Ideas for Minibooks 

What should I put in my lapbook?

So, you've chosen an animal. Now, where to start?

What goes in the lapbook? Well, anything and everything about that animal! But to give you more direction, consider these topics for minibooks about your particular animal. Think of each topic here as one (or more) minibook.

The words in bold are keywords you can pair with your animal if you search the Internet for information or printables. So, if you're studying pandas, for example, you would seach for panda habitat map, panda life cycle, panda books, etc.

1. Map of the animal's habitat
2. Description of the animal's habitat(desert, rainforest) and or home(nest, burrow, colony)
3. The animal's community/social structure
4. Place in the food chain -- what it eats and what eats it.
5. Importance in history or history of this animal. Was this animal "discovered" by explorers? Was this animal important to the culture of a certain people group?
6. Taxonomy -- scientific name and its relatives
7. Anatomy (look for diagrams) and especially the animal's distinguishing characteristics
8. Life cycle and reproduction
9. The animal's place in literature -- what famous books, tales, or poems feature this animal?

Animal Lapbooking 

fish layered book

inside fish book

inside fish book

top tab dolphin book

dolphin tri-fold

penguin pop-up book

horse minibook

horse matchbooks

Animal Links 

These links are great online references for any animal unit study.

Animal Diversity Web

This site will give you the scientific name of any animal as well as facts and photographs. A very useful site for any animal study.

Answers in Genesis Kids

(Christian perspective) This site has attractive webpages and several quality printables.

America Zoo

This is a fun interactive world map that teaches what animals are native to which continents.

National Geographic Kids

This is an excellent site for information about a variety of animals! And NG coloring pages are wonderful -- realistic and detailed.

Animal Reference Books 

Although the Internet has a wealth of information, you still want to build your own reference library with real books. Every homeschool needs a thorough animal encyclopedia.

National Geographic Encyc...

Animal Encyclopedia

Big Book of Animals

Scholastic Encyclopedia O...

Animal Study Printables 

These sites offer printables for a variety of animals or for any animal. They are a good place to start.

Animal Studies

This page has links to loads of printables for tigers, pigs, storks, pandas, ostriches, salmon, and frogs. More animals are being added continually!

Animal Report Forms

Report Forms with Writing Cues, Blank Report Forms, Simple Report Forms/Notebooking Pages, and Copywork Pages in two styles. These printables would work with any animal.

Animal Classification Printables

Bring all your animal studies together with these great ideas. A fabulous way to introduce animal taxonomy to young children.

Animal Notebook Resources

Belinda Mooney offers lots of freebies for making an animal notebook -- divider pages, notetaking pages, and more.

Animal Printable Minibooks

Ready to print and fill in --Flip books, Minibooks, and Research Packs.

Animal Report Page

This blank form can be used for the study of any animal.

Unit Studies By Gwen -- Short Books

Free printable minibooks (she calls them short books) about these animals: ferrets, dolphin, hummingbird, polar bears, bats, spiders, sharks,and monkeys.

Animal Coloring Sheets 

I personally prefer realistic animal images and not the more cartoon style animals, so that is what I've emphasized in these links.

Kaboose

A small selection of attractive PDF coloring pages -- toucan, koala, kangaroo, panda, giraffe, dolphin, bison, fox, horse, and more.

National Geographic Coloring Pages

These are quality pages that actually teach something about each animal.

Texas Wildlife

Beautiful, realistic coloring pages of animals native to TX, USA--alligator, coyote, javelina, screech owl, prairie dogs, and much more.

Pennsylvania Wildlife

Detailed PDFs of either individual pages or the entire coloring book -- turkey, owl, chipmunk, hawk, otter, pheasant, coyote, and more.

African Animal Coloring Book

Simple but realistic images of dozens of African animals.

Monterey Bay Aquarium: Coloring Pages

Printable coloring pages of your favorite ocean animals from the Monterey Bay Aquarium in CA. Images include otters, whales, eels, hermit crabs, penguins,sharks, octopus, jelly fish, coral reef fish, and tide pools.

International Wolf Center

These animals are featured: black bear, dragonfly, beaver, deer, loon, frog, wolf, lynx, hare, moose, squirrel, and butterfly. Each page has a bit of information about the animal as well.

Animal Reproducibles and Activities 

The Amazing Animal Activi...

Giant Science Resource Bo...

Animals Without Backbones...

Animals with Backbones, G...

How to Draw Animals (Acti...

Animals at Flickr 

Searching the Web 

some pointers for finding free printables

Some people have a knack for finding all the best online resources. Do you ever wonder how they do it? They know how to use search engines!

Don't forget to use a different search engine for different results. Besides Google, try Yahoo search. I really like its features better than Google's!

When you search, pair your topic -- the animal -- with one of these keywords. So, you're searching for panda printables or panda reproducibles for example. You can also pair these phrases with the ideas in the above list -- panda habitat map worksheet; panda habitat map printable, etc.

• printables
• PDF
• diagrams
• worksheets
• activities
• reproducibles
• coloring pages
• coloring sheets
• theme
• minibook
• foldable
• lapbook
• template
• blank book
• shape book
• puzzles
• lesson plans
• teacher guide
• diagram
• chart

Image Search 

And don't neglect to use an IMAGE search. On most search engines, there are tabs -- WEB, IMAGE, etc. Search for topic plus one of these keywords: diagram, chart, template, drawing.

Flickr is another great resource if you want color photographs. The penguin photo to the right came from Flickr. When you search, you can look for photographs with a Creative Commons license. That means that the owner allow his pictures to be used by others (see CC license for details).

Animal Books on eBay 

Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by

Theme and Unit Study Links 

These websites offer pages organized by themes. Search for the animal you're studying for a long list of possible printables and activities.

A to Z Teacher Stuff

From this page you can browse the themes at A to Z. Or you can search for your particular topic.

EdHelper

Search for your topic and you can find all of EdHelper's resources.

eThemes

This is a HUGE list of themes. To help you find what you want, use this browser shortcut -- CTRL F will bring up a search box at the bottom of your browser. Type in your topic and that word will be highlighted on the page. Be sure to click NEXT for any other occurrences of the theme.

Unit Studies

This is another LONG list. So use that CTRL F shortcut to focus in on what you want.

Homeschool Helper Online

Use their search function (be sure to search within Homeschool Helper) to find resources related to your animal.

Animal Pages 

Penguin Lapbook

The penguin makes a great unit study and topic for a lapbook. There is the biology involved in the study of the animal itself. You can also add the earth science and geography of the penguin's habitat.  Then there are great living books about pe...

Rainforest Lapbook

The tropical rainforest is a fascinating topic for a homeschool unit study! Just the botany and zoology alone could take months to cover. But there are also the history of the rainforest, the indigenous peoples of the rainforest, and the economy of...

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