What Do I Need to Get Started With Lapbooking?

No homeschool family could possibly be without markers and scissors, right? You'll need a good assortment of basic drawing supplies -- pencils, erasers, a ruler, markers, and a hole punch-- the things you already have. Assemble them together in some sort of caddy or basket that's ready at a moment's notice.

To make your minibooks , you have a choice -- use regular copy paper or use a thicker cardstock. Personally, I prefer the look and feel of cardstock. Almost all our minibooks are made with it. Books made with cardstock last longer as they are opened and reread over and over.

Most printers can print on cardstock without any problem.

I highly recommend you buy either a long arm stapler or a swiveling stapler like the blue one pictured. If you are going to make a lot of minibooks, it will be an often used tool.

Tape or glue? This question comes up often among lapbookers. The faithful Elmers white glue often leaves projects lumpy, and so is not a great option. Rubber cement is a better alternative.

Many people, myself included, like to use double sided tape to affix the minibooks to the lapbook base. Others claim that glue dots are the only way to go!

To be honest, the only way to know what works is to try them out and see.

We have a laminator that we use for lapbooking. Although by no means an essential tool, a laminator can add a bit of durability to your lapbooks.

This Cuttlekids Die Cut is a handy personal sized machine for cutting uniform shapes from paper. You can use the shapes for decorating minibooks and lapbook covers as well as for scrapbooking or general crafting.

The machine is used with sets of dies that you buy separately. For a slideshow of pics of this product from another homeschooling mom, visit this link.

When a lapbook gets really indepth, it gets FAT. And it's sometimes hard to close. No worries. There are many methods you can use to keep the lapbook together.

Paper fasteners are a great resource. Put one on each side of the opening. Tie a string to one of them. Wrap the remaining string around the other brad.

Or simply punch holes in both sides and use ribbon to tie the lapbook shut.

Look the images below for more details about how to close a super stuffed lapbook.



Paper fasteners or brads are essential for making fan books and wheel books. And you may want to use them for keeping hefty lapbooks shut. Now paper fasteners are available in various colors and shapes. Choose stars for an American history related project, fish for an ocean theme, and multicolor packs to match any color scheme you've chosen.

Find a way to store your lapbooks that will keep them tidy but will also keep them at arm's reach for frequent re-reading. We've found that not only are lapbooks fun for reminiscing previous years of schooling, they are also great reference sources. We often refer to them for answers to things we've studied but can't quite remember.

The Wayzley Academy has a clever idea for storing lapbooks using recycled cereal boxes. Cheap and creative!

The View from the Hill Blog uses duct tape to file lapbooks into notebooks! A very creative solution to storage!