Patriotic fun!

In preparation for the celebration of the birth of our country, we have been studying the American Revolution. We found quite a few resources online and most of them were free! I love it when I can find fun and educational materials at no cost. We are filling this entire week and part of next week with patriotic videos, lapbooks, reading, crafts and topping it all off with a parade, BBQ and fireworks. 

The videos we are watching can be found on Netflix, Hulu Plus and Youtube. George Washington: American Revolutionary and Paul Revere: The Midnight Rider can be found on Netflix. Where America Began can be found on Hulu Plus. Liberty Kids is an animated series that used to air on PBS. It is no longer on the air in my state so we watch it on Youtube. There is also a fun website that goes with the series Libertykids.com. Even though it is animated, Liberty Kids appeals to kids of all ages. I have children ages 15 yrs-16 mos old and they all enjoy this show. 

Along with the videos, we have found some reading online and with the information we have found, one of my children made an Independence Day lapbook. The lapbook template and printables can be found here and the cover can be found here.  I don't have any links to where she found her information since she did most of the research on her own and took some of the information from her notes. 

We chose to make this lapbook out of two colored file folders and colored card stock. There are many different ways to make a lapbook and you can learn how on Youtube and at homeschoolshare.com. We based this lapbook off of this tutorial on Youtube. We just didn't use the same type of file folders she did. We used regular colored file folders and just cut off the tabs to make the ends straight. They weren't perfect but they worked.

This is the first section of the lapbook when you open it. The blue center flips up as seen in the picture below this one. I like this idea because it creates more space without using another file folder and it gives the lapbook a little more depth. As you can see, we also like to use both sides of this extension. 

This is the second section. The red center is another extension that flips up to reveal more information on the other side as seen in the photo below this one. 

Lapbooks have a lot of unique ways of displaying information. Many have different types of "books." This one had a few different types of books but most of them had the same idea, just different shape. 

If you aren't familiar with lapbooks, I hope this helps and sparks your interest. We use lapbooks in place of reports, tests and reviews. Sometimes it is nice to take a break from the traditional book work and do something creative.