to be good.  And just like Him, it is their desire to fill the world with beauty. (And they didn't even need a book to tell them how!)

I highly recommend this book, and I hope you all will be looking forward to the lapbook. I am hoping to have it done by the end of the month, barring any unforseen circumstances.

Update: The lapbook is now available for purchase from Currclick and is on sale for $6.00 through the end of the month!

I happened across this website the other day that has some wonderful nature study printables.  They have some booklets with fun activities to do on a nature walk, leaf identification cards, coloring pages, printable masks, seasonal recipes, and more. There are also some interactive games on the site.  Really there is just more great stuff than I can talk about here, so go check it out for yourself.

Nature Detective

My sons spent a few days last week working with their papa, so my nine year old daughter was looking for some ways to make money too. I told her if she did the research and came up with the ideas for the minibooks, I would help her design some lapbooks to sell. We just finished one on Memorial Day which you can purchase at my Lulu storefront  or at Currclick. Here is a picture of the completed lapbook which she cut out and assembled:

She is planning to use her profits to save for a digital camera or a sewing machine.

Sewing is a skill that I really want my daughters to learn. My mom did teach me some hand sewing, but never got around to teaching me to use the sewing machine.  So, we had to look for someone (besides me) to teach our girls.

Yesturday my oldest daughter had her first sewing lesson with my husband's aunt, who is an accomplished seamstress.  She  started out by teaching a few hand sewing basics.

 She even made some "homework" for my daughter to do. I thought this was such a neat idea. The first is a single turn hem which my daughter has already finished. She sewed it with black thread so her aunt could check it. The second is six different styles of buttons my daughter had to sew on. The third is a double turn hem, which still needs to be completed.

My daughter is also working on the sewing lapbook I put together. If you are interested, you can find the information and free printables here.

OK, I admit it. I get a little lazy this time of year. We are supposed to be studying Japan this week, but I didn't really feel like doing much on Monday. So, I handed the kids a pile of books and told them, "Read these, design some minibooks, and make a lapbook using the information you read."  I was really impressed with what they came up with. (I did the actual design work on the computer, but they chose the titles, type of book, colors, and graphics.) I'm in the process of refining and adding in some other things and I will eventually offer it for sale. I told them I will use the profits to buy more fun school stuff. LOL!  If you are studying Japan, you might also want to check out my Japan Unit Study page.

My 9 1/2 year old made this one. She designed the Japanese arts, haiku, geta, kimono,  and musical instruments books. It was also her idea to add the oragami project to the lapbook.

My almost 12 year old made this one. He still needs to add an oragami project to the blank space. He designed four of the minibooks- Japanese sports, inventions, food, and characters.

My almost 11 year old made this one. He was content to let his siblings design his minibooks for him. The "animals of Japan" was the only one he designed.  He still needs to make his cover.

The newest Little Laplinks theme is Penguins, which works out great since we just started a penguins lapbook anyway. My two little girls LOVE penguins! We are using Scholastic's Easy Make and Learn Projects: Penguins. It has some wonderful printables! It's not free, but I think it was worth the money I spent on it. I also made a few extras to add to it. They are posted in the files section of the Lilliput Station Yahoo Group. I also posted several penguin links on my blog last April, and here are a few new ones to add to them:

• Penguin Theme Gander Academy is one of my favorite sites. There's lot's of good information here.

• Penguin Theme  Another great information site. Has some good pictures too.

• Science Surprises  A one page printable with a few penguin facts.

• Emperor Penguin Board Game

• Penguin, Penguin  An easy reader on the Starfall site.

• Rumble, Grumble, Gurgle, Roar  An online storybook. Not printable, but very cute.

• Penguin Resources Various printables and crafts, penguin worksheet maker, Bible verse cards and copywork.

• Penguin Activities Several printables from Kidzone.

• Penguin Adaptations  Black and white graphics and text showing the ways in which penguins were equiped by God to survive in the enviroment where he placed them.

We will post photos when we complete our lapbooks.

Since my free notebooking pages post was so popular, I decided to do one for lapbooks as well. I think there are a lot of people who would like to try lapbooking, but aren't willing to spend alot of money on something they aren't sure is going to work for them. Or they'd like to try lapbooking, but just aren't sure how to do it. Freebies are a great solution to both of these problems.

Hands of A Child has a new lapbook freebie every quarter. Right now, they are offering an Art Appreciation lapbook. The HomeschoolEstore also offers free lapbooks occasionally. Right now (through November 18th) you can get the Hands of A Child What Is Snow? lapbook for free.

Live and Learn Press has an Apple Learn 'N Folder and an All About Me folder. If you join their Yahoo Group, they offer several more freebies including a Mothers Day, a Fathers Day, a St. Patrics Day, a Fourth of July, and a Thanksgiving folder.

Homeschool Helper Online has some very nice free lapbooks and templates. They have too many to list here. We are currently using their Orchestra lapbook for our composer studies.

Homeschool Share also has a nice and growing selection of free lapbooks.

Lapbook Lessons  has some very nice printable lapbooks including one for Little House In the Big Woods. Or check out some of the free resources from Valerie's Little Laplinks meme. Don't forget to visit Lilliput Station Adventures to download the free resources I've created for these lapbooks.

The Homeschooling On A Budget Google group also has a great selection of free lapbooks. (Membership in the group is required.)

Sonia of Homeschool Treasure Trove just posted a Clocks and Calendars lapbook. (Membership in the group is required.)

The Virginia government has been nice enough to provide some nice printables for a US History or Virginia History lapbook.

Just Some Stuff has posted a free Twas The Night Before Christmas Lapbook she made with both black & white and color templates.

This is not a complete lapbook, but Peakmore Academy  does have some nice foldables to include in a lapbook.  Currently she only has history minibooks, but she told me she has some science ones coming soon.

And finally, check out Jimmie's Lapbook Lens on Squidoo. She has lots of links to free templates as well as excellent info on how to get started lapbooking.

If you know of any free lapbooks I have missed, please leave me a comment and include the link. Thanks!

It's November so it's time for a new Little Laplinks theme. This month it's Pilgrims.  Here are some links I've collected. We don't plan to make this one since we just finished up a Thanksgiving lapbook (see pictures at end of post). But here are some ideas for the rest of you:

Evan Moor has some very nice samples which would work well in a Pilgrim lapbook:

• patterns to make Pilgrim hats
• a cross legged Pilgrim with a pocket
• a turkey puzzle
• thanksgiving poetry
• map of the thirteen colonies (not really thanksgiving, but related)
• learn about a Pilgrim village and town crier shape book
• compare Thanksgiving dinner then to Thanksgiving dinner now
• how to plant corn

I found out about these freebies through Audrey's Thanksgiving Links. She has lots of goodies!  Definately worth a look!

The Teaching Learning Company also has some very nice freebies. I've listed a couple of them, but check out their site because there is lots more:

• clipart
• turkey puppet and sing-a-long

Homeschool Helper Online has several Pilgrim related lapbook templates.  Robert Sabuda  has a cute turkey pop-up you can make and Unit Studies By Gwen has a nice Thanksgiving minibook.  LearningPage.com also has some Thanksgiving printables including a colors of Fall minibook.  

I've also made a few things. You can find them at Lilliput Station Adventures. Have fun!

And here is my oldest (9 year old) daughter's lapbook. A lot of these templates came from the Live and Learn Press Thanksgiving Lapbook:

Yesturday my three middle children didn't have anything to do during the toddlers' naptime, so I gave them some paper and file folders and printed off some of the pages in the Hand's of A Child Templates Pack so they could  make lapbooks. This is what they came up with:

My six year old son made a squirrel lapbook which really has no practical purpose, but he had fun anyway. I love how he turned the squirrels into flaps with other squirrels hidden underneath. He's a bit squirrel crazy. When my husband took his older brothers squirrel hunting, I teased him about having to eat his little friends. He said, "So. I like watching squirrels and I would like to eat them too." Yuck. That is totally his father's genes.

This was my seven year old son's creation. I don't think he ever decided on a theme, but I like it anyway:

My nine year old daughter made an art lapbook. :

 Don't you love her list of things you need for a picture?

Grass to make the picture look green.

Flowers to make the picture colorful.

Sky to make the picture look finished.

A person or animal to add action to the picture.

How many masterpieces do you think would meet her criteria? LOL!

In case you're wondering, she LOVES to paint. 

Valerie from Christian Preschool Printables  has started a monthly  “Little Laplinks” meme for collecting free resources to make early elementry lapbooks. This month's theme is PUMPKINS! If you would like to participate, you can read about it on her blog.

Let's get started! First, how about some math?

Counting Pumpkin

Scarecrow Counts The Pumpkins Emerging reader

Scarecrow Counts The Pumpkins Emerging Reader 2

Find the Missing Number

File Folder Game: Pumpkin Patch Matching game teaches pattern recognition.

Number Match-Up Puzzle Color black & white and color.

Six Piece Puzzle Develops reasoning skills.

Pumpkin Patch Subtracting (This is from the Enchanted learning site, so you have to be a member to print it off. If you're not a member, you can still look at it & make your own.)

How Many Seeds In A Pumpkin Book This book isn't free, but it looks so cute that I may go ahead and get it.

Then some science:

Pumpkin Science

Describe A Pumpkin Using The Five Senses and write your descriptions in this Pumpkin Shape Book.

Pumpkin Poem/Coloring Page

Life Cycle of a Pumpkin Sequencing Activity

Next some language arts:

Pumpkin Sight Words One, Two, Three, Four

Pumpkin Patch Alphabet Flashcards

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater puppet

Homeschool Share Pumpkin Jack Unit With Printables & Activities

Now on to art:

Make A Pumpkin Seed Mosaic

Pumpkin Crayon Rubbings 

Pumpkin Hand Prints (to decorate the cover of your lapbook)

You need yellow construction paper, orange and green washable paint, paint brushes, and green marker.

Place the paper on a table in front of the child.  Have him or her make a fist with one hand.  Paint the top of the fist (fingers and knuckles) orange.  Press the fist onto the sheet of paper to resemble a pumpkin.  Repeat until the paper has as many pumpkins prints as desired.  Next, make a green fingerprint at the top of each pumpkin for a stem.  When the paint is dry, use a green marker to add vines to the picture. 

And after all that hard work, you can enjoy a snack:

Pumpkin Poop

Pumkin Seed Snack

Yummy Pumpkin Treats

Finally, here a few Pumpkin Units With Printables:

Teaching Heart

K-2 Printables

Making Learning Fun

Pumpkin Nook A great site with lots of info!

And don't forget to visit Lilliput Station Adventures  for free pumpkin lapbook templates made especially for this project (What spices are in pumpkin pie? How many words can you make from the phrase "pumpkin patch"? Five Little Pumpkins Minibook. Color Mixing Poem. Plus a pumpkin harvest coloring page. ), plus explaination and links for the lapbook we put together .

Pictures of our finished lapbook:

One of the members of the Lilliput Station Yahoo Group   just completed The Very Hungry Caterpillar Interactive Notebook with two of her sons. Here is a review and some photos she sent:

My two boys have completed this lapbook and I just wanted to let everyone know how it went. My six year old had a blast. My nine year old, who happens to be autistic, had a pretty good time too. I wish the numbers  went past five, but that would be the only thing that I wish.  I love the opposite cards that were added (available in the Lilliput Station group files).  So very cute!!!  The cutting was great for skills that are still developing.  The difference between the hungry caterpillar and the brown and furry I thought was a great idea.  To have both adds variety.  All in all it was really great fun. We worked on it off and on  all day.  They so wanted to finish it.   Great job !!!!!!!  ~Dacia C. 

I really like how they personalized this and  added to it. Great job guys!

You can see another review and more pictures here: Our Family Adventure. And here are a few blog posts and a picture from someone who did the pages for an interactive notebook: Foundations Academy.

After years of making free notebooking pages, I've finally decided to make something to sell. This is a preschool interactive notebook (folderbook, lapbook, etc.) that I made to use with my three year old. If you are interested, please click on the link under the picture. It is $6.25  Thanks! Melissa

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Interactive Notebook

Last week my husband asked me to make a "large" card for the children to decorate to cheer up a friend who was having some medical  difficulties (that turned out to be nothing after all). The problem was, his truck was in the shop so he was using my vehicle and the only "large" cardboard I had in the house was file folders. OK, I thought, we'll make her a lapbook.

I used a single file folder and added a cardstock extention in the middle. On the front, I used stickers to write "Laura's Encouragement Book" and added a verse (Isaiah 49:13) and some stickers for  decoration. Then I went through all my files of HOAC lapbooks and blank templates to see what might be appropriate.

Since I am writing about this, I'm sure you can tell I am please with the outcome. The children said it was the best lapbook they've ever  done- it was certainly the most fun! Here's what we included:

Bible shape book with encouraging verses; a "gratitude journal" and "answers to prayer" books for her to write in; mini matchbook with a title above them that says "nine people who hope you have a great day" numbered on the outside and our signatures and little pictures inside; Psalm 145:3-5 typed fancy and framed scrapbook style; a "God does great things" booklet; pictures of our silly kids; a flap book with jokes; a wheel with " five things the Telling kids like about you"; a blue ribbon shape book with prizes awarded for her good qualities; a poem we wrote about her, and the back is covered with the kids hand prints and says "We see the fingerprints of God when we look at you!"

Now I must admit, we don't do a whole lot of lapbooking for school - notebooking just seems a lot easier- but we might do more of this  type of thing for grandparents, Christmas gifts, etc.

I just thought someone might be able to get some ideas from this. If nothing else- Remember, if you have any lapbook kits, you never know what those booklets might be good for! So buy more HOAC! LOL