I have been wanting to try to make a lap book with the boys for quite some time.
Today, since we were wrapping up our study of Columbus, the boys were to prepare a presentation for the family. I decided this would be a great opportunity to create a lap book. But how? I have seen tons of cool pictures of lap books on other blogs, but I was unsure how to start. Are there special folders that are needed? Needless to say, my search began...
I found this awesome link (update: removed) that was very helpful in showing us how to create our lap book. ALL you need is some card stock and plain ol' file folders. Both of which I had lying around. Pretty colored folders would be nice, but the tan ones I had on hand worked just fine.
Then as I was searching the net for some activities for the boys to include in their books, I dipped into my leftover home-schooling budget and purchased a subscription to
Enchanted Learning. I am constantly running across this site and the pages I am usually wanting to print are for members only. Well... NOW I'm a member :)
We started with a
Color by Adding Numbers activity page of Columbus' three ships. They had to add the fact, and use the sum to find the correct color on the key. Math and art combined, I like that idea!
Next they learned about Acrostic Poems. They each made their own Acrostic Poem for "Columbus" using
this printout. I have a feeling we will be doing more of these in the near future since we all enjoyed creating them VERY much!
From there the boys learned of the different types of land and water forms, making cards from and online glossary. We then moved on to a
Geography Review based on Columbus' travels that was added to their lap books, along with envelopes of their land & water form cards.
We added a couple fun activities from Enchanted Learning to fill in the gaps and that was that! Their first lap books are completed!
The boys had a blast, and I liked that I was able to combine: History, Handwriting, Poetry, Art, Geography, Science and Math all in one little lap book.
Here were the kids responses when I asked, "Did you guys like making these?"
"I liked learning about Columbus so MUCH!! It was so MUCH FUN!" DS1
"When can we make another one (lap book), Mom?" DS2
"I want to eat more cookies." DD1
"I WANT COOKIES!!!" DD2
"Who said ANYTHING about Cookies?!" Mom
We are now turning the page to the next chapter of our history study... The founding of Jamestown! But right now... I think it might be time for some cookies!
Stay tuned... I will try and post some pictures later tonight! (It is also time for me to come up with some nicknames for my little ones... DS1, DS2, etc... is getting annoying!)