Make a Custom Lift-the-Flap Spring Book for a Toddler

If you’re a Mom, you would have loved  those cute little books for toddlers with flaps for them to lift and see underneath. Interactive books are a great way to introduce young children to the world of reading and also helps to develop their fine motor skills. While there is a large variety of interactive books that you can buy, nothing beats a fun, home-made version! The best part is that you can customize it to your child’s liking! Learn how to make your own lift-the-flap books for infants and young children with a step-by-step guide and theme suggestions that will entertain the young people in your life for hours on end while also extending their vocabulary and memory.

Since we’re heading towards spring, we made a

 Custom Lift-the-Flap Spring Book for a Toddler

to help learn the words of a few things commonly seen outdoors.

Materials Required:

1. Thick cardboard

2. Blue and White Chart Paper

3. Foam in various colors including green and orange or yellow

4. Cotton Wool

5. Felt in green and brown

6. Embellishments in different shapes – birds, bees, flowers, butterflies

Directions:

1. First the background needs to be ready. Stick blue chart paper on some cardboard that is thick enough to withstand little hands! Keep it aside.

2. The various lift-the-flap components of the collage will be made using white chart paper. Fold a piece of paper and draw a picture on one side, so that a part of it comes on the fold. Cut out the shape leaving the fold intact, so that the top part acts like the flap, as shown in the image.

3. Repeat the above step for all the flaps of the collage. Here, we’ve made flaps for the sun, cloud, tree, umbrella, girl, grass and flowers. You can add a cat, dog or anything else you like. Keep the pictures simple to make it easier to cut.

4. Cut out foam in the appropriate color and cover the top flaps of each piece that you’ve prepared in the previous step. Here we’ve used glitter orange foam for the sun, green printed foam for the trees, pink for the girls’ dress and so on. Stick cotton wool on the clouds. Arrange and stick everything on the blue background.

5. Stick on additional elements that don’t have flaps, like the tree trunks, an extra cloud and more grass. Decorate with stickers or embellishments like butterflies or birds. We’ve also used a pipe cleaner for the umbrella handle and made the girl’s outfit a little more fancy!

6. Write down the name of the object inside the flap. Make it large and bold so that it’s easily visible. That’s it – your very own lift-the-flap collage is ready!!

7. Add more pages to make a book.

This is a great gift for an older sibling to make for his toddler brother or sister. You’ll have to help out in cutting the shapes, but they should be able to take care of the rest. You can go ahead and make a similar one for every theme and every season!