Bookmaking With Kids

When I teach kids to make a booklet from a single sheet of paper, I’m big on repetition.

After we do the folds for the first time, I often have everyone ball up their books and toss them into recycling. When we do it a second time, I pass around my big, red stamps and let the kids label their efforts with a single word, DRAFT. Sometimes the third book is set aside for drafting, too. So by the fourth time around, I’ve got a roomful of experts, swiftly producing crisp folds, edges and corners neatly aligned, without a word from me.

At this point the kids are invariably raring to write, and I usually give in.

But if the class-
room teacher wants the students to follow a more considered writing process, over time, I can usually head off complaints by flourishing some glamorous paper and teaching the kids to make a wraparound cover. Sometimes I even have them fold a fifth book(!), but this time using a preprinted sheet like the one pictured here.

Covers should be the same height as the booklets (4¼ inches for booklets made from 8½ x 11 paper) and four times the width of the folded booklet (11 inches for booklets made from 8½ x 11 paper). Fold the cover paper in quarters, nest the booklet against the center fold and wrap the two outer panels around the first and last page of the booklet.

Click here to download instructions for making books from a single sheet of paper; this link is a template for the haiku book above.

This project was one of dozens that we taught in our Summer Camp workshops. Please check back often for details on other Summer Camp books. You can also click this link for a list of posts about books we made.