Make a student “Lift the flap” book for counting
Children love Eric Hill’s, Spot Book series. Spot is a yellow puppy with a brown spot on each side of his body and a brown tip on his tail. Many of the books have flaps that lift up, displaying an object underneath. Kids love lifting the flaps. After reading a number of the books, children often want to make their own lift the flap books.
To encourage children to practice counting as well as writing, provide 8.5 x 11 inch books with construction paper covers and photocopy paper inside. Before stapling the paper into the books, photocopy a frame sentence along the bottom such as, ” _____ has ____ ________ under the flap.”
Materials:
- 8.5 x 11 photocopy paper with frame sentence above or use this free handout
- construction paper
- scraps of construction paper for flaps and pictures
- glue, scissors, markers
Procedure:
- Teach the children how to cut out a shape for a door or rock.
- Show them how to fold a tab and put glue on it to make a flap.
- Children draw Spot or an animal of their choice.
- Have kids draw a number of items or cut out and glue on items under the flap.
- Help students fill in the sentence.
Some children are self-conscious (yes even by the age of 5) of their final product not looking as recognizable as their peers. Help them make their pictures using step by step drawing rather than have them feel uncomfortable every time their page is read.
Group Reading
Each child can take a turn reading his/her own page or the class can read the whole book together with the teacher. Children love reading books that they have made by themselves.
Reading as a group is beneficial as the quieter, shy children have a chance to practice speaking out loud in a group without feeling put on the spot. Students learn from each other and get art and layout ideas from looking at how the other children organized their pages.
