The Craft of Creating Lapbooks

Imagine taking a plain manila file folder, refolding it like a double door, decorating the front and filling the inside with all kinds of flaps and mini booklets about a particular subject. This bountiful creation is called a lapbook!

Lapbooking is a wonderful way to collect and document loads of information about a particular theme, topic, unit study, or piece of literature. Lapbooks allow your children to organize their thoughts into lists, comparisons & contrasts, definitions, orders of events, questions & answers, and more into one giant flap-filled book of information. The types of flaps and booklets they use will correlate with the facts they are presenting. 

Creating lapbooks helps children with both visual and tactile stimulation. It encourages imagination, artistry, patience, and diligence. Finally, it creates a beautiful handmade keepsake that is unique to each child and can be kept for years to come!

When designing a lapbook, try to think of the simplest way for your children to present their information. Begin with a theme or topic, and then brainstorm all of the details about that topic. Cluster the information into groups of items, comparisons, definitions, or steps. For instance, the topic of frogs could include comparing frogs to toads, the four stages of frog growth, the types of foods frogs eat, the different breeds of frogs, and how to make an origami frog. Illustrations from the book, Frog and Toad are Friends, by Arnold Lobel could be included in the lapbook.

To begin, take the manilla folder and open it up flat. Fold each side over towards the middle to create a double-doorway. Have your children decorate the front of the lapbook. If your children are studying horses, you could print a large color photocopy of a favorite horse picture and glue it on the front. Remember, there will be a split down the middle that will need to be cut neatly, but this will open the door to all of the information inside about horses!

Once the outside of the lapbook is created, the inside can be filled with all of the fun facts. Sometimes, the hardest part can be figuring out which flaps or booklets to create for each cluster of information. This is where your children can get super creative and design their own layout.

Maybe they could list different horse breeds and print off pictures of each one in a layered booklet. Perhaps they can describe the four gaits of a horse (walk, trot, canter, gallop) using the four-square flap. They might draw pictures of the types of foods a horse eats on an accordion flap. They can give samples of leg markings and face markings using circle flaps. With a ribbon booklet, they could write a quick plot summary of the book, The Black Stallion, by Walter Farley. Already, they will have five to six flaps and/or booklets to add to their lapbook.

As another example, suppose your children do a literary analysis on the book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter. The front cover of their lapbook could be a large colored photocopy of the picture book glued onto the two flaps. Inside, your children could include a layered booklet listing some fun facts about the author, Beatrix Potter. A shutter flap could compare the difference between Peter, who was naughty, and his sisters, who were good little bunnies.

Students could glue on an envelope with cardboard sticks popping out, each describing themes throughout the book. A carrot-shaped booklet could list several different settings throughout the story. To document the plot, your children could use five single flaps, one each for the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and conclusion. Perhaps a map of the garden, some quotes from the book, and a few pictures of the characters could also be glued in for extra fun.

Remember to start out simple the first few times. Try not to over-complicate it. Give your children guidance and direction, but in the end, let them add any special extras to make their own lapbook unique. Each lapbook is individual and will look different than someone else’s.

Allow for imperfections. Help with tedious work like cutting, especially if your child is young. You might also need to add extra glue or tape to reinforce. Provide lots of colorful paper, pictures, photocopies, stickers, ribbons, quotes, and maps to liven up the lapbook too. Realize this is a big project and will take time to complete. Sometimes it can take several days or weeks to create these special masterpieces of art. But after all of the time, patience, and diligence you and your children put into it, this beautiful lapbook will be worth it!

Types of Flaps and Booklets

• Shutter Flap – compare & contrast
• Single Flap – picture & description, word & definition, question & answer
• Double Flap – compare or contrast two things
• Triple Flap – compare or contrast three things
• Four Square Flap – compare or contrast four things
• Layered Booklet – list of steps, order of events, sequence of events
• Accordion Fold – sequence of events, list of items
• Envelope – holds lists of items
• Circle Flap – list of items
• Ribbon Booklet – booklet of information
• Shape Booklet – booklet of information cut into shape of topic

Written by Niki Parsley.