How to Make Lapbook Templates in MS Word

It may seem to you that there are many screenshots below, however, the main purpose is to explain the process in such detail that even the person least familiar with MS Word will be able to understand how to make a lapbook template.

We'll start with a simple horizontal Q&A flap book.

On the top toolbar of MS Word, click on "Table> Insert> Table"

A pop-up window will appear to create a table. The number of columns you want will be the number of flaps you need. We'll use 3 flaps for this example, so select 3 columns. Then select 2 rows. One for the flap (the "question"), and one for where your child will write the "answer."

On the lower right corner of the table that you've inserted, click on the tiny square and drag it to approximately twice the "height" that you want your mini-book. (Remember, you will be folding it in half.)

Then highlight the whole table, and right-click on it. On the menu that pops up, click "Borders and Shading"

When the Borders and Shading Window pops up, on the Borders tab, you can change the borders. I like heavy borders, so I change them all to 1.5 points first. Then I like to change the horizontal interior "borders" to light gray dotted lines. Basically any line I CUT is solid and any "fold" lines are dotted. To change the interior borders, click on the dotted line under "Style", a shade of gray under "color", then click the interior horizontal line under "Preview."

Then highlight the top row and right-click. On the menu that pops up, choose "Merge Cells"

Voila! You're result is a 3-flap Q & A book.

If you'd like to add text to the flaps, you may do so by typing it into the individual cells.

Are you ready to move on? Let's try a shutter-type mini-book.

First, Click on "Table> Insert >Table" on the top toolbar.

Choose four(4) columns and one(1) row in the pop-up window.

When the table is inserted, similarly, you will want to click and drag the lower right corner of the table to twice the size...twice the WIDTH this time.

Highlight the two center sections. Right-click and choose "Merge Cells" from the pop-up menu.

Now, highlight the entire table, and right-click. Select "Borders and Shading" from the pop-up menu.

In the Pop-up window, you may change the exterior (horizontal and vertical) borders to 1.5 points for thicker lines, and the interior (vertical) "borders" to dotted lines for folding.

And now you have a lovely shutter mini-book all ready to use. If you'd like to add text to the outside, place it in the right and/or left cells of the table/mini-book. As a tip... remember, when the book is folded, the right section below will be on the left of the finished book, and the left section below will be on the right of the finished booklet.

Variation: To make a tri-fold book, Follow the same steps as the Shutter book, but start out with 3 columns instead of 4 and skip the "Merge Cells" step. This will give you 3 "equal" columns instead of 2 narrow side columns and one wide center column.

See example below...

Now let's move on to a little harder booklet...a basic shape booklet. (The picture to the right is a different shape than below...but I didn't have a completed pentagon shape book to include.)

I've chosen to use the Pentagon shape, but you could use any kind of shape that has a straight or nearly straight edge (e.g. an oval) for folding.

On the bottom toolbar, select "Autoshapes>Basic Shapes>Regular Pentagon" (Or whatever shape you choose, there are so many of them. You may even want to explore the other autoshape options such as flowchart shapes, block arrows, banners and callouts. However, for the remainder of the tutorial, I will be using a pentagon as my example.)

Click on one of the corners of the "box" that appears and drag your cursor to the "opposite corner" of your pentagon area and a pentagon shape will be drawn. Make sure it it the size and shape you desire.

Right-click on the object you've drawn. Select "Copy".

Then click anywhere on the page, but NOT on the object area (so it is not "active"). Right-click again, and select "Paste" from the pop-up menu.

This will past another pentagon exactly like the one copied. Right-click on the new pentagon. Select "Format Autoshape" on the pop-up menu.

In the window that pops up, select the "Size" tab. Change the "Rotation" value to 180 degrees. It is more accurate to do it this way than it is to manually rotate the shape.

Now, click on the pentagon to drag it below the first pentagon so that the bottom of one matches up with the "top" of the other.

Now you have a pentagon shape book that you can fold over.



If you'd like an optional dotted line to designate a fold line, continue on with the following directions...

Click on the "Line" tool on the bottom toolbar.

A drawing box will pop up. Again, click on one corner and drag your cursor to draw a line the length that you desire. Make sure that this line is perfectly horizontal. You may have to zoom in to fine-tune it. (Note: My line is in the upper left corner of the "drawing box")

Once the line is drawn, right-click on it and select "Format Autoshape" from the pop-up menu. In the Pop-up window that appears, make sure the "Colors and Lines" tab is selected. In the "Line" section, select a light gray color, dashed line. You may also choose to thicken the line to 2 points or more. (Note: You will be changing the color later, but you'll need it to be something besides black or white so you don't "lose" it when you move it on the page.)

Next move it so that it "covers" the line between the two pentagons. (Shorten or lengthen if necessary by dragging the endpoint to desired location.)

Right-click on the object again, and select "Format Autoshape" from the pop-up menu.

Now change the line color to white. This will cause the line between the pentagons to appear to be dashed. Pretty nifty trick, eh?

And there you have a lovely Pentagon Shape book...

The last step (if you want to be able to resize the whole group of three objects easily)...hold down your shift key and click on all three objects (both pentagons and the dashed line). Right-click on the highlighted objects. When the pop-up menu appears, select "Grouping>Group". This will group all the objects together (or "attach" them so it becomes one larger object instead of 3 smaller ones).

If you'd like to add text to the shape book, you can accomplish this by inserting a Text Box. Find the icon on the bottom toolbar that looks like a white rectangle with an "A" and some lines in it. If you hover your cursor over it, a Yellow box will appear that says "Text Box." Click on this icon. The drawing box will appear again. Draw your textbox so that it will fit in ONE of the pentagon shapes.

Move your textbox onto the shape where you want it. Right click on the border of the text box. Select "Format Text Box" from the pop-up menu.

A pop-up window will appear. On the "Colors and Lines" tab, Under "Fill" select "No Fill", and under "Line" select "No Line". This will give you a textbox with no line that you can "see through."

Now you are ready to type in your text. Click inside the textbox, and begin typing.

And there you have your shape book...

There are many other mini-books you could make. Most are variations of the basic ones explained above...but that is for a future lens.

Happy Lapbooking!