In today’s post: Learn how to make an 8-page mini foldable book from one sheet of paper! Free printable template so your kids can design their own books. Easy foldables idea.
I am ALWAYS on the lookout for easy art projects my kids can do. And by easy, I mean projects that don’t involve glitter, glue, or anything else that will make me rue the day I allowed my children to use them. At the same time, I want something that’s fun enough to capture my kids’ imagination and hopefully keep them busy for a while. These mini foldable books are the perfect kid project! With a couple of folds you can turn one sheet of paper into an 8-page book complete with a title page on the front and an author page on the back.
Fun foldables idea: Mini book from one sheet of paper
My two elementary school age kids had a blast with these! Designing a mini book is much more fun that coloring on a blank sheet of paper. We started with this:
And after a bit of folding and a simple cut, ended up with foldable books…
…they could write and illustrate themselves!
It was pretty fun to see them both hard at work on their books.
I made a few extra mini foldable books and tossed them in the bag I take to church, along with some colored pencils. My kids sat coloring quietly while (hopefully) listening to the speakers – it was great!
How to make a mini foldable book from one sheet of paper
My kids learned how to make these books at school; they’re called “foldables”. To give the book a title page on the front cover and an author page on the back cover, I created a printable template. Download the template by clicking here.
Print out your template at full size or 100% on plain 8.5×11 printer paper. You can use white or colored paper, just don’t use cardstock or it will be too thick to fold nicely.
Then watch this video to see how to turn one sheet of paper into a foldable book:
Foldables are pretty fun! If you want to learn how to make different types of foldables, check out this link.
And if you’re looking for more fun art projects for kids, visit these posts:
20 kid art projects pretty enough to frame
Print + fold origami bookmarks
Kristie says
This is so super cool! I can’t wait to do this for trips we take. And when we go to “see” historical things that might bore my kids. This is so awesome. Thanks so much for sharing!
Christina says
LOVE!
Rachel Quesada says
I love these little books. I did a blog post on recycling larger paper into these books as well! Here is the link if you want to check it out: http://before3pm.com/packing-paper-magic-books/
Katja says
Super, das werde ich heute mit meiner Enkeltochter machen 😉
Cathe says
Do you have a Christmas Template?
Adrienne Bradley says
This is the coolest! I plan to make a bunch of these for my childcare kids and share this post on FB. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Monica Loewen says
Where can I download this? I can’t find your link anywhere.
Beth says
Wonderful simple instructions. I’ve made this one page book before but I loved your instructions so much better than the way I was taught. I think I could do this with younger kids now. Thank you!