Lapbooks and playdough

Lapbooks and playdough – what do these things have in common? Nothing really, except that’s what we’ve been doing around here. = )

Beans finished his My Father’s Dragon lapbook.

This one was loads of fun. Of course it helps that the books is just the cutest thing ever, too! My Father’s Dragon is a wonderful story about a little boy who sets out on a journey to Wild Island in order to set free an imprisoned baby dragon. He has many adventurous run-ins with some of the most dangerous creatures and cleverly bests them all. Your little one is sure to love this story for years to come.

This lapbook is available for free at Homeschool Share. They have many free lapbooks so be sure to look around. Here’s a look inside at the projects Beans made.

This lapbook has one insert and is made up of three file folders, total. The insert is located in the first (left) folder. On the flap you can see a bottle with a message inside, the tiger wheel and a mini book on kindness.

This photo (left) shows the insert opening up. Inside, Beans placed some fact books about turtles, whales and lions. When we came to a creature in the story, I would find a factual video online to watch with him. This was a very fun way to learn about the animals. The inside base contains the knapsack which has little pockets to store all the things Elmer packed for his trip to Wild Island. These are fun to count out while you read the part about Elmer packing. Then ‘unpack’ them as Elmer uses them in the story.

Here you can see all the little books opened up. Since Beans is only 6 and does not read or write very well, he will oftentimes dictate to me what he wants to add to each booklet. Sometimes he chooses to write them out himself in which case, I will tell him how to spell the words he doesn’t know and direct him in the use of proper grammar and punctuation. So far, this system has worked well for us.

This (left) is the third folder – or the second ‘base’ folder. Here we have a map of the island, some more fact mini books and some story comprehension activities. The little notepad printable asks where you would go if you could fly. My little Beans picked Florida.

Another photo of the flaps on the last page all opened up. You can see the map in the center and the long strip is a trail of seventeen crocodiles! My son loves to count these.

Beans really enjoyed this one and I’m sure we’ll be reading this book over and over again.

Another project we had this week was making our own playdough. The olders got some math skill practice by following the recipe and measuring out all the ingredients. I did the actual cooking of the mixture. Here’s the recipe we use:

1 c. flour

1/2 c. salt

2 t. cream of tartar

1 T. oil

1 c. warm water

food coloring or kool aid

Combine all of the ingredients in a non-stick sauce pan and stir it well until the salt begins to dissolve. Stir constantly over low heat until the mixture thickens. When it is ready it will pull away from the pan, making a ball around the spoon as you mix. It will come ‘clean’ off the sides of the pan.

Lay it out on wax paper and cover it until cool to the touch. Knead it several times when it has cooled down and store in an air tight container.

And here’s some of the creations…

I printed out picture cards that give step by step instructions to help in creating some of the cute little creatures. This is also an excellent exercise in following directions!

We’re taking a break from our lapbooks for a few weeks. It’s time to focus on reading a little more. We may take a few days to lay around and read, read, read. Sometimes it’s nice to have just paper, crayons and a book being read aloud. I’m reading The Apple and the Arrowto the littles and The Door in the Wall to the olders. We will finish both of those in a couple days. Next, I think we’ll read Johnny Appleseed (First Biographies)and The Cricket in Times Square (Chester Cricket and His Friends).After those, who knows. We did get in a Gummi Bear book I found at the local Goodwill. Then I had to explain who the Gummi Bears were and we spent a little while watching old episodes on YouTube. Go ahead, grab a cuddly kid and head on over to enjoy a few episodes, yourself.

Sara O’