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At my homeschool co-op this semester, I am teaching a class called I Love America. I taught a class recently on Lewis and Clark and did a really fun activity with the kids. We started by making an easy homemade book with a popsicle stick and a rubber band to hold it together. I will show you how to make that today.
Once our books were made I had pictures of animals that Lewis & Clark discovered along their journey taped up around the outside of the building. The kids took their books outside and looked for the animals. They drew them and wrote the names of the animals inside their book as they found them. It was their own nature explorer book. They LOVED the whole thing. It turned out great. (If you are interested in Lewis & Clark Learning Ideas, I did a whole post on it.)
But, on to the homemade book.
How to Make an Easy Homemade Book:
You’ll need the following supplies:
- 1/2 sheet of card stock paper -cut in half for the cover
- a few sheets of regular paper -cut into quarters
- 1 popsicle stick
- 1 rubber band
For your piece of card stock you will use a quarter of a sheet for each part of the cover (front and back). Cut your other paper into quarters as well. These will be the pages inside the book. Hole punch in two spots along the “spine” of the book. If your holes are too close together, the rubber band will not be able to stretch the whole way and the book will curl up a bit. If your holes are too far apart they will not catch the ends of the popsicle stick.
Thread the rubber band through one of the holes and put the end of the stick through the loop. Take the other end of the rubber band and do the same thing. This will secure the book. Could it get much easier? I think not.
Now have fun and use your homemade book for whatever makes you happiest! 🙂
Want a couple more EASY HOMEMADE BOOKS?
This one is made by folding one piece of paper!
This is another folded book, but with colored squares and it folds OUT. Fun!
Here is another one made from paper bags.
Lisa M says
March 26, 2015 at 7:54 amI love this!!!
Lacey Charrene says
March 26, 2015 at 11:58 amWe love making our own books. I really like the idea of your spine. Need to try that sometime. We make nearly everything from recyclables. Thank you for sharing! #laceyslegacy