Our First Lap Book™

We took the plunge!

First, for all the people who live under rocks like I do: What is a Lap Book™?  Besides being a trademarked idea from Tobin's Lab, it's a way for kids to have a personalized book that coordinates with specific subject matter.  You can make them to go along with a piece of literature, a style of art, a science unit, history lessons... pretty much anything you want, really.

Since Henry is only four, I hadn't really looked into them very much.  They can be pretty labor-intensive and involve a lot of research and reading.  It's not exactly the type of thing you would assign a preschooler.  However, I came across a great site, 1+1+1=1, that offers free printables to make Tot Books.  Tot Books are the same concept, but pared down for little guys.

 

So, first I downloaded all the files and printed them out.  Some of them went on regular printing paper because they would be laminated.  The others were printed on cardstock.

One of the nice things about these is that you don't need crazy materials.  I've got two red file folders here.  The only thing I did to them was fold each side into the center.

Because the insides had the manufacturer's logo and were a different color, I cut a piece of red construction paper to fit and used double-sided tape to stick it to the center panel of each folder.

Then, because I really wanted to use the entire tot book packet and preschool pack, I opted to create a double lapbook.  All I did was match up two sides and tape them together.

Then, I started adding things in.  On the top is a library card holder with laminated counting cards.  The bottom is a mini-accordion book of Oliver's name.

Here's the whole first section of the book.  The middle cards fold up to show pictures of the Cars characters.  The right is a regular mini-book with different shapes to find within the characters' pictures.

In the second section, I laminated a tracing worksheet to put in the center.  For now, Oliver can use his finger to follow the dotted lines.  Later on, he can use a dry-erase marker to practice.  The sides are more lift-the-flap cards that have the different Cars characters pictured inside of the shapes labeled on the front.

I created this cover page in Word using free Disney clip art off of the web.

Success!  Oliver really likes it.  So does Jane.  So does Henry.  I think I'll be making more!