How to Make a Pop-Up Book

My kiddos love making books, and they flipped when I introduced them to the Pop-Up book! 

 We used one for rhyming that you can check out in the Three Little Pigs post!


 Here's how they are made: 


 1. Fold construction paper in 1/2. 

 2. Cut two slits about 1 1/2-2 inches apart on the folded edge of the paper. 

 3. Fold the flap in on itself. 

 4. Cut as many of these as you have pages in your book 

 5. Glue the pages back to back. 

 6. To create a cover, take one uncut piece of construction paper.

 7. Glue it to the first and last page of the pop up book. 

 8. You're ready to go!!

How would you use pop-up books in class?

Comments make me POP with joy!!

Don't forget to check out our giveaway!  We choose a winner on Saturday!

Magnetic fish game

I made this cute magnetic fishing game for my boys.

I got the idea from this blog:

http://countingcoconuts.blogspot.com/2010/03/counting-felt-fish.html

I didn't make them counting fish, but if I make some more I think I will.

They were really fun to make!

Counting Cars Book

COUNTING BOOK

I wanted to try my hand at making a little counting book for James. 

Paint Sample Cards

I've seen a lot of uses for paint sample cards out there, and I don't want to forget them.  So, I'm posting some of them here and on a page in my website.  If you know or think of more, let me know!  Also, please ask the manager for the discarded sample.

Flannel Story Board

A neighbor moved out and put a lot of unwanted items on the curb, among them was a cork board, absolutely clean and usable in every way!  So, I picked it up and covered it with black flannel to use as a story board this coming year.  The little flannel characters I picked up at a garage sale, and the green flannel grass was bought this weekend at JoAnn's for 50% off.

cork board, scissors, black flannel, stapler

---

cover, trim, staple

---

PLAY!

Crate Seats

Finally, I've made the crate seats!  I looked at a lot of different posts and websites about how to make crate seats.  I saw some that had the plywood on the inside lip of the crate with a chair cushion tied on the crate, and others had a lot of cushioning inside with the fabric stapled to the wood.  I thought the chair cushion was a great idea, that way you could wash the cushions or replace them easily.  BUT I couldn't find cushions at a reasonable price, and making them was beginning to look as expensive, plus very time consuming.

I decided that was important to me was cleanliness, multipurpose surface, and ease of construction.  I wanted the surface to be either removable or washable, so I went with a heavy weight vinyl tablecloth fabric so that I can disinfect it easily.  I wanted the cushion to be soft enough to sit on, but firm enough to use as a writing surface/table if needed.  Finally, I wanted the construction to be as easy and inexpensive as possible.

Pringles Speaker

I love love love using old things in new ways, and this is a really fun deal from Pringles.  Basically if you save your receipts from buying 4 cans of Pringles and mail them in, Pringles will send you a speaker.  You can plug it into your computer, Ipod, or MP3 player.  Here is a link to a YouTube video on a guy opening and reviewing the speaker.  We don't eat too many Pringles, but I think I'm going to go get some.  I'll let you know what I think when the speaker comes in.

Pattern Tube

I was at a Science training yesterday and an idea was presented creating a small folded envelope in which to slide paper patterns in and out.  I thought that it would be nice to reuse paper towel rolls for the same purpose!  I didn't have any empty paper towels tubes (and I'm not sure how my husband would handle me unraveling all the paper towels for the tube), so I made a short one out of a toilet paper tube.  Now, I'm a knitter, so I have tons of scraps of yarn.  I took a length of black yarn and tied colors on to create a pattern.  To complete the activity with the children, slip the length of yarn in the tube and slowly pull the yarn out to reveal the Mystery Pattern!  Children could use this at a station by recreating the pattern with cubes or coloring.  I thought it might also be fun to print out letters of sight words, laminate and hole punch, then tie them onto the yarn and pull to figure out the sight word, letter by letter!  

http://www.kinderjourney.net/mystery-tubes.html

Mailboxes

So here they are, mailboxes from Capri Sun juice boxes!  There are a few bubbles and bumps from the packing tape underneath, but I think it came out pretty good.  The decorations and letters are wall art stickers that I bought at Dollar Tree.
Here are more specific directions:
http://www.kinderjourney.net/mailboxes.html