Armed with magazines, scissors, glue and markers, we decided to make with your own hands not just a collage, but books and paintings. And we killed several birds with one stone: we had a creative and interesting time, practiced fine motor skills and, most importantly, received a new instrument that encourages our youngest son to recite poetry. I also remembered how much kids and even older children enjoy making books themselves. Even for those who don't really like to write. But first things first.
Why make books with your own hands?
Before I talk about how easy it is to make a book with your baby with your own hands, I’ll tell you why this is necessary. It would seem that now you can find any book on sale. But... Sometimes the pictures are just terrible, sometimes there is too much text on one page for kids, sometimes... you just want to be creative.
A few years ago, my eldest son and I also became interested in making books with our own hands. It was at the dacha and almost nothing has survived (which is a pity). And I completely forgot how interesting it was for him and the children from the neighboring houses to make books themselves, based on poems, and just like that, for several weeks in a row, they asked me every morning if we were going to make books today.
In fact, for kids to understand that they can not only read books, but also make them themselves and it’s not at all difficult - this is just a breakthrough. It is then impossible to stop them. They make books based on poems, fairy tales, and invent their own stories. You will only be required to give a poem or an idea for a book and help with the choice of illustrations (if you are making books with appliqués rather than drawing illustrations), so that this process does not take too much time and the children do not lose enthusiasm.
The youngest son has been making us his books for several days now, and then he reads them to us himself. Of course, they have no artistic value; I was even embarrassed to photograph some, but that’s not the point. The main thing is creativity and creation.
What you will need
In order to make the simplest book with your own hands you will need:
- sheets of paper or cardboard;
- a poem with visual images;
- pictures that match the images of the poem;
- scissors;
- glue;
- felt-tip pens or pencils for design.
It's better to use double-sided paper or cardboard so you don't have to glue the pages together. You can also use regular printer paper, but it is still better to take thicker paper or cardboard, since they do not warp so much from the glue and the markers do not show through to the other side.
Choose a poem from which you can easily find images in the magazines you have or draw. Since it’s winter outside, we took winter poems. If you have a color printer, you can select suitable pictures for the poem on the Internet and print them.
Some pictures can be replaced with words (especially useful if you are teaching your child to read) or drawn by yourself.
Our DIY winter books
I. Vinokurov
Snowfall
Snowfall,
Snowfall.
It was a day
And a night in a row.
He walked through the field
He walked through the forest
I also looked under the awnings,
He may rest in peace
At home,
And we realized:
Winter.
G. Novitskaya
Mittens
Lost
At my sister's
Two fluffy mittens!
To mom
Tata complained:
-They galloped away like rabbits!
They galloped away
Straight into the forest.
Even a trace of them
Disappeared!
O. Chusovitina
It's snowing outside the window,
So, New Year is coming soon.
Santa Claus is on his way,
It will take him a long time to get to us
Through the snowy fields,
Through snowdrifts, through forests.
He will bring a Christmas tree
In silver needles.
Happy New Year to us
And he will leave us gifts.
Tired of the mess in your nursery? Tired of endlessly collecting toys for your child?
N. Kalandarova
Fluffy snow lay on the branches,
Children playing on the porch:
They sculpt a woman under the window,
They roll a snowball together.
When will the baby be able to do this on his own?
The process of creating a book with your own hands is excellent: fine motor skills are trained, thinking develops, including creative thinking, the baby learns to be attentive and diligent. You can make the simplest books with children starting at the age of 1.5 years. At this age, the baby will be able, under your strict guidance, to smear the necessary area with glue, stick a picture there and even smooth it out with his finger. You can use colored glue so that the baby can see exactly where the picture needs to be glued.
After 2.5 years, you can ask your child to help you arrange the pictures in the right order. Closer to 3 years, with your help, the baby can draw the picture himself (you can hold the baby’s hand in your hand or, conversely, guide the sheet with the picture). At 4 years old, if you give your child a base for a book, cutouts and glue and a little guidance, your child will make a book himself. And a 5-year-old is quite capable of finding suitable pictures in magazines and cutting them out himself.
More options
Another option for creating books with your own hands with kids is not to glue pictures, but to draw them. Together with your child, you break the poem into small pieces, and the child makes an illustration for each piece. When making such books, we assume that the baby will “read” them himself, so it is better if the pieces are the same size: a line, two lines or a stanza for those who are older. This way you teach your child to see the picture of the poem, and this way the poems are better remembered.
For the little ones, it is better to take quatrains and break them into lines. While the baby turns the page, he will have time to say the phrase. This is what prompted my youngest son start reciting poems. Before this, I couldn’t encourage him to do this in any way, although I suspected that he knew many poems by heart (he corrects me if I say something wrong), and speaks well for his age.
Closer to 3 years, you can make one picture for two lines, after 4 years - one picture for a quatrain.
You can make your book like a real one and paste both a picture and text on one spread. This way, your book can be read by those who are unfamiliar with it. After 5 years, if the baby can already read, give him a big, serious task: you paste text on the spreads of the book (for a poem into parts, in this case, focus not on the baby’s age, but on his reading skills), and let the baby select and paste the pictures or draw them. This handmade book will be an excellent gift for your grandparents.
You can make books from white paper or cardboard, or you can use colored paper or cardboard. A few notes from our experience:
- do not use too bright colors and a motley background: they are tiring and your drawings and clippings will be difficult to see;
- You can glue a square or rectangle of white paper onto bright paper or cardboard so that only the frame remains, and draw or glue on this white piece;
- books with frames look very beautiful and neat, so if your book has white frames on the pages, you can simply draw them;
- Colored printer paper is very convenient (it’s double-sided, but a bit thin: don’t use too much glue and it won’t warp too much, but the markers will show through);
- Glossy double-sided paper for creativity does not always stick glossy pictures well, but it is denser than ordinary colored paper for appliqués;
- Double-sided cardboard is not always easy to find or is too bright.
You can also experiment with book forms:
- the pages of the book can be of different lengths - in the shape of a ladder;
- make the pages of the book not in the usual shape, but for example, in the shape of a semicircle, or in the shape of a drop or a cloud, if you have a book about rain;
- the pages of the book can be the colors of the rainbow, you can alternate the colors of the pages;
- add pockets, windows and other secrets to the pages.
My eldest son and I made this rainbow book for our youngest son for his first birthday (the spreads of the book are in rainbow colors). Although the book is made of cardboard sheets glued together, the pages of the book are covered with tape, since it was actively used during feeding:
Or you can make not books, but paintings - illustrations for poems. This is what we got.
V. Lunin
Winter
In the picture of winter
Everything is white from snow:
Field, distant hills,
Fence, cart.But sometimes they shine on it
In the middle of a cotton clearing
Red-breasted bullfinches
Sun spots.
Of course, homemade paper books, if they are not laminated and covered with tape, quickly fail. You can't chew them like cardboard books. But you can always make new ones! And it takes very little time!
Have fun creating with your children!
If you liked our creative ideas, tell other moms and dads about them by clicking on the social media buttons.
Do you and your baby make books with your own hands? Share your experience in the comments!
One of the most successful methods to interest a child in reading is to make a book on a topic that interests him: with photographs of a pet or friends. In the photo book-album about the friendship of a boy and a cat "Misha and Syoma". I made this book for one wonderful boy Misha, who studied a second language - Latvian in our bilingual group. Photos from the family album were kindly provided by the boy's mother, pasted onto cardboard sheets, and the sheets were connected with rings. For each photo on the sheet, on the left is one sentence to read in syllables with highlighted vowels.
I even did it once herbarium book for a young botanist, and the first plant there was Veronica so that it would be interesting for him to read - it was the name of his grandmother.
My book is from a series of little books about numbers. Catalogs with photos are used, and the cover is a greeting card:
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Modern colorful greeting cards in the form of cars, animals especially awaken the imagination - these are ready-made covers for books, you just need to collect the sheets and trim the edges for the cover.
My book in folder"Outside my window." Behind the window in a paper folder you can insert (at the top) any image and briefly describe it. Great use for collected pictures. This is an inexhaustible topic that can be continued when the child learns to write.
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| WHAT'S OUTSIDE MY WINDOW? COLOR-HERE SAD-Y. |
Book-toy in the form of an apple “Autumn Day”, and in it a fairy tale with pictures - it’s easy to compose and use any suitable pictures:
I always made little books hastily, from scrap materials, which did not stop me from dreaming and collecting ideas for future books.
DIY book ideas
It's very easy to use tabletop flip-flops calendars on a spring - they have wonderful cardboard sheets and can be decorated with collages with text. In addition, colorful calendars with photographs of landscapes can be compiled into a book for reading, supplementing the photos first with only the names of the four seasons, then with the names of the months and, finally, with short texts.
Round book
How to fold a mini-book - an art album from a folder
Templates for figured books - almost any thematic large pictures
Templates for a book in the shape of an animal:
Little books with envelopes for inserting pictures, notes, flat objects:
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| from paper bags |
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| book with pockets |
ABC of vitamins
You shouldn't eat chips
And drink lemonade
Better go to the garden
Or an orchard.
Every vegetable, berry and fruit
Brings great benefits
We'll tell you about it here
Please remember everything!
A- orange
In ancient times, an apple from China
All the people called him.
He heals internal organs,
Will ensure good digestion.
The fruit is, of course, exotic
And also dietary.
It will cleanse the body
It will also restore sleep.
B- cherry
Eat some cherries
Contains a lot of vitamins!
Reduces blood pressure,
Treatment for anemia.
G-pear
You won’t find a tastier remedy,
Good for the lungs and heart,
Contains a lot of potassium and iodine,
It also helps with heartburn.
D-melon
It contains a lot of iron
And it will quench your thirst faster,
Calms the nervous system
Digestive products will be absorbed.
E- blackberry
The berry is very interesting
Useful for treating gums
Helps with diabetes mellitus
Blood composition improves.
F – honeysuckle
You'll love her right away
Treasure of ascorbic acid.
Choleretic, laxative,
Very useful for hypertension.
Z- strawberry
Dietary remedy-
We all love him since childhood!
Heals kidney stones
It will increase our appetite,
For cough and fever
This is the best texture!
I-irga
This berry helps with depression
Increases resistance to stress
The development of oncology will prevent
And in case of a heart attack it will heal.
K- cabbage
Reduces cholesterol in the blood,
Increases your immunity
For headaches and joint pain
A cabbage leaf will certainly relieve.
L- lemon
Everyone knows this citrus
It cures flu and sore throat.
There is a large supply of vitamin C,
It also helps with headaches.
M-raspberry
Fragrant, tasty and healthy too,
It will help with colds and radiculitis!
It relieves inflammation
And the skin color improves.
O- sea buckthorn
Sea buckthorn oil is very useful,
A wonderful remedy for burns.
It will cure ulcers and gastritis,
It is very important for the stomach.
P - tomato
Low-calorie vegetable,
Rich in vitamins,
It improves complexion
Improves mood.
R - radish
It speeds up metabolism
Helps with diabetes.
Well, if you want to lose weight -
We ask for more radishes!
C-beet
Intestines, kidneys, liver
There is nothing better to peel beets with,
Hemoglobin can increase
And it will help with scurvy.
T-pumpkin
Both the pulp and the seeds are very tasty,
They are a good diuretic.
Very good for the liver
And there’s a lot of zinc, by the way!
Ch-garlic
This vegetable is famous
Improves appetite,
A remedy for all diseases,
Good for gums and teeth.
I am an apple
Brush your teeth in the morning
The apple will help us
Improves digestion,
Supports vision.
When a child begins to explore the world, he is interested in everything. The best way for a child to come into contact with the outside world is through a baby book, which you can either buy or create with your own hands. Such a book must be issued in the first year upon admission to any modern kindergarten.
Parents involve their children in creating a baby book - this is its main idea. At the same time, the kid will be incredibly proud that he put his soul into the common cause, participating in the process. When creating a book together with parents, the baby develops skills in working with small parts and with scissors. At this time, the child develops speech and communication skills, and there is a desire to further participate in team work. In addition, the child becomes even closer spiritually to his parents.
The theme of a baby book, as a rule, is set by kindergarten teachers, while parents can only choose materials for production and make it in a short time. It makes sense to include fairy tales in homemade crafts and use a variety of colors and animal images. The plot and design of the book depends solely on the imagination of its creators.
Material selection
What the material will be depends mainly on the age of the child and the imagination of the parents. Recommended materials Regarding the baby's age:
The most suitable fabric for decorating a DIY baby book for kindergarten is thick cotton. This material is easier to design and iron; moreover, it interacts best with starch, which will greatly facilitate the manufacturing process for parents. You can also add fleece, then the book will be softer, but also voluminous.
Design ideas
Little rascals love everything soft, voluminous, rustling, everything that can be unscrewed, pulled, removed. Plus it's incredibly useful for fine motor skills of a child's hands. That is why, if you make a lot of removable elements on the pages of a baby book, this will be the most advantageous option. It’s good if these are heroes of your favorite cartoons and fairy tales. You can buy them at any craft store. If there are no such stores in the city, you will have to sew it yourself. It is advisable to additionally secure all elements, small and large, with ropes, since these parts can get lost and will not be easy to find among children. There are many ideas in the master class videos.
Children are also interested in construction toys. You can make a house in which the doors, windows, and roof will be on Velcro, or a car with removable wheels on the same Velcro. Multi-colored puzzles with each piece on Velcro are also popular. For older children, you can play a game of tic-tac-toe.
It is advantageous to make pages from fabric to which Velcro adheres well and each detail will be separate. This way the child will be able to create new paintings every day.
Would be a good idea add pockets to the book, into which removable parts can be folded, as shown in the master classes.
Little children love to find some new hidden details under the elements, for example, a bug under the petals of a flower or a bird’s nest behind a leaf on a tree.
If the elements can be sorted through, this will be an additional fun activity for the baby almost from the first year of life. Such details can be colored pebbles on a rope or beads under a transparent fabric. Children are also interested in labyrinths. To create a labyrinth in a baby book, you need to take transparent fabric and machine stitch the passages. Throw a few beads inside. The child will roll beads through the maze, thereby developing fine motor skills for the future.
Not a bad idea for a baby book - this is lacing. In every kindergarten, children learn to tie their shoelaces. A baby book can help your child in this difficult task. A small applique of a shoe, rings and other details of your choice are sewn onto the page. Either laces or strips of fabric stylized as them are threaded into the rings. The simulator is ready!
All girls are crazy about felt dolls, especially if they can comb their hair and change their clothes. Aerobatics if the doll has her own house with interior items. In this style and with such an idea, you can design the entire book. On each page there is a room with corresponding furniture and interior items on Velcro.
Fastening
You can pin pages in several ways:
Today, in big cities, master classes are held on making baby books with your own hands. Residents of small towns can watch the video on the Internet.
Despite the fact that the fabric book has a very large volume, the pages should not fall apart. It is necessary to sew fastex or tape to the cover. The most suitable size baby book for kindergarten is A5 format. With a large number of elements, it will be almost impossible to bind together more than six or seven pages. If six pages do not accommodate the wild imagination of the handicraft parent, you can create additional pages that will periodically replace each other.
The first cardboard book
When a child reaches a certain age, he can make a baby book on his own. This is usually allowed in older groups of kindergarten, when children learn to make appliqués on their own, skillfully using glue and children's scissors. This book will be something like “profiles for friends” for children of the 90s. You can paste clippings from magazines or just pictures from the Internet, printed on a color printer, into an album or a beautiful notebook.
If the parent has drawing skills, you can safely use them to design a baby book. Anything can be used: various paints, pencils, felt-tip pens, markers and even women's eye shadow and blush. You can also buy ready-made stickers in stores and supermarkets, which are usually collected by type and theme. Stickers come in volume and with glitter. The latter are especially popular among little fashionistas. Gluing some elements of the book can be entrusted to the child (of course, under the supervision of a parent), but it is important to remember that the glue that the child will deal with should not be toxic.
The most pleasant content of a baby book, from the point of view of a small child, will be photographs. When not just unfamiliar objects appear on the pages, but beloved and dear people and toys, this pleases not only the baby’s eyes, but also the happy parents.
Attaching the paper baby book:
Very beautiful examples of books are made from scrapbooking paper. A beautiful pattern has already been applied to such sheets, all that remains is to add pictures and photographs and other elements at your discretion, to create a story.
There are a lot of options for creating a baby book for kindergarten. You just need to be patient and imaginative. It would be useful to throw away all adult problems and return to your sunny childhood, then anyone, even the most serious and strict parent, will be able to create a real fairy tale for their little miracle.
Bright cardboard books delight children, help develop attention, and introduce them to a whole world of shapes and shades. But, as often happens, a brand new book gets boring, and after a few hours the child already wants another one. And if parents approach the issue creatively, they will be able to pamper their baby with colorful crafts. After all, by allocating a little time, you can organize joint activities, during which the child will learn how to make a book on his own. Such activities can turn into exciting master classes, where a young master, armed with a glue stick, can design several pages himself. Parents will need to prepare the basis for creativity, cut out the required number of figures and, of course, control the process. In our article you can find a master class with step-by-step photos on how to make an educational baby book with your own hands.
Required materials:
How to make a baby book - step by step instructions
- We make a drawing of future pages - divide each sheet into 6 parts.
- Carefully cut the cardboard according to the markings and invite the child to lay out the received cards, as in the photo.
- While the baby plays with cards, we cut out different geometric shapes. We use paper of different colors.
- Now you can put a special rug for needlework or just a sheet of paper on the table surface in front of the young master and, along with it, lay out the cut out figures around. We take glue, then any page and show how it is designed. Please note: you need to select contrasting colors, explaining the rules of composition along the way. If the student is old enough, then after several jointly designed cards, you can give him creative freedom. As a result, all 12 pages will be decorated with bright appliqué.
- From a piece of cardboard we will make a template for the holes and a neat “spine” for the future book according to the given diagram.
- We bend the “spine” using scissors, as in the video.
- We also cut out the template from cardboard and make holes.
- Using a template and a self-tapping screw, we make holes for threads on all prepared pages, as well as on the spine. Carefully fold the cards.
- Everything is ready. But how can you make a baby book if its pages are not fastened together? Thread a strong thread folded in half into a needle and carefully assemble the baby book. To secure the thread after stitching, we make several knots. We cut the tail of the thread and hide the knots in the hole. Using a needle or scissors, we work out the folds of the pages and spine. We bring the finished product to its original position.
- We use the ready-made bright manual for learning shapes and colors. You can also count with your child the number of elements on each page.
A handmade educational guide will bring more joy than a printed publication. Moreover, such a children's master class will bring a lot of positive emotions to all its participants.
