Teach Kids to Bake with a Cooking Lapbook

December 19, 2017 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

I have to admit: I’ve been super lax about getting my kids into the kitchen. Tigger knows how to prepare breakfast and lunch for us all, but the boys….not so much.

Since our kids have ADHD, it’s hard to help them exercise caution and take their time, which are two of the MOST important skills you need to learn if you’re going to cook.

So I was glad to get a chance to review this adorable Cooking Lapbook from Knowledge Box Central! With it, our boys got a lesson in kitchen safety and a chance to make their very first dessert!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this resource in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Learning to Bake with a Cooking Lapbook

First of all, we needed to assemble the lapbook, which did take some time.

Here’s the list of supplies you’ll need: (Affiliate links provided here for convenience. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Colored file folders
Hot glue gun with glue sticks (for gluing the folders together)
Colored paper
Stapler with staples
Metal brad fasteners
Tacky glue (for gluing the minibooks into the folders)

But look how pretty it is!

Here’s the inside of the first folder.

Then the second…

and the third.

We decided to begin at the beginning with the activity “What is the first thing you should do BEFORE cooking?” Anyone have an idea what it is?

*hums Jeopardy thinking music*

It’s “Wash Your Hands”! The lesson plan included in the Cooking Lapbook described how children should be washing their hands before they cook. So we all got up, used warm water, lathered for 20 seconds, and rinsed well. 😉

See the lapbook in action on the next page!

Pages: 1 2

Teaching Money Management with a Lapbook

September 8, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

We’ve been loving our lapbooks recently and I thought I’d share one that is seriously terrific for teaching money management to middle schoolers. It’s called “Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees” and it. is. fantastic.

Kids usually love to learn about money, at least how to count it and pretend to spend it. But they’re often a little less than enthused about learning how finances work and why financial responsibility is important. After all, in their minds, the whole point of growing up is being able to spend money the way you want, right? 🙂

So, I was thrilled to try out this lapbook, because it’s focused on helping middle schoolers understand what it takes to earn and save money, not just blow it on things you want. Read on to see how we’re using this lapbook to teach money management skills to our tween!

Disclosure: I received this product in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Teaching Money Management with a Lapbook

This is a tremendous unit from Knowledge Box Central. The file has 130 pages in it. So be prepared to spend some serious time putting the lapbook together.

Here’s the list of supplies you’ll need:

Colored file folders
Hot glue gun with glue sticks (for gluing the folders together)
Colored paper
Stapler with staples
Metal brad fasteners
Tacky glue (for gluing the minibooks into the folders)

Most of the lapbooks we’ve made so far use two folders, but this one uses three. And, boy, is it packed.

See what I mean? 🙂

Here’s a look at the first folder.

And the second…

And the third.

By the time kids get into the middle grades, it’s time for their learning to take a more independent route. And this lapbook does just that. There are sections in the study guide that are written directly to the student, which I loved.

On those sections, I just handed the laptop over to my daughter and had her read aloud. She really liked the content, also. Some of the things that were included in the guide were feelings about finances that she could relate to personally, such as “Why don’t my parents always buy the things I want?” I couldn’t stop nodding at the reasons why….lol.

Since this lapbook was so extensive, I had her help me assemble some of the smaller books. The Money Terms minibook in the first folder includes definitions for each term, so she matched them up and glued them in. All of the matching definitions are in the study guide as well.

She did a pretty good job of choosing the correct ones on her own, but there were a few she was unfamiliar with. On those, she checked the guide and then went forward.

We did the same thing with the banking words section in Folder 2. There are several minibooks with matching definitions there also. So it was up to her to find the right definition and glue it in the minibook.

Like so. Again, the answers are in the Guide.

Naturally, kids want to do the stuff that looks grown-up, such as writing checks. The checkbook activity in the lapbook is really comprehensive. It has a check register, practice checks, and deposit slips.

Which meant we had to do an exercise on how to balance a checkbook.

Then it was time to pay bills. *cue horror music*

Look at that! Isn’t that neat? It’s a sample electric bill and we discussed how to read the statement: why account numbers are important, where to find the due date, and how to write out the check to the correct company name.

Then she wrote her very first check!

I realize, of course, that we don’t really use checks that much anymore, so we will eventually talk about online bill payment. But this was a great introduction to the world of bill paying, AKA, being an adult. And there’s a practice debit card in the lapbook too. 😉

Another activity in the lapbook teaches kids the basics of inflation by comparing current prices of basic goods to the prices of those same goods 50 years ago. We researched the price of gas, milk, and housing in 1966 to compare.

Then we started filling the figures in to note the difference.

32 cents for a gallon of gas???!!!! Sign me up for that!

This was really, very fun to do as a unit and my tween, who typically hates math, loved it. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that we were basically doing a math lesson. 🙂

Learn more about the awesome lapbooks available from Knowledge Box Central! And get a closer look at the Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees lapbook on the company website!

Money Management Resources for Middle School:

Use these other resources to round out your money management unit!

See more of Knowledge Box Central’s lapbooks below!

Get more ideas for your homeschool unit studies, including lapbooks, from my Unit Studies board on Pinterest!

Giant Panda Lapbook

August 29, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

We had so much fun learning about the animals of the African Savannah with a lapbook that we decided to learn about a new animal this week: the Giant Panda! And we used another awesome lapbook from Knowledge Box Central to do it!

Giant pandas are probably one of my personal favorite animals. They are the epitome of squishy! If I could, I would pick one up and squeeze it for the rest of my life.

But it turns out that there’s a lot more to pandas than cuteness. Check out some of the amazing panda facts we learned using our Giant Panda lapbook!

For more on how to use lapbooks for other lessons in your homeschool, see our reviews of other great lapbooks from Knowledge Box Central, including a Cooking lapbook, a Math Mini Office, and a Hurricane lapbook!

Disclosure: I received this product in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Giant Panda Lapbook

As I’ve mentioned before, Knowledge Box Central is a superb lapbook manufacturer. I never have any trouble assembling the lapbooks or teaching the unit because all the minibooks and instructions are in the downloadable file. Super simple!

I was even able to use the cover page of the lapbook file as the lapbook cover!

Here’s the supply list I used to make this lapbook:

Colored file folders
Hot glue gun with glue sticks (for gluing the folders together)
Colored paper
Stapler with staples
Metal brad fasteners
Tacky glue (for gluing the minibooks into the folders)

So fun!

There are minibooks about the geographic range of the Giant Panda, how pandas are affected by poaching, the unique structure of panda hand bones, and the general characteristics of this species.

Plus, a tabbed book about how pandas interact with humans, the environmental impact of pandas, conservation efforts, and a panda word search!

There’s even a fold-out crossword puzzle!

My second grader couldn’t wait to get started! I actually had to tell him, “Wait, don’t do that one yet! We have to talk about it first!”

We started by examining the geographic range of the giant panda, which I’m sorry to say is not very wide. Pandas are only found in parts of three Chinese districts these days.

The minibook even shows how drastically the range of the giant panda has been reduced over the years. The culprit? Bamboo deforestation. As the available amount of bamboo dwindles, pandas have to climb higher and higher to find it, which takes a toll on the population.

And then there’s poaching, which causes more of a direct impact on panda survival. Sad.

We learned something really neat. The Chinese name for the giant panda literally means “Bear cat”. Know why? Pandas’ eyes are shaped like cat eyes, with a slit down the center! We spent some time drawing anatomically correct panda eyes.

Naturally, there was some time spent coloring the panda coloring pages.

And doing the word search!

My second grader really enjoyed this lesson and there were so many minibooks we didn’t even start! We’ll be learning about the giant panda with this lapbook for some time to come!

Check out this lapbook, plus plenty others, by visiting Knowledge Box Central today! There are a LOT of lapbooks to choose from and many are just $5!

Giant Panda Resources

Add these fun and educational resources to your study of Giant Pandas!

Giant Pandas by Gail Gibbons – A lovely picture book about this amazing species
Melissa & Doug Peek-A-Boo Panda – This sweet wooden toy is perfect for babies and toddlers
National Geographic Reader Level 2: Pandas – A good book about pandas for kids who are able to read on their own

Want to see more Knowledge Box Central lapbooks in action? Check out these posts!

Build your own unit studies using lapbooks and more with the tips on my Unit Studies Pinterest board!

Animals of the African Savannah Lapbook

August 18, 2016 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

My soon-to-be third grader is an absolute fanatic about animals. He loves learning about them, talking about them, reading about them, and watching videos about them.

A lot of his interest in the animal kingdom has come from his diligent watching of Wild Kratts, but there are very few animals I can mention that he doesn’t know at least something about. (Educational TV, FTW!)

So, this year when I had a chance to renew my relationship with the lapbook company, Knowledge Box Central, I jumped at the chance to try the Creatures of the African Savannah lapbook with him. I just knew he’d love it. And he did!

See how we’re learning about the animals of the African Savannah with a lapbook!

Disclosure: I received this product in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

We’ve gotten to try other lapbooks from Knowledge Box Central in the past, including the Cooking Lapbook, the Hurricane Lapbook, and the Math Mini Office Lapbook. Visit our previous posts to take a look at them all in action!

Creatures of the African Savannah Lapbook

I love to lapbook with our kids, but when I was first starting out, the directions seemed a bit…overwhelming. I didn’t know how to get started, where to find good resources to supplement my unit, or how to get my kids interested in completing the minibooks.

So I love Knowledge Box Central! Their lapbooks come with clear instructions and diagrams that show how to assemble each minibook and where to place it in the completed lapbook. Plus, there is a printable lesson plan at the back that walks you through the information kids can learn and place in each minibook.

The lapbook instructions offer a supply list that describes the kinds of materials you’ll need to complete the project. Here are the supplies I used:

Colored file folders
Hot glue gun with glue sticks (for gluing the folders together)
Colored paper
Stapler with staples
Metal brad fasteners
Tacky glue (for gluing the minibooks into the folders)

Voila! Look at that beauty!

Whenever I open a lapbook, I get excited. It just looks like there’s so much to do! And since Knowledge Box Central makes it easy to know where to place each minibook, the finished product is always gorgeous.

Inside the first lapbook are minibooks about lots of African animals, including leopards, zebras, and wildebeests.

Plus, kids can learn about the differences between herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores – all of which live on the savannah.

More animal minibooks are located in the second folder!

My third grader wanted to learn more about the animals he wasn’t too familiar with, so we focused on jackals.

When he opened it, he just started to smile. He went through the lapbook, opening each minibook to see how it worked.

To start, we reviewed the differences between herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. Since he’s an avid Wild Kratts watcher, he already knew this and proceeded to teach me about it. 🙂 But the information is also located inside the lapbook lesson plan in case you need it.

As he explained the differences for each one, he filled in his lapbook. Here he’s working on the Carnivores minibook.

After we read about jackals, he wanted to talk about giraffes. We’ve seen them at the zoo, but he didn’t know that they have an 18-inch long tongue! When we read that from the lapbook lesson plan, he just had to write it down in the Giraffe minibook.

“Can I color the jackal on the cover please, Mom?”

Sure. Why not? 🙂

We had a blast with this lapbook from Knowledge Box Central! And we still have a lot left to learn with it! You could easily make this a three-week unit.

Animals of the African Savannah Resources

Once you grab your lapbook from Knowledge Box Central, round out your study of the Animals of the African Savannah with these resources!

Wild Kratts Season 3 – This season has the episode “Cheetah Racer”, which is based on the African savannah.
African Animal Alphabet (National Geographic Little Kids) – A hardcover book for small children, featuring pictures of African animals for each letter of the alphabet.
Ravensburg African Animals 3000-Piece Puzzle – This fun puzzle is a way to get the whole family involved in the unit!
Here is the African Savanna (Web of Life) – A beautiful picture book that highlights how the various African savannah animal species are connected.

See other gorgeous lapbooks from Knowledge Box Central on display in these posts!

For more tips on how to create your own unit studies, including lapbooking, follow my Unit Studies board on Pinterest!

Hurricane Lapbook Review

July 22, 2015 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Having lived in the southern U.S. for all of my life, summer is just not summer until you talk about hurricanes. 🙂

When I was a child, I lived closer to the coast and we evacuated a couple of times during the 80s and 90s. Hurricanes Hugo, Andrew, and Floyd are the ones I remember the most. As a kid, those experiences are exciting. As an adult? Not so much.

Now that we live farther inland, we don’t worry about hurricanes to the extent people on the coast do, but they’re still fascinating weather patterns to study. So I was excited when I got the chance to try a hurricane lapbook from Knowledge Box Central!

Take a look at how you can use this lapbook in your homeschool! And, for more hurricane learning, don’t miss our Hurricane Unit Study!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this resource in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Hurricane Lapbook Review

After getting the hang of the Math Mini Office Lapbook, this one wasn’t much more work. It’s more involved, but I thought it was pretty fun to assemble. Maybe I’m just a nerd. 🙂

I added a hurricane graphic that I got from Wikimedia Commons to the front. Otherwise, I’ll probably forget what it is…lol.

Look at that beauty!

When you get a lapbook from Knowledge Box Central, the assembly instructions show you a completed picture of the inside so you can see where everything goes.

Plus, the instructions explain how to put each book together and even suggest when to use colored paper. A huge help for people who tend to get overwhelmed easily (like yours truly).

Here’s the inside of the first folder. There are three in all.

And the inside of the second folder…

And the third!

Two of the books in the last folder fold down – including the Pet Plan…

…and the Hurricane History book.

I usually start a lapbook activity by just giving the kids a chance to explore all of the minibooks. These are all blank inside, so if they want to use them, they’ve got to learn something to write inside!

What makes this lapbook even better is that the PDF includes most of the information you’ll need to teach about hurricanes. So it’s not just a hurricane lapbook – it’s really a mini hurricane unit study.

I just sent the file to my Kindle Fire and let Tigger read from certain sections. Then we’d discuss them together.

After learning about some of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history, Tigger started filling in the “Hurricane History” minibook at the back of the lapbook. She made notes of the year, the name of the storm, the location it affected, and the level of damage. Some of those storms that struck before the invention of modern radar were truly terrible.

Then we flipped back to the beginning of the book and started discussing how meteorologists determine when a storm qualifies to be called a hurricane. We learned about the wind speed requirements for tropical depressions, tropical storms, and hurricanes. Tigger used the information to fill in a minibook.

And, of course, she wanted to learn about tornadoes. What child doesn’t? 🙂

The “Tornadoes” minibook is a flip book that has space for kids to record what they learn about each aspect of these destructive storms. One of the supposed “positive” aspects about hurricanes when I was young was that you generally had plenty of time to evacuate. But tornadoes are, of course, another story. Just another reason to take those hurricane watches seriously.

The Fujita scale has been revised and it is now called the EF scale. We looked up the wind speed classifications online and Tigger filled in her Tornadoes minibook with what we learned. She couldn’t believe that tornadoes could ever have winds of 200 mph or higher. I think we may do a unit study about tornadoes this year as well. 😉

We loved the Hurricane Lapbook from Knowledge Box Central! We’ll be using it throughout the school year and we’re excited about all the things we’ll be learning!

To get a look at the Hurricane Lapbook and all of the other lapbooks available, visit Knowledge Box Central today!

Want to learn more about weather with kids? Try these other learning ideas!

And see more ideas for homeschool units on my Unit Studies Pinterest board!