How to Make Homeschool Lap Books
An Easy Craft Project and Learning Activity
A Lap Book™ (trademarked by Tobin's Lab), or lapbook, is simply a file folder which contains glued-in booklets called "foldables." Foldables can be made in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on the appropriate format for the information and and the creative impulse of the child. Extra pages called "extensions" can be added to the folder as needed. These three simple parts -- file folder, foldables, and extensions -- complete the lapbook.
Students create foldables during the process of their learning activity or after completing a unit study or other learning experience. Foldables can contain drawings, clippings, definitions, comparisons, diagrams, summaries or anything a child wishes to document. The foldables are stored in preparation for constructing the Lap Book™.
Homeschoolers from toddlers to high schoolers can use Lap Books™ to showcase and summarize their studies. Children can work together in groups, with their parents, or on their own. Each child works according to his or her own ability level.
How to Assemble a Lap Book™
- Open the file folder and fold the edges to meet at the middle crease.
- Decorate the lapbook cover.
- Add extension pages as needed.
- Gather and glue in the foldable booklets created during the course of study.
Types of Foldables
Foldable booklets come in many shapes and sizes and can be folded in a variety of ways. Homeschool Share offers templates for many types of foldables including pockets, flaps, folds, matchbooks, accordians, fan books, petal books, tab books, t-books, wheel books, shutterfolds and shutterflaps, shape books, layer books, and envelope books.
Education Place offers printable graphic organizer sheets. These include graphs, charts, wheels, time lines, trees, and many more forms to help children organize and present information within their lapbooks.
Types of Extensions
Extension pages can be attached to the file folder using tape, glue, holes and yarn, brads, staples, or any other devisable method. Extensions can vary in size from small sheets that fit inside the folder to larger sheets that fold out. Extensions can be attached at the top of the file folder creating a flap or at either side to create turnable or fold-out pages.
Lap Books™ break down into three simple parts: a file folder, extension pages, and foldable booklets. Homeschoolers can use these simple household craft supplies to enhance their learning experiences and create keepsakes for presentation and review. During the process of creating Lap Books™, students of all ages, from toddlers to high schoolers, have fun reviewing their work and exercising their creativity in an endless number of ways.
Craft Supplies
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