Bird and Little Bird

Bookmaking with Children: Simple Stitched Binding.

I realized the other day that it had been a good long time since I've done a bookmaking post around here!  Mariam's writing and drawing has become a lot more sophisticated now that she is a reader, and her interest in bookmaking has shifted a bit.  More and more she is wanting books that look more like the real thing to her little eyes.  This means books with a bit of binding, and although we haven't tackled book board and book cloth just yet, I have a feeling the day is coming.  But here is an shockingly easy first step: books made of simple stacks of blank pages stitched together by machine.  

What you will need:

Pieces of blank paper

Sewing machine

Something to cut with if you want to change the size of your paper

What you will do:

Cut your paper to size. We cut ours down to 4 1/4" by 5 1/2" to make books slightly larger than pocket size.  Good for taking on the go.  Decide how many pages you want your book to have, and choose pieces of paper, stacking them in the order you'd like them to go in.  Make sure that you think about how many pieces of paper your sewing machine is likely to be able to stitch through.  I used eight. 

Stitch a straight line up the side of your stack of pages, about 1/4 of an inch from the outside edge.  Leave the thread tails long at each end of your stitching. 

Using the two strands of thread at each end of the book, tie a little knot to secure your stitching. 

And yeah, that's pretty much it.  Really easy, no?  And these are great because they feel just slightly more official than a folded book. 

I'm planning to stitch up a stack of these to have available at the art table so that they'll be at the ready whenever Mariam gets the urge to write.  Or, draw pictures of whale sharks.  Which actually happens pretty often. 

Rhythm of the Home.

I am more than pleased to let you all know that I have a bookmaking tutorial included in the Spring edition of Rhythm of the Home.  It's a pop-up book project that is both super easy and very versatile, so if you have been enjoying the bookmaking with children projects here, definitely go and check it out. 

For those of you who haven't yet seen Rhythm of the Home, it is a quarterly online magazine focused on a natural, intentional style of parenting with an emphasis on projects and ideas that are both seasonally focused and designed for doing alongside your children.  The magazine is full of beautiful photographs, thoughtful essays and fun ideas for making and doing.  It's an online treasure trove for the family life revitalization that late winter sometimes requires.  We've been inside a lot lately, sick even more, and some of these thoughts on keeping family living in perspective are perhaps just what is needed around here. 

For those of you visiting this space for the first time via Rhythm of the Home; welcome!  There are more tutorials for bookmaking with children located here.

Bookmaking with Children: Accordion Book in an Envelope.

 

This has long been one of my favorite bookmaking projects to do with children, probably because I have a secret love of putting things in envelopes.  Our house is full of envelopes in all manner of shapes, sizes and colors and I'm all about putting things in them (and then, of course, driving myself crazy trying to remember where they went).  This particular book project is a slightly fancier version of the basic accordion fold, and the extra steps result in a smaller book but also one that has about twice as many pages.  The envelope is more like a pocket, really, as it doesn't have a flap.  But it's still very useful for storing all sorts of little treasures, and in this case, it holds a lovely little hand-drawn storybook.  

What you will need:

- Two pieces of paper, one 7 1/2 inches by 10 inches and the other 2 3/8 inches by 9 7/8 inches.  These measurements may seem a little fussy, but using a ruler and a pencil you can get close enough without too much trouble.   Thinner paper is best because of the number of folds you'll be doing. 

- A glue stick

- A bone folder, popsicle stick or other folding tool

- Scissors

What you will do:  

First, the envelope!

Take the thinner strip of paper and set the second, larger piece aside for now.  

 

Fold the strip in half, using your folding tool to make a sharp crease at the fold.

 

Open the strip of paper back up, and now fold each of the two sections in half, bringing the ends of the paper in to meet the middle fold.  Make sure your creases are nice and sharp!

 

You should now have something that looks like this. 

 

Now, this is where I try to be sufficiently descriptive so that you know what to do next.  Unfold the strip, lay it flat and then fold the second square from one end in diagonally so that you have two squares running down towards you, a triangle on top of those, and then one square off to the side.  Look at the picture.  It helps. 

 

Fold the first square (up top) behind the triangle so that you now have a strip which is three squares high, the top one having a square underneath and the triangle layered on top. 

 

Fold the middle square so that it sits directly behind the square with the triangle. 

 

Fold the remaining, lonely, single square in half on the diagonal so that it is now a triangle too.

 

Tuck the triangle on the right in between the triangle on the left and the square that sits behind it.  Feel free to trim the end of the triangle that it getting tucked if you need to do so in order to make it sit flat inside its "pocket."

 

 

Now, I believe that you have a nice little pocket envelope thing.  But we need something to put in it, no?

 

 

 

How about a little book?  

 

 

Lay out your other (larger) piece of paper on a hard, flat surface. 

 

Fold the paper in half in the portrait direction, unfold and then fold both ends of the paper into the middle so that your paper is divided into fourths.  Make sure that your corners line up neatly and that your creases are as clean and sharp as you can get them. 

 

 

Fold the paper in half again, this time lengthwise so that you are folding it into a longer, skinnier rectangle.

 

Unfold and fold both edges into the middle lengthwise (just like you did when you were folding the other direction).

You can now unfold your paper.  It should be divided into sixteen little sections by the folds that you have made. 

 

 

Now, you'll need those scissors.  You can either draw lines where you need to make cuts, or you can just decide where to cut visually.  With the paper facing you, you will cut along the vertical folding line on the right hand side.  Cut from the front edge, all the way to the third horizontal folding line.  You'll do the same for the line on the far left.  The middle line will be just the opposite.  Cut from the top edge down to the horizontal line closest to you and stop there so that you don't cut through your paper. 

 

 

 

Now you've got something that looks vaguely like the picture above, yes?

 

Fold the paper in half so that you can bring the two top corners together.  

 

Using a bit of glue, paste what are now the two top left corners together. 

 

 

Stand the book up and lay it out something like this.  Feel free to move it around as much as you need to get your pages stretched out in a way that looks like it will allow you to start folding them together. 

 

Starting with the page that is sitting at the opposite end of your accordion from the glued-together page (it will actually be a page that is of double thickness and this is just fine, you'll have a few of these), start folding the other pages around it (making it your middle page), alternating sides.  

 

 

The page that you glued together will now become your back cover.  

 

 

 

Use your folding tool to really reinforce the creases where the pages are folded together.

 

 

 

Now you have a little book with sixteen blank pages, ready for decorating with ideas, stories, pictures, lists... anything!

  

 

 

And of course, your book can be tucked into its envelope for safekeeping when you are finished. 

 

Bookmaking with Children: Accordion Books with Pockets.

Time at (long) last for another bookmaking tutorial!  This is another variation on the simple accordion fold books I've shared in the past, but it is an extra fun one because there are pockets involved and everything is better with pockets, no?  The instructions for the back and forth folding to make the accordian are slightly abbreviated here, but if you find that you need additional pictures for clarity, this post is a bit more in depth.

What to Use:

- a sheet of paper that is longer than it is high (I used a sheet about five inches by seventeen inches)

- card stock or heavy weight paper for the book covers (optional)

- tape

- a glue stick

- bone folder, popsicle stick or other folding tool for making sharp creases

- something fun to put in the pockets of your book!

 

What to do:

Lay your sheet of paper out flat on a hard surface.

 

 

Fold the bottom edge of the paper upwards, making a sharp crease along the bottom of the fold.  The portion of the paper that is folded upward will become your pockets so feel free to make it whatever size you want, but make sure it's deep enough to accommodate whatever you might want to put inside.

 

 

Fold the paper in half, using your folding tool to make a sharp crease at the fold. 

 

Open the paper back up, and then fold each half in half again by bringing the ends to meet the crease made by the fold in the middle.  The pocket is still along the bottom.  

 

Continue folding each section of the paper in half again, alternating your folds towards the front and the back so that you have an accordion.  Keep the pocket along the inside of the accordion.  

 

 

It should look like this now.  Pop a bit of tape on the the outside edge of the pocket on each end so that your pocket will be closed off. 

 

 

Cut two pieces of card stock or heavy weight paper to the same size or slightly larger than your front and back book covers.  Paste the card stock onto the front and back covers to make them a bit sturdier.  

 

 Put stuff in the pockets!  We are using this most recent book as a place to store paper dolls (originally from The Small Object, download blank ones here) for taking with us when we go out.  A good companion for the tiny colored pencils when combating waiting room or restaurant boredom.  

 

I've also been using books like this with the kids at school a lot lately.  We use the pockets for storing index cards with sight words, math facts, ideas for writing prompts... you name it, we're dropping it into a pocket.   All sorts of good academic tidbits are being made more entertaining by the fact of exciting storage.  

Bookmaking with Children: The Easy Eight-Fold

 

It was always very much my intention to have my first post on bookmaking with small people be the first of at least a few, but things have been very busy around our house and it wasn't until this afternoon that I finally had time to give a bit more thought to the execution of this intention. 

The last post definitely received as much positive feedback as a girl might hope for, but I got enough emails from folks mentioning that they would like a really, very simple bookmaking project to use with very small children that I thought that I might head that direction next.  Not that this project is at all specific to only the tiny ones; I've used it with preschoolers with great success, yes, but have also seen teachers use it for perhaps more sophisticated purposes (such as making little books for multiplication facts related to a certain number).  It is versatile; it is simple; it is great for when you are stuck waiting for a table in a restaurant with only an old piece of notebook paper and a dull pencil. 

It is the easy eight-fold book!

What you will need:

One piece of 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper

Your manual dexterity

Step One:

 

Get the aforementioned paper and lay it out on a flat (or flat-ish) surface.

Step Two:

 

Fold the paper in half in the landscape (also known as lengthwise) direction. Make sure that your corners match up nicely and that you make a nice sharp crease where the paper folds. 

Step Three:

 

Fold the paper in half again, this time in the portrait direction. 

Step Four:

 

Take the paper (which is now folded into fourths) and fold the top flap back towards the fold that you made when you folded the paper in half portrait-wise.  This is one of those things that will make a lot more sense when you are looking at the picture, so look up, right now.  See?

Step Five:

 

Turn the folded paper over so that the flap that was previously on the bottom (the largest unfolded area of the paper that you've got left) is now facing up towards you.  Keep the open end (not the end that was your original portrait direction fold, the other one) closest to you.

Step Six:

Fold the paper back, bringing the open edge up to the crease behind it (your original portrait direction fold).

Step Seven:

 

 

Well, not so much a step, just a check in to make sure that your book looks like the one above when you stand it on end.  Yes?  Good. 

 

Now get busy writing!  These books have turned out to the be a perfect solution for my girl, who is a beginning writer but an expert and accomplished storyteller.  She draws, I write (what she tells me to and nothing more or less) and brilliant literature is created.  I mean, how else could we possibly classify tales of suitcase-toting guinea pigs running away to join the circus? 

I usually try to keep a stack of these little books already folded and stowed away in Mariam's little art caddy.  This way, if she gets the urge to write the great American novel she has all the necessary supplies handy and can just carry them to the table and get busy.  

 

Bookmaking With Children: Accordion Books

For the last couple of years, the school where I was teaching had an arts integration focus where we looking at creative ways to integrate art and writing for children.  One thing that we did was a lot of bookmaking with the kids, even the really little guys in kindergarten and first grade.  The kids loved making their own books, and it provided a really great platform for helping students to develop a vision of the purpose of writing and how the written word comes to be. 

I loved the bookmaking projects that we teachers learned in our arts integration trainings, and over time, I have adapted a few of them for use at home with Mariam.  I realized the other evening that I hadn't ever shared them here, and that people might be grateful for some easy summer craft projects (especially if you are east coast people experiencing the joy of one rainy day after another).  So, today I'll be sharing the first of a mini-series of posts focusing on bookmaking with children.  Here goes!

8 fold accordion books:

Materials: 

8 1/2" by 11" card stock in color of your choosing

8 1/2" by 11" colored paper

8 1/2" by 11" white paper

glue

scissors or a paper cutter

a folding tool (such as a bone folder or a popsicle stick)

writing and drawing implements

This is a quick project that can be done in one sitting and can be easily adapted for children from ages 3 on up.  I've done this successfully with my own daughter (who is five) and also with kids at school up through fifth grade.  It would be a great way to retell a favorite family story or memory and then be given as a gift!

How to: 

Step 1

 

Using a bone folder (or a sturdy popsicle stick) fold a piece of card stock in half.  Use the folding tool to make sure that your crease is smooth and sharp.  This piece of card stock will become the binding of your book.

Step 2

 

 

 

Now, open the piece of card stock back up and fold each half of the card stock in half again (fold toward the middle).

 

Step 3

 

 

 

 

Open the card stock up again.  It should now be folded into fourths. Fold the section closest to you in half again.

 

Step 4

 

Now turn the card stock over, and fold the next section (moving towards the middle) in half as well.  You are basically going to keep turning the card stock over and each time you turn it, fold the next fourth in half again so that the entire piece is folded accordion style into eighths.

 

Step 5

 

 

 

 

When you are finished folding the card stock accordion-style, it should look like the picture above.   At this point I should probably mention that every time I type the word "accordion,"  I think about how Mariam is always telling me that she wants to grow up to be a crossing guard who plays the accordion.  Moving on...

 

Step 6

 

 

 

Cut another piece of card stock in half so that it now measures 5 1/2" by 8 1/2".  Take the folded piece of card stock and glue the half-piece onto the first accordion on the outside.  This will make your front cover.

 

Step 7

 

 

 

 

Do the same with the outside of the final accordion so that you now have both a front and back cover attached to your accordion binding.

 

Step 8

 

 

 

 

If it suits your fancy, you can also now glue a slightly smaller piece of colored paper to the front and/or back cover.  It suited my fancy, so I did this here.  I cut the colored paper to be about 4 1/2" by 8".  I then (sort of) centered it and glued it onto the half sheet of card stock.

 

Step 9

 

 

 

 

Next, cut two pieces of colored paper so that they are the same size as the card stock cover pieces (5 1/2" by 8 1/2").  Glue them to the backs of the front and back covers, sandwiching the first and last accordion folds inside.

 

Step 10

 

 

 

 

Now you will make the pages for the inside of the book.  Take another half-sheet of colored paper (again 5 1/2" by 8 1/2") and glue it to the front side (the one facing the front cover) of the next accordion fold.

 

Step 11

 

 

 

 

Do the same with two more half-sheets of colored paper, gluing each to the front side of the next two accordion folds.  The backs of each fold will be left blank (just the folded card stock).  You now have the "skeleton" of your book!

 

Step 12

 

 

 

 

Commission a favorite small person to do the artwork for the book.  I had Mariam draw her story pages on white drawing paper that I cut slightly smaller than the book pages.  You could use anything though.  I love the idea of using fancy papers to make collages.   I also had Mariam dictate her story for me to write down- she titled it "Mary Had a Little Lamb" but it definitely deviates quite a bit from the original...

 

Step 13

 

 

 

Paste the story pages onto the fronts of the three pages in the book. 

 

Step 14

 

 

 

 

 

Once your story pages/pictures are glued in, your book is basically finished.  You can also add a title to the cover or paste another picture there.  We didn't do all that much with the cover this time around because the resident artist got restless and went outside to look for backyard bunnies. 

You'll also notice that you can stand your book up and that because of the folds, it can can be "stretched out" for display.  How cool is that?