Pssst… Mum invited a Furry Stripey Guest! (Part 4/4: Free Resource)

For those who have missed my first few series, please view 1/4 Lapbook, 2/4 Lapbook and 3/4 Lapbook.

 This post will touch on

1) How Does Lapbooking Benefit My Children?

2) How Does Lapbooking Benefit the Different Learners?

3) What Does the Resource Pack Contain? 

4) How To Use the Materials for High Readiness (HR) or Low Readiness (LR) Children? 

5) Where Can I Find Ready To Print Lapbooks?

6) How to Create Your Own Lapbook?

7) Extended Activities for Lapbook.

Do note that my lapbooks are based on Children’s Literature. There are diverse ways of making lapbook on ANY topic of interest put together to form a lapbook. My approach is just ONE type of (storybook based) lapbook.  

1) How Does Lapbooking Benefit My Children?

Increases Attention Span :

My 2 boys had great difficulty sitting down concentrating on a book or any forms of literacy activity in their Toddler years. I worked on 10mins of lapbooking mini-folders each day with my eldest, reading  books one page at a time. Then slowly increased the timing by a few minutes each week. In a few months, my eldest was able to sit through an hour of lapbooking and still yearned for more! I had to be more patient with my 2nd son as he was highly active. He took almost half a year to get used to sitting down. It was easier with my girl somehow. : )

Now, all my children enjoy lapbooking so much, they bug me to teach them! I only do about 2 to 4 lapbooks with each one a year. The rest of the time is our normal routine lessons. I realised that they were able to sit through the other less interesting reading/writing lessons due to their developed attention span from lapbooking activities since young. It provided a good foundation to inquisitive and positive learning.

Strengthens Memory :

All my kids love the story books that we did lapbooking on. They can recall and narrate the stories. Lapbooking expounds the story and brings the story to another level of depth and breadth, strengthening the child’s memory.

Language learning occurs when they see the words being taught and their brains capture those information through frequent usage and practice. This in turn strengthens their memory of the vocabulary used in the lapbook.

Ability to transfer knowledge and make meaningful connections to life :

Unlike learning by subjects and by encyclopaedic disparate content, lapbooking encompass the aforementioned in a meaningful context. Children retain knowledge and transfer  knowledge when it makes sense.

For instance, the boys were very excited when they saw the word Carnivore as they passed this restaurant. They knew the meaning of the word and I asked them what kind of food they would think this restaurant would be serving. They immediately said Meat!

They were also very excited whenever they see the word Café and we eventually did go to a café for tea which delighted them! They also played Café with their DIY cardboard houses and stirred up a storm.

A in particular has a large capacity to remember Visuals and is able to identify the continents on a plain globe without labels. This was the result of including the geographical locations of the lapbooks he had done in the past. It builds up his knowledge and memory. The boys would excitedly point out to me when we come across the countries Papa had travelled before. e.g. ‘China! Daddy went there in November for 10days right mummy?’

When I did this lapbook with E, J who had done it years ago, took special interest and pride to ‘test’ E. Of course, J had overheard our lapbook and had recollection of it.              J:  “E, Do you know if a cow is a mammal or not? Tell me.”  To which E hesitated and he continues,  “It is a mammal la! Because it gives birth to baby not egg!”  E then gets this fact reinforced by Kor Kor.

My kids also learnt the difference between the different meals of the day and associate the time their normal routine occurs. In their prayers, they would also recite out loud their prayer using the flip chart I made for them at the appropriate mealtimes.

2) How Does Lapbooking Benefit the Different Learners?

I find Lapbooking suitable for almost any type of learners. The above is just an example of the different learning styles. I believe each child learns using all the above to a certain degree. I speak from experience teaching my 3 and a few more different learners.

I believe in maximising strengths and improving on weaknesses. I find Lapbooking supports this. It appeals to various learners with the rich visual images, the songs, active interaction between adult and learners, provides bite sized chunks of information for easy absorption. I did not include tangible materials in this lapbook, but one can include for tactile learners. At the same time, it stretches the other aspects of learning.

For instance, A is strong in memory and visual cues. However, his writing and cutting skills were wanting. By working on the lapbook, these areas improved greatly. On the other hand, J is a keen auditory and hands on person, lacking in patience and focus. By allowing him to cut and paste images, verbal interaction, he absorbs the chunks of information better when required to visualise the images and words in the activity. E also lacks the concentration span but loves selecting contents & images to match and paste. Lapbooking thus garners their strengths as well as improves all their attention span in the course of time. (Note that as with all things, consistent use of lapbooking for a few years allowed me to appreciate the outcome I’ve observed in my kids. It doesn’t happen with only 1 or 2 sessions.)

3) What Does the Resource Pack Contain? 

1. Folder A : Who can that be?
2. Folder B : Grass to Milk
3. Folder C : Mammals that Make Milk.
4. Folder D: What are Dairy Food?
5. Folder E: Meal Time Prayers.
6. Folder F : Types of big cats.
7. Folder G: Fur Coats of the Big Cats.
8. Part H : 两只老虎, 客人来
9. Part I Carnivore, Herbivore and Omnivore.
10. Folder J : Tiger Habitats.
11. Part K: Big and Small.

To download the Lapbook Resource Pack Click on the Red link below.

The Tiger Who Came To Tea GH

4) How To Use the Materials for High Readiness (HR) or Low Readiness (LR) Children? 

I have made a list of suggestions on How to Use my Materials.

 To download the Instructions, Click on the Red Link below.

How to Use Materials (HR and LR)

5) Where Can I Find Ready To Print Lapbooks?

The below are rich and generous resources from overseas.

1. Homeschoolshare
2. Tinas Dynamic Homeschool 
3. Homeschool Helper Online
4. Lapbook Lessons
5. Practical Pages
6. Delightful Learning

Local Effort

• The View from Mama’s Desk (CNY Celebration)
• Mum in the Making (CNY Lapbook, Polar Animals Lapbook)
• GingerBread Mum’s (Solar System)
• Simply Mommie’s Bee Themed Lapbook and Letter E Lapbook
• Beanie N Us 1) 中秋节, 2) 路德系列： 路德做汤  and The Ancient Egypt
• A subset of my lapbook post on Moon Phases can give an idea on the actual lesson on my lapbooking process.

 6) How to Create Your Own Lapbook?

I have created my lapbooks on my own through trial and error over the years. However, I found this site useful for those who would like to learn and create your own lapbooks.

Visit Design Your Own from Homeschoolshare.com

7) For Suggestions on Extended Activities, please click 3/4 Lapbook post.

Summary

1. Benefits of Lapbooking: It can increase Attention Span, strengthen Memory and enable the child to transfer knowledge and make meaningful connections to life.

2. Benefits all types of learners

The rich visual images,  songs, active interaction between adult and learners, bite sized chunks of information provide a holistic approach that caters to different types of learners. At the same time, it stretches the other aspects of learning for the individual.

3. Lapbooking can be tailored to suit the competence level of your child.

4. Free Lapbook Resources are available widely. Just pick and choose the topic of interest.

5. You can learn how to create your own lapbooks.

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Disclaimer: The Lapbook resources and materials have been designed and planned by me. However, the free images included have been sourced from the internet. If there is any copyright infringement, please inform me.  

I would appreciate if you can direct others to my blog or this post if you wish to share my resources.

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