How to Make a Flip Book

When kids get bored it usually means you have to break out the wallet and pay dearly for entertainment. If the thought of that scares you to death run for the home printer instead! Grab some of that white printer paper and kids will have a blast making a fun flip book that will keep them giggling for hours.

You can actually use any color of paper to make the book but, ideally, it wont be lined. Also, dont use thick paper, like scrapbook paper, for this project. Decide on the paper, make a small stack, then fold it in half, lengthways. Staple along the fold and kids can get busy creating the book the way they want it.

Place the stapled paper so that the fold is facing away from you and the long edges of the papers are facing you. Cut from the edge over to the fold and do this twice. By cutting the paper this way you create three individual sections on each piece of paper. If you have a thick stack of paper you might need to cut a few at a time, then a few more, until theyre all equally cut. Any stapling or cutting should be done by grownups, if the child is under the age of 8 years of age, or childproof scissors should be used for younger kids. Turn the book so that the staples are facing to the left and the pages open from the right. The top stack of papers will become heads and faces of characters, the middle papers will become shirts or bodies, and the last section will become legs. If you have kids who enjoy drawing they can draw the faces and other features. Instead of drawing kids can cut pictures from magazines. Paste the heads on the upper papers, shirts on the middle ones, and legs or other things on the lower papers. The more creative you are with the individual sections the funnier the finished pictures are. For example, cut giraffe leg pictures, frog bodies or other silly additions to the book. At the head sections, cut or draw pictures of old people and young, men, women and children, and people with various colors and styles of hair. In the middle section cut or draw pictures of bare men or boys bodies, assorted shirts, and even animal bodies. For the lower sections try animal legs, people with scuba-diving fins, furry boots, legs with high heels and more. When finished, any of the heads can align with any of the bodies, which can align with any of the legs. Kids will have loads of fun turning the various pages, and combining them with others, to create dozens and dozens of silly characters!