God has planted a new idea in my head, I hope many of you might find this idea useful too. The idea itself has been rolling in my brain for awhile now, but finally came all together last week and now I am ready to share our first Tot-Book! I have wanted to begin making lapbooks with K when he showed readiness signs (you know-not ripping up every paper he sees 😉 ). But, I knew a full sized lapbook was just too much for a little guy. Then I saw this great idea to cut a file folder in half a couple of months ago. Still, my idea hadn’t come together.
Finally last week, it hit me! I decided to run with the idea of taking the skills I hope to expose K to (ABC’s, colors, shapes, etc.) and put them into themed miniature lapbooks for him. Hoping the theme would draw him in since he already loves it! I chose the first theme of Cars (the Disney movie) since he ADORES the movie and cars in general. I thought that would be a great place to start–man was I right! Before I keep blabbing on, here is a photo of the Tot-Book (yup, I decided to give them a name too, so people would know what I was talking about when I wrote about them and shared them).
He began with the Cars Colors mini book and this was the first time he repeated colors back to me while using the correct color crayon! I was thrilled. He loved the Cars, so he was more than interested enough to discuss a few colors! He even read along with me, it was great!
Then I put the rest of it together for him, and let him explore it. He was VERY interested in it since it had all of his “friends” in it. We were able to spend a long time together because it kept his interest.
I put a piece of construction paper on the back to make it more sturdy and let him decorate the back with Cars stickers. As he grows I hope to begin letting him illustrate something from the theme. I love the early drawings so very much–don’t we all?! I think these will be wonderful keepsakes and memories of his tot years. 
His favorite part is definitely the “My Name” fold out book. I don’t know if he loves the way it folds or if he loves that it is his name. I printed this on card stock for durability, and so far he is following the *be gentle* rule well. 😉
I plan to continue to make these and have them available on our website for anyone to download and use. Here is the link to the new Tot-Books page! On the page you will see the list of Tot-Books I am planning to work on, obviously focusing on K’s natural interests. Hopefully some of your kiddos will have similar interests and you can use these too!
See all of our Theme Based Learning Printables here!
