Make It! Write It! Read It!: Simple Bookmaking Projects to Engage Kids in Art and Literacy - Softcover

Libby, Wendy M. L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1613730306 ISBN 13: 9781613730300

Publisher: Zephyr Press, 2015

Synopsis

2015 Gelett Burgess Children's Book Award Winner in Activity Book Category

Perfect for preschool through elementary–level educators seeking to enhance classroom lessons or parents and other caregivers looking for fun and creative hands-on activities for children, Make It! Write It! Read It! includes field-tested bookmaking projects that encourage self-expression while building both art and literacy skills. Seventeen easy-to-follow blank book designs—such as Accordion Fold, Hanging Tassel, and Paper-Bag-Pockets books—are presented and then applied to 23 specific cross-curricular book projects, including Alphabet, Pop-Up Jungle, and Flapping Insects books.
 
The projects require nothing more than imagination and standard classroom art supplies. With gentle prompting, kids can write poems, paragraphs, or simple stories related to their creations. Each activity includes educational objectives; skills developed; materials needed; clear, illustrated, step-by-step instructions; and literary connection ideas.
 
Longtime art educator Wendy M. L. Libby guides beginners who might need more direction but also suggests open-ended possibilities for more experienced bookmakers, teachers, and artists.

About this title

About the Author

Wendy M. L. Libby has been an elementary art teacher for 35 years and has received many teaching awards. She is the author of Enriching the Curriculum with Art Experiences, Using Art to Make Art, and Using Stories to Make Stories. She lives in Brewer, Maine.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Make It! Write It! Read It!

Simple Bookmaking Projects to Engage Kids in Art and Literacy

By Wendy M.L. Libby

Chicago Review Press Incorporated

Copyright © 2015 Wendy M. L. Libby
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-61373-030-0

Contents

Introduction, 
PART 1 BLANK BOOK PROJECTS, 
* Simple Book, 
* Flip Book, 
* Half-Cover Book, 
* Accordion-Fold Book, 
* Coffee-Filter Pockets Book, 
* Folded Book, 
* Three-Part Section Book, 
* Portfolio Book, 
* Shaped Subject Book, 
* One-Fold Pop-Up Book, 
* Double-Sided Book, 
* Paper-Bag Pockets Book, 
* Folded-Pockets Book, 
* Hanging Tassel Book, 
* Tunnel Book, 
* Flap Book, 
* Pop-Up Book, 
* Mix-and-Match Book, 
* Three-Cover Book, 
* Stitched Book, 
PART 2 BOOKMAKING PROJECTS, 
* Flower Collage Book, 
* Swimming Fish Book, 
* Under the Sea Book, 
* Thumbprint Counting Book, 
* City Book, 
* Color Book, 
* Portrait Book, 
* Chinese Treasures Book, 
* Alphabet Book, 
* 27 Fish Book, 
* Forest Stories Book, 
* Snowman Book, 
* Pop-Up Jungle Book, 
* Mountain Majesty Book, 
* Leaf Book, 
* Butterfly Life Cycle Book, 
* Celestial Mobile Book, 
* Peek into the Ocean Book, 
* Flapping Insects Book, 
* Pop-Up Creatures Book, 
* Folding Dinosaurs Book, 
* Watercolor Poetry Book, 
* Creative Story Book, 
* Conclusion, 
* Glossary, 
* Suggested Reading, 

CHAPTER 1

PART 1

BLANK BOOK PROJECTS

* * *

Children can make many different types of books with a few simple directions and materials. The blank books they learn how to make here by following the step-by-step instructions can then be used to make their own creative book. The folding and assembling techniques presented in this section will be referred to in the specific bookmaking activities in Part II.

Each of these projects can be modified to fit your needs. For example, a certain size paper or amount of pages might be listed in the directions, but those details can be altered. The most common materials for these projects are papers, card stock, scissors, glue, a stapler, a pencil, colored pencils, markers, and crayons. The projects are arranged in order of increasing difficulty, starting with a simple folded piece of paper and culminating in a stitched book with decorative covers and endpapers.

Simple Book

Materials

* 3 to 5 pieces of white paper, 8½ by 11 inches

* 1 piece of colored construction paper or card stock, 8½ by 11 inches

* String, yarn, or ribbon, 24 inches long

Directions

* Fold each piece of white paper in half, short edge to short edge.

* Open the folds and stack the papers on top of each other.

* Refold the papers all together.

* Make a cover from the colored construction paper or card stock by folding it, short edge to short edge, and tucking the folded pages into the crease. The cover can be the same size or slightly larger than the pages.

* Wrap the string, yarn, or ribbon around all the pages and the cover at the fold, and tie into a bow or knot.

Flip Book

Materials

* 10 or more pieces of white paper, 3 by 4 inches

* 1 piece of colored construction paper, 1 by 3 inches

* Stapler

Directions

* Stack the sheets of white paper on top of each other. Flip books work best when the pages are small, because they are easier to flip. For best results there should be at least ten pages for flipping.

* Make a spine by folding the colored construction paper in half, long edge to long edge.

* Sandwich the pages inside the spine and staple through the spine and the pages near the top and near the bottom.

Half-Cover Book

Materials

* 1 piece of colored construction paper, 9 by 12 inches

* Scissors

* 3 to 5 pieces of white paper, 3½ by 5 inches

* 3 to 5 pieces of colored construction paper, 4 by 5½ inches

* Glue

* Stapler

Directions

* Lay the large sheet of colored construction paper in front of you, horizontally.

* Fold the paper in half, short edge to short edge.

* Open the front cover, and find the middle of the front short edge. From the edge to the fold, cut the front cover in half. You may cut on either a straight or wavy line.

* On the fold, cut down from the top of the cover to the first cut. Remove the top half of the front cover.

* Glue the white papers to the small colored construction papers to make your interior pages.

* Staple the stack of pages to the inside of the folded book, below the remaining front-cover flap.

Accordion-Fold Book

Materials

* 1 piece of white paper, 11 by 17 inches

* 2 pieces of colored construction paper or card stock, 8½ by 11 inches

* Glue

Directions

* Fold the white piece of paper in half, short edge to short edge.

* Open the paper back up, and on one side of the crease, fold the paper in half again.

* Repeat this folding step on the other side of the crease.

* On the middle crease, fold the right half underneath the left half to make a zigzag.

* Optional: It is also possible to use more than one sheet of paper. After folding them in the zigzag style, glue the back of the end piece of one folded section to the front piece of another folded paper.

* Glue the colored construction paper or card stock to each end to make the covers.

Coffee-Filter Pockets Book

Materials

* 3 to 5 large cone coffee filters

* 3 to 5 small cone coffee filters

* Glue

* Stapler

Directions

* Center a small filter on top of a large filter to create a page.

* Glue it down, and repeat for all other small filters.

* Stack all the large filters in a pile and staple along the left edge.

* The open tops of the filters become pockets into which you can place your writing.

Folded Book

Materials

* 1 rectangular piece of paper

* Scissors

Directions

* Fold the paper in half, long edge to long edge.

* Fold the paper again, short edge to short edge.

* Fold short edge to short edge one more time.

* Open the paper completely.

* Refold once, short edge to short edge. There will be four rectangle shapes on each half, formed by the creases. Leave the paper folded.

* Locate the crease that extends from the side fold across the middle of the paper.

* Cut on the folded line in the middle of the paper from the folded edge to the point where the corners from all four rectangles meet in the middle. Do not cut all the way to the edge of the paper.

* Unfold the paper and refold it long edge to long edge. Holding the end rectangles together, push the two ends slowly toward the middle until the middle rectangles open outward.

* Push the two end rectangles completely together until they touch. Fold all the papers flat so that only two rectangles are showing.

* Fold the book closed along the middle crease. Now you have a little book with a front and back cover and six pages.

Three-Part Section Book

Materials

* 3 pieces of white paper, 6 by 12 inches

* 1 piece of colored construction paper, 2 by 12 inches

* Stapler

* Ruler

* Pencil

* Scissors

Directions

* Stack the three white papers together with the long edge on the top and bottom.

* Fold the colored construction paper in half, long edge to long edge. This will be your book's spine, which holds the pages together.

* Sandwich the three papers together inside the folded spine piece. Staple the sandwich together, once at each end and once in the middle of the strip.

* Place the book in front of you with the spine at the top, horizontally. From one end, measure 4 inches and make a small mark with a pencil. Make another small mark at 8 inches.

* At each mark, use your scissors to cut the pages from the bottom of the pages up to the spine, equally dividing the book into thirds. Do not cut through the colored spine paper.

Portfolio Book

Materials

* 2 pieces of colored construction paper, 9 by 12 inches

* 3 pieces of white paper, 4 by 8 inches

* strip of colored construction paper, ½ by 4 inches

* Ruler

* Scissors

* Stapler

* Glue

* Hole punch

* 2 brad fasteners

* String or yarn

Directions

* Lay one piece of colored construction paper in front of you, horizontally. Fold both short edges so that they meet in the middle.

* Open the side flaps.

* Stack the white pages on the middle section, centering them. Staple them along the top edge.

* Glue the colored construction paper strip over the top edge to hide the staples.

* Fold the two side pieces in to close the book.

* Measure the side pieces from top to bottom, and mark the middle of the page along each center edge, about 1 inch in from where they meet.

* Use the hole punch to make a hole at the mark on each cover. Put a brad fastener through each hole. Wrap the string or yarn around one fastener securely.

* To close the book, fold the pages in and loosely wrap the string or yarn around the other fastener.

Shaped Subject Book

Materials

* 2 pieces of card stock

* Pencil

* Scissors

* 3 to 5 pieces of white paper

* Stapler

Directions

* On one piece of card stock, draw a picture of a theme for your book, such as an apple, a butterfly, or a house. This will be the front cover.

* Stack the two pieces of card stock and cut out the shape drawn. This will give you a back cover the same shape as your front cover.

* Stack the sheets of white paper together.

* Use one piece of the cut card stock to trace the shape onto the top of the white paper stack.

* Cut out the shape on the white paper stack, cutting a little inside the traced line to make the interior pages a little bit smaller than the covers.

* Stack the white pages inside the card stock covers and staple them all together, either at the top or left-hand side.

One-Fold Pop-Up Book

Materials

* 1 piece of card stock, 6 by 9 inches

* Ruler

* Pencil

* Scissors

Directions

* Fold the card stock in half, short edge to short edge.

* Make a small mark on the fold 2½ inches from each edge.

* From each mark on the folded edge, make a 1½-inch cut toward the open side of the paper.

* Unfold the paper and pull the cut piece upward. Refold this piece on its crease, reversing the direction it folds.

* The fold will be the top edge for this book. Each time the page is opened, the small piece will pop up.

Double-Sided Book

Materials

* 1 piece of gray construction paper, 8 by 18 inches

* 1 piece of white paper, 5½ by 7½ inches

* Glue

* 3 to 5 pieces of white paper, 7½ by 11 inches

* Long stapler or long-eyed sewing needle and 15 inches of heavy thread or dental floss (optional)

Directions

* Fold the gray paper in thirds, short edge to short edge.

* Open and refold the paper accordion-style.

* Glue the 5½-by-7½-inch white paper to the front fold for the cover.

* Fold the pieces of larger white paper in half, short edge to short edge.

* In the second fold, glue, staple, or stitch (using directions for the Stitched Book [page 35]) the folded white paper. These pages will appear to be in the back of the book.

Paper-Bag Pockets Book

Materials

* 3 to 5 paper lunch bags (10 3/4 or 14 inches)

* Scissors

* Decorative paper (colored construction paper, wallpaper, wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, etc.)

* 2-inch strip of construction paper (5 or 6½ inches)

* Glue

* Colored paper

* Stapler

Directions

* Cut the bottom off the paper bags so the bag becomes a square. If using a 5-by-10 3/4-inch bag, the piece will measure 5 by 5 inches after cutting off the bottom. A 6½-by-14-inch bag will give you a 6½-inch square.

* Cut the decorative paper to the size of the square bag piece for as many bags as you are using for the book pages.

* Glue the decorative paper squares to the bags.

* Fold the colored construction paper in half, long edge to long edge, to make the book's spine.

* Stack all the bag pages on top of each other with the cut edges to the same side and staple along the cut edge.

* Put this edge into the fold of the colored paper and glue the spine over the stapled edge.

Folded-Pockets Book

Materials

* 1 piece of white paper, 9 by 18 inches

* Glue

* 4-by-6-inch index cards or heavy paper, such as colored construction paper or card stock

Directions

* Place the piece of white paper in front of you horizontally, with the long sides of the paper serving as the top and bottom.

* Fold the bottom edge up 2 inches.

* Put a small dot of glue on the outside corners of the fold to hold it in place.

* Fold the paper in half short edge to short edge, and then again short edge to short edge.

* Open and refold the paper accordion-style.

* Slide the 4-by-6-inch index cards or heavy paper into the pockets for pages.

Hanging Tassel Book

Materials

* 4 pieces of white paper, 2½ by 5½ inches

* 4 pieces of colored card stock, 3 by 6 inches

* Glue

* Scissors

* String, yarn, or ribbon

* Beads (optional)

Directions

* Glue the four pieces of white paper to the four pieces of card stock.

* Fold each of the four pieces in half, short edge to short edge.

* Glue the back side of one half of one folded piece to the back side of half of another folded piece.

* Continue gluing half of one piece to half of another piece until the last half on the last piece of card stock is glued to the unglued half of the first piece.

* Fold the string, yarn, or ribbon in half and tie a loop at the folded end.

* Lay one side of the string in the crease of one side. Lay the other side in the crease opposite the first one.

* Tie the two string tails together just underneath the book. Allow the ends of the strands to hang down.

* Add beads for decoration, if you like.

Tunnel Book

Materials

* 3 pieces of card stock, 5 by 6 inches

* Ruler

* Pencil

* Drawing compass

* Eraser

* Scissors

* 1 piece of card stock, 2 by 4 inches

* 2 pieces of white paper, 5 by 12 inches

* Glue

Directions

* Find the center of each edge of one piece of 5-by-6-inch card stock. Mark it on each side.

* Lightly draw a line to find where the lines intersect in the middle of the card stock.

* Open a compass to obtain a 1-inch radius.

* Place the point of the compass on the center of the paper, where the lines intersected, and draw a 2-inch-diameter circle.

* Erase the lines outside of the circle.

* Carefully poke the compass point tip through the center of the paper.

* Insert scissors, and cut out the circle. This is the front cover.

* Place the 2-by-4-inch card stock template on another piece of 5-by6-inch card stock horizontally, and center it.

* Trace around the template.

* Carefully poke a hole in the middle of the rectangle, and cut it out from the card stock. Do not start cutting from the edge of the paper. This page eventually goes in the middle.

* Fold each piece of 5-by-12-inch paper in half, short edge to short edge. Fold one short edge up to the middle of the folded section. Fold it once more to bring the short edges together. Unfold the paper and refold accordion-style.

* To make the back cover, insert the uncut piece of 5-by-6-inch card stock into the last crease of the accordion-folded paper. Glue the last folded section to the back of the uncut card stock rectangle, along the short edge.

* Glue the last folded section of the other accordion-folded paper to the back side of the other short edge of the uncut rectangle.

* Glue the card stock with the rectangle cut out to the middle fold of each strip along the short edges of the card stock.

* Glue the card stock with the circle cut out to the first fold of each accordion-folded paper along the short edges.

Flap Book

Materials

* 1 piece of colored construction paper, 5 by 9 inches

* Glue

* 2 pieces of colored card stock, 3 by 9 inches

* 12 pieces of card stock, 2 by 3 inches

Directions

* Fold the colored construction paper long edge to long edge. Fold again long edge to long edge and then again one more time. Open the paper and refold it accordion-style along the creases.

* Place the accordion in front of you, with the creases running vertically.

* Run a line of glue down the first rectangle on the left side of the accordion. Place one piece of 3-by-9-inch card stock into this first fold. The top flap of the accordion will be on the outside of your front cover.

* Repeat this step on the right side of the accordion with the other piece of 3-by-9-inch card stock. This becomes your back cover.

* Now take a piece of 2-by-3-inch card stock and put glue along the 2-inch edge. Stick the rectangle to the left side of the first fold, close to the top. The tag will stick out beyond the folded paper.

* Glue a second rectangle to the right side of the first fold, just below the first piece.

* Glue a third rectangle to the left of the first fold again and a fourth on the right. Each piece should be just below the previous piece.

* Repeat these steps, gluing four rectangles each to the next two folds.

Pop-Up Book

Materials

* 1 piece of white paper, 8½ by 14 inches

* 2 pieces of colored card stock, 3½ by 8½ inches

* Glue

* 2 pieces of colored construction paper, 4 by 4 inches

* Scissors

Directions

* Fold the white paper in half, short edge to short edge, and in half again. Open the paper back up and refold accordion-style.

* Glue the colored card stock to the end pieces for the covers. The accordion flaps will make the inside front and back covers.

* To make the pop-up paper, fold a 4-by-4-inch colored construction paper in half. Open the paper and fold in half the other way.

* With the paper folded once, cut along the crease line from the center fold until ¼ inch from the edge of the paper.

* Keep the paper folded. From the fold, fold the two middle pieces along the cut toward the corners to create triangle folds. Crease well for a smooth edge.

* Undo the triangle folds, push them to the inside, and press flat.

* Optional: Cut the edges of the paper to make various shapes for heads being careful not to cut the folded triangles. Leave enough paper arouond the edges to be able to glue it down.

* Repeat the steps to make another pop-up piece of paper with the other 4-inch square of colored construction paper.

* To assemble the pop-up in the book, align the center crease line of the pop-up with the first crease in the book. Glue the edges of the popup paper to the page. Repeat with the second pop-up paper, with its crease aligned with the third crease in the book.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Make It! Write It! Read It! by Wendy M.L. Libby. Copyright © 2015 Wendy M. L. Libby. Excerpted by permission of Chicago Review Press Incorporated.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Zephyr Press
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1613730306
• ISBN 13: 9781613730300
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 112