In the Hands of a Child Lapbook Review

I was a lapbook drop-out. I loved the idea of putting together a folder with all the concepts my children were learning so they could use it as a review or to show off to relatives. Lapbooks appeared to be a great way to pull together a unit study and I love unit studies because they can be adapted to involve all of our children, despite the age difference. However, I would quickly get overwhelmed by the folding suggestions online or where to glue everything inside the folder. I know for a fact that we have at least two unfinished lapbooks hiding in the darkness of my homeschool cabinet.

My problem was not a lack of creativity. No, it was a lack of time. I needed someone to hand me everything I needed and say, “This is how you fold this and this is where you glue this and this is how it all fits together into a lesson. Have fun.”

Enter Kimm from In the Hands of a Child. When she approached me about reviewing a lapbook, my stomach clinched in knots but despite my previous failures, I decided to tackle the opportunity and become a Lapbook Master.

The lapbook came in an easy to understand PDF format with clear instructions and pictures of how to put the lapbook together. Everything is completely printable. God bless the person who created this unit study! Immediately, my angst transformed into excitement.

I pulled the children together and we got started diving into a study of color with the All the Colors of the Rainbow Project Pack.

The study is divided up into days but I decided to tackle everything in one day because things have been stressful around here and the children needed a fun break. I gave each child an age appropriate activity. Assigning out who did what was simple because everything is easily adaptable for multiple ages.

As the children worked, we discussed the vocabulary in the unit study. Honestly, I even learned a few things.

I love that the study includes supplemental activities so you can stretch the study or make it more hands-on. After all, it isn’t art until someone gets messy. Right?

We used shaving cream and food coloring to make secondary colors from the primary colors. The children loved squishing the bags and making the colors mix. I could never quite get the formula for violet right but Lira seemed happy with the final result.

The children were apprehensive at first about finger painting with the shaving cream but once they got started, all sensory issues were forgotten. Ruble even grew so brave as to taste it. Not smart. Nothing like a mouth full of soap.

When I felt we were due for a review of all we had learned, I used the printable vocabulary activity as a matching game.

If you have ever felt overwhelmed by lapbooks, please know that you can be transformed like I was from a lapbook drop-out to a lapbook master.

(A video is embeded.)

Buy It

All the Colors of the Rainbow: A Study of Color Project Pack can be purchased at In the Hands of a Child for $12. Use coupon code MeetPenny and save 25% on one purchase of All the Colors of the Rainbow (K-3) and/or Elements of Art (4-8). This coupon code expires May 31, 2012.

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