DIY laptop for preschoolers: templates, master class and interesting ideas

Educational book with an individual character

A laptop is an educational folder dedicated to a specific topic. This manual is prepared at home and always with the help of a child. The secret of a lapbook is in its design: it is appropriate to use a variety of pockets, additional spreads, “windows” and other interesting design options. A laptop for preschoolers can contain not only a summary of basic knowledge on a chosen topic, but also additional logical and creative tasks. This “game” is perfect for viewing alone or studying with children. And what’s most important is that making a lapbook is not at all difficult, and this process is sure to captivate the whole family and give only positive emotions.

What is a lapbook?

The laptop is the latest invention for child development.
Translated from English it means “knee book”. The device is actively being introduced into the educational process for preschoolers and primary schoolchildren. In addition, the lapbook is very easy to make and is suitable for playing at home. This homemade mini book allows your child to quickly absorb the necessary material, consolidating acquired skills by rearranging, comparing, or searching for various details.

History of origin

For the first time, a similar folder was introduced into classes by a writer from Virginia, Temmie Dubey. She used the mini book to organize learning material for her children. The laptop is small in size and large in capacity.

The author of the invention improved the experience of Dina Zayk, who used folded sheets of paper with interactive tasks to teach children. Temmie placed various themed games in one folder, which made the process of learning the material more fun.

On a note! In Russia, a mathematics teacher was the first to start making laptops. Tatyana Pirozhenko is from Simferopol. She is a mother of 2 children and in her free time she develops new types of kneeling books, which are rapidly gaining popularity.

What is it needed for

This method of training is used for:

• Organization of a child’s cognitive activity.
• Interactions between adults and children.
• Development of attention.
• Formation of perseverance.
• Activation of the thought process.
• Development of creative abilities and imagination.
• Accustoming your baby to collective exercises.
• Formation of correct pronunciation and writing.

Important! The main task of a lapbook is to promote the intellectual enrichment of the child with subsequent memorization of the information already received.

Advantages of using knee books:

• Help in systematizing acquired skills.
• A convenient method for repeating covered material and better memorization thanks to associative thinking.
• The child learns to independently conduct analysis in a playful way.
• The kneeling book is suitable for exercises in kindergartens, schools and at home.
• The ability to produce various thematic contents inside the folder, selecting material based on the child’s abilities and previously acquired skills (individual approach).

Another important advantage is the simplicity and speed of making a lapbook. Even a child can do some types of interactive exercises without much time. A mini book can be made by teamwork or independently.

Kinds

There are a huge number of different lapbooks. They are usually divided into the following groups:

1. Encyclopedic. The simplest type of mini folder. All the necessary information is in the encyclopedia. The main task is to distribute it correctly. It is enough to place 5-6 interactive tasks on a specific topic (water, space, animal, etc.). Such activities are suitable for school-age children.
2. Plot. They are created based on your favorite books or cartoons. Often, after watching a cartoon, a child wants to play the plot over and over again, but watching it is no longer interesting. Invite him to create his own “world” with his favorite characters. Music folders with theater elements are also used for training.
3. Thematic. They involve the introduction of various educational subjects with game elements into the lesson. Suitable for children in the middle and preparatory groups of kindergarten. With their help you can study:

• Seasons (autumn, winter, summer, spring).
• Animals.
• Vegetables and fruits.
• Constitution of man.
• Professions.
• Nature.
• Clock, etc.

Educators often develop laptops based on fairy tales to develop a child’s speech.

School

They are divided by subjects (mathematics, Russian language, ecology, fire safety, life safety, physics, chemistry). For each discipline, you can choose a specific topic for teaching your child.

Congratulations

Such folders are used as gifts for holidays (New Year, Birthday, Easter). Create a holiday mini book with your little one. Let him lead the process and make his wishes.

You can also invite your child to create an autobiographical story using a lapbook. Such kneeling books are usually made by the child himself. Photographs, pictures with wishes for the future, dreams, goals, etc. are attached to the base.

Materials and tools

The most convenient way to make laptops is from cardboard document folders. But if you don’t have one on hand, you can choose a regular sheet of cardboard as a base. As for the interior design, there are two options: either you draw and glue everything by hand, or you cut out printouts made on a printer. Each of these options is good in its own way, in the first case the scope for imagination is unlimited, in the second you can complete all the work much faster. How to make a laptop for preschoolers using a computer and a printer? Templates can be prepared in any graphics program. We present to your attention a ready-made sample that you can also use in your work. And yet, if the child is large enough and independent, it is much more interesting to make lapbooks with your own hands, using only colored paper, cardboard and various decorative elements. And don’t be afraid to do something crookedly or not carefully enough; children, as a rule, do not pay attention to such little things and value handwork much more than adults, regardless of its quality.

Choosing a topic for a visual aid

Are your creative materials ready and waiting in the wings? Great, it's time to decide what topic your first development folder will be devoted to. The advantage of this type of manual is that it can be devoted to absolutely any topic. You can collect in one folder a short summary about the flora and fauna of a forest or meadow, or dedicate such a visual summary to a specific profession. You can also make a lapbook based on fairy tales for preschoolers, about a specific animal or object. The possibilities of educational folders are almost limitless; make such a guide about the types of geometric shapes, the structure of the Universe, and the history of the state.

Middle group. Junior preschool age. Children 4 - 5 years old

Lapbook “Birds” in the middle group

Goal: to clarify and expand children’s ideas about birds. Children’s ability to find signs of similarities and differences in the appearance of birds. Objectives: 1. to form children’s ideas about the diversity of birds, knowledge about the general features of the appearance of birds (beak, wings, feather cover, ...

Lapbook “The World of Insects” for children 4–5 years old

Lapbook
business card . Lepbook cognitive development “The World of Insects”

2. Authors: 3. For children 4-5 years old. 4. Goal: to expand children’s understanding of insects, their development, structure and types. Develop speech. Memory, thinking. 5. A laptop is a book format...

Lapbook for preschoolers: master class with step-by-step instructions

Take a cardboard folder and cover its inner parts with colored paper or cardboard. Now is the time to start preparing the content for our laptop. It would be very good if there were general data inside in the form of a brief summary on the topic being studied, and assignments for independent work. For example, if you are making a lapbook on traffic rules for preschoolers, make cards with the most important rules and place them in a separate pocket. Prepare separate assignments - riddles on the chosen topic, some not too difficult tasks. The most convenient way is to place the cards in pockets glued to the base. You can also use other design options - fold a rectangular sheet like an accordion, make paper houses with opening windows, envelopes, use bulky double-sided tape to highlight individual elements. Don’t forget to decorate the cover too - you can glue a beautiful printout on it on the chosen topic, draw a picture or make an applique, and for kids who already know how to read, an “adult” book cover with a title is also suitable.

Description of the procedure for compiling a lapbook “Seasons”

Let us dwell on the intricacies of creating a manual for preschoolers of middle and older age.

For the cover you can choose a picture depicting the main signs and symbols of each season

Materials and tools:

• 4 sheets of thick cardboard (can be from packaging of household appliances);
• self-adhesive in blue, yellow, green and red colors;
• scissors;
• hole puncher;
• ring holder for a binder (you can use rings with a cut - “jump rings” used in jewelry);
• colored cardboard for pockets and envelopes;
• pictures for designing the manual and printed names of pockets and envelopes.

Instructions:

1. We trim the sheets so that they are of the same format.
2. We paste one sheet on both sides with blue paper, and one sheet, also on both sides, with red paper. We paste the next sheet with blue paper on one side and yellow paper on the other, then make one side of the next sheet of cardboard yellow, the other green, then one side green, the other red.
3. We assemble the pages so that the spread is one color, the cover pages are blue and red.

Each spread dedicated to a specific time of year has its own color.

We pierce the pages with a hole punch and insert rings.

We design the blue spread to match the winter theme. We make the pockets blue, for the game materials we make a snowman whose circles are accordion books with the rules of these games.

“Winter” pages can be decorated with decorative snowflakes

We decorate the yellow spread with envelopes and pockets.

For a “spring” spread, the pockets can be in the shape of flowers

On the summer spread we place envelopes in the shape of flowers, “doors” with a fairy tale and pockets with plot pictures.

Curly envelopes in the form of flowers are also used in the design of the “summer” spread

We begin to design the autumn spread, placing “accordions” and pockets there.

Thematic pictures about autumn can be made in small format and glued to a background in the form of droplets

Materials for the manual “Seasons”

Usually thematic lapbooks are compiled for all seasons separately, so this particular guide is in the nature of a generalization of the main signs of each season.

Block with text information

This section includes:

• general signs of each season;
• information about the months, their alternation, possibly with poems suitable for each month;
• a list of interesting folk signs for each season;
• fun facts for every season.

Block with poems and riddles

For children 3–4 years old, a block of poetry can be compiled based on the selection proposed here.

For older children, the selection can include poems by Russian classics. Moreover, they can be grouped by seasons and months.

As for riddles, when compiling the “Seasons” lapbook, the same rules apply as when developing manuals on other topics:

• riddles are included in the lapbook from the second youngest group;
• for children 3–4 years old, riddles should have rhyming answers.

For example, for kids the selection could be like this:

• I have a lot to do: I cover the whole earth with a white blanket, I whiten the fields, houses, My name is... (winter);
• I am made of heat. I carry the warmth with me. I warm the rivers, I invite you to swim. And you all love me for this. I... (summer);
• I open the buds, I dress the trees in green leaves. I water the crops, there is a lot of movement. My name is... (spring);
• I bring the harvests, I sow the fields again, I send the birds to the south, I strip the trees, But I don’t touch the pines and fir trees. I... (autumn).

For children in the middle and older groups, riddles can be more difficult to choose, for example, to illustrate each season:

• winters - They didn’t raise me - they made me out of snow. Instead of a nose, they cleverly inserted a carrot. Eyes are coals, hands are knots. Cold, big, who am I? (Snow Woman);
• spring - A beauty walks, touches the ground lightly, walks to the field, to the river, and on the snow and on the flower. (Spring);
• summer - the sun is shining, the linden tree is blooming. The rye ripens, when does this happen? (Summer);
• autumn - coins are falling from the trees from heavy rain and wind. I'll pick up ten coins and make a big bouquet. (Autumn leaves).

Block with themed games

This block is represented by tasks of different types of games.

Table: selection of games for the “Seasons” lapbook

Sources

• https://rechudetey.ru/razvivayushhie-igry/lyepbuk.html
• https://nitforyou.com/lepbuk/
• https://sovets.net/15664-lepbuk.html
• https://lafoy.ru/lepbuk-svoimi-rukami-10-idey-501
• https://melkie.net/podborki/lepbuk-vremena-goda.html

Examples of filling

When you open a standard cardboard folder, you get two or three A4 sheets to fill. What kind of educational material should be placed on them? A laptop allows you to collect in one manual a wide variety of educational activities for preschoolers. For inspiration, you can look at board games and workbooks that your child already has. Depending on his age, these may be tasks such as “make a pair of two cards,” puzzles, elements for coloring, counting material, “find the differences.” Don’t forget about logic problems and riddles - offer your child short stories or rhymes, after listening to which you will need to give the correct answer. A laptop for preschoolers is also a colorful outline. Organize basic information on the chosen topic using diagrams and pictures, lists and signs.

Design secrets

Many mothers doubt whether it is worth involving their child in working on a laptop or is it better to give him a ready-made folder as a surprise gift? It's up to you to decide, but as practice shows, absolutely all children love to make crafts using various techniques. And yes, even if the finished manual may not look ideal, its goal is to teach the child something new and captivate him for a long time. Therefore, if possible, be sure to make a lapbook not only for the child, but also with him. An interesting idea for those who decide to use printouts from a printer: choose black and white outline drawings that your daughter or son will color on their own. Try using various techniques to decorate your useful craft - let the lapbook be decorated with both applique and drawings. You can also glue not too voluminous decor inside, for example, fabric figures, flat buttons or sparkles.

Materials for creating a lapbook with your own hands

To do this you will need the following materials:

• base cardboard (cardboard folder or sheet of thick A3 paper);
• paper (white, colored, scrapbooking paper with various colors and textures);
• printer and/or pens, pencils, markers, paints;
• regular and curly scissors;
• glue and/or tape;
• stapler;
• decorative elements as needed (buttons, sequins, brads, pendants, paper clips, dried leaves, stickers, themed pictures cut out from magazines, etc.)

What to make from

When starting to create an educational didactic paper lapbook, prepare the following materials:

1. Cardboard folder. Buy it or make it yourself from whatman paper.
2. Colored paper, cardboard, foamiran, various pieces of fabric.
3. Scissors, glue.
4. Scotch tape, stapler, thread.
5. Cards, pictures, images of animals, people, etc. Cut them out, draw them, or print them on a color printer.
6. Pencils, paints, felt-tip pens, markers.

Layout

The next stage is drawing the layout (what the laptop will look like). To do this, immediately fold your folder so that it then opens, unfolds, and with a simple pencil sketch out the places where there will be pockets, books, pictures, in what form and size all this will be presented. Next, you just have to glue all the parts and attach them to the workpiece.

Ideas

It is possible to diversify your interactive “knee book” and make it more interesting thanks to different ideas for the original creation of thematic zones. For example, use envelopes of different sizes and shapes, you can take CD packaging or make them yourself. Accordion books, cut notebooks, divider cards and opening windows look very unusual. However, what children love most is the rotating parts and the parts with multiple openings.

How to do it step by step

So, detailed step-by-step instructions for creating a paper interactive folder are as follows:

1. Decide on a topic.
2. Prepare a layout and all necessary materials.
3. Next you need to make pockets for a laptop, envelopes, books, accordions, cards, images, figures, etc.
4. Glue the blanks to the layout according to the planned plan.

Educational lapbook

The laptop encyclopedia will be useful for older preschoolers for individual work. In fact, this is a full-fledged form of training and consolidation of information, so content and content are in the foreground. Use blocks with interesting facts, cards with illustrations, tests, quizzes, riddles, questions and answers, quizzes, puzzles and match-up games.

Gaming laptop

These lapbooks are more of a toy than an encyclopedia, so focus on the entertaining elements. Let all the information be as light as possible - in jokes, riddles or poems. Choose more volumetric parts, movable windows, sliding pockets and rotating circles.

Use puzzles, simple adventure games, task cards, small objects in fabric bags and all kinds of guessing games. Make a lapbook with proverbs, poems, tests, pictures and meanings to match. An interesting task is to compose a story based on a picture or put the frames in order.

Holiday lapbook

A congratulatory lapbook is a wonderful gift for a person whose tastes and interests you know. A themed album with inserts, pictures, photographs, memorable trinkets and cute decorations will delight even adults. You can also make it with your child as a gift for his friends: for example, with dresses and accessories for a friend’s paper doll or with a friend’s favorite cars and athletes.

Lapbook story

Another lapbook that you can make with your own hands not only for a child, but also with him - the story of his life. Let the baby decide for himself what he wants to put in the secret pockets. Make sections with photographs, funny phrases, small crafts. Such an album will be an excellent memory for the whole family in 10 or 20 years.

Lapbook for a small child

Initially, lapbooks were used by teachers to prepare children for school, but children under 5 years old can also play with such albums and explore the world. Just select the content according to age: instead of cards with facts, introduce the baby to colors, shapes, textures and simple moving elements.

Lapbook “about life”

All parents are concerned about how to teach their child not the most interesting, but vitally important things. These are the rules of the road, what to do if you get lost, how to communicate with strangers and how to act in other emergency situations. This is exactly what a lapbook with beautiful pictures, interesting quizzes and humorous poems is ideal for.

Animals

A didactic manual about animals tells about specific representatives of this class. When compiling such a lapbook, make sure you have the following elements:

• photo of the animal;
• map with habitats;
• pocket with a picture puzzle;
• a rotating circle depicting the food consumed by the animal being studied;
• mini-book with interesting facts;
• a strip where you can enter the status of the animal in the Red Book;
• envelope with coloring book;
• chamomile with riddles and proverbs on the petals.

On speech development

A laptop for speech development is aimed at eliminating problems in this area in children: pronouncing sounds correctly, composing sentences and short stories using prepositions, being able to understand the meaning of poems, and retelling them. When compiling such a lapbook, use:

• sayings, counting rhymes, riddles;
• poems, parables, stories;
• cards with letters, words;
• coloring books;
• pictures for their oral description;
• envelopes with tasks: name the word, say it kindly, find the difference, etc.

About school

Such topics should contain information about this institution, rules of behavior in it, interaction with other children, teachers, etc. Use the following ideas to create your own book folder:

1. A backpack-style pocket and an envelope with small images of school supplies. Invite your child to play the game “Collect a briefcase.”
2. Image of a school with opening windows, door.
3. Pocket with textbooks (in pictures).
4. Envelope with riddles about school.
5. A little book with rules of behavior.
6. Cards containing the rules of interaction between children and the teacher.

How to work with a laptop?

It is recommended to dry the fully completed educational folder for 24 hours, after which you can start practicing with it. A laptop for preschoolers is not only incredibly useful and interesting, but also universal. With such a folder, a child can study alone or with friends/siblings. You can simply examine the contents of the folder, revealing all the pockets and hidden pages, or you can complete all the tasks and repeat the given facts. And the best part is that a lapbook for preschoolers, made with your own hands, is truly individual; on its pages you can take into account and reflect all the interests of your own child. Considering the low cost of the craft and the speed of its production, try creating a home collection of educational folders about everything in the world, and in the future your child will definitely amaze you with his versatility and flexibility of thinking.