Do you still remember our previous blog post on “Fun with erupting volcano“? We mentioned that we will be doing a lap book on volcano after the experiment. This post is about our volcano lap book!
In case you don’t know what a lapbook is: a lapbook is a project book or file folder, laid out in a creative manner, that fits on the child’s lap. Each lapbook is an original creation from your child.
Why lapbook?
Because it is a very good way of reinforcing ideas on what your kids are learning at school or extra curricular activities.
How does it reinforce?
The child learns a lot by doing the research and more thought is put into them when creating their lapbook.
We love lap books, especially for me as a mother, because my kids tend to remember lapbook activities better than just listening to read alouds or filling in worksheets. To top that off, it is an inexpensive way of learning!
My kids can’t wait to start. My boy loves volcanoes and he really puts in the effort on doing the research and learning more about it. I have made flashcards to summarise the facts about volcanoes and he loves flipping through my cards every now and then and now is the time for them to “publish” what they learn into a book.
First thing we did is to do a cover page of their volcano lapbook.
We had a little more fun when the kids were asked to blow the red paint to form the lava of the volcanoes. Look at that! Really look like volcanoes erupting huh!
We do learn about layers of earth and how volcanoes are formed. To make them understand better, I used an egg to represent the earth. Easy peasy compared to using play dough to form the layers and it got them excited that an egg can be used to for this purpose.
Best of all, they get to eat it after that! From the picture, you can see that they were still observing the egg and eating it layer by layer and repeating to themselves: crust, mantle, core.
After all the learning, the kids started to plan and create the contents of their lapbooks. I have printed out additional materials for them too. They get to evaluate and “strategize” how they want to present what they have learnt. The kids were totally engrossed in their work.
My 3 yrs old got a little tired and went for a snack while my 6 yrs old was still focusing on his work.
Want to check out their final product? Here you go! Able to tell which is from a 6 yrs old and 3 yrs old?
This is the view of their content page.
How about that? Do you get to understand better about what is a lapbook, how to make it and how it works? I hope you do after this session.
In summary, lapbooking is a great way to teach your child about CONTENT and PROCESS.
1) CONTENT
Topics that interest your child.
Let your child choose the topics if possible as this brings about more internal-based motivation and therefore greater learning from and ownership of the work.
2) PROCESS
This is where the child will do his/her research on the topic, plan on how to make his book followed by evaluate, create and present what he has learn from the subject/topic.
It really isn’t as complicated as it sounds and is so much fun! Lapbooking is a great and easy way to help your children learn and grow. You can try it too!
PS: We do lapbooking session on an ad hoc basis for now. If you are keen to join us for a lap booking session, do email us at contactus@lupwaiparentwhisperer.com for more details.