I have been researching lap books. In the process of lap booking, is this something the child completes? Or is this used more for a learning resource for the child to look at? I am wanting to do this as a graded project for my daughter to complete and I would like a little more independent work and for her to truly make it her own.
Hi there @ashimmel! We have used lapbooks in a limited fashion. I have a 1st Grader and 3rd Grader this year. So far the lapbooks are something they complete with help from me and then they can serve as a useful tool for them to refer back to as a reminder of the work they did over a period of time. I think my 3rd Grade daughter could do it on her own if she had clear enough instructions though. Usually she and her brother are doing them simultaneously and I am helping him anyway so we work on them together. They have really enjoyed the ones we have done. We did them more extensively through an ongoing subject last year especially and those were very effective! I hope this is helpful!
Thank you. That does help. We don’t do unit studies but she had a science notebook that she needed to complete and I think a lap book would have been a better alternative than what she used before. She is supposed to do a book report this quarter and so I was thinking that it would be good to incorporate a lap book into her report. Would a lap book work in that scenario?
I wouldn’t see why you couldn’t incorporate a lapbook into a book report–I would think the two would go together nicely! We are actually getting ready to do a read aloud book this week for science and are planning to use a lap book along with the read aloud as a way to expand on our reading and to solidify what we are learning as well. So in my limited experience I’d say it would be a good idea! But I hope others will weigh in here who might have more experience with lapbooking too! 
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Lapbooks are flexible. In my home, my daughter uses them to help her remember/review subject material, I can’t wait for the day when @Erica creates history-based lapbooks. I love her literature ones and highly recommend them for struggling readers. They have helped my daughter a great deal.
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I still use lapbooks with my 6/7th grader. We do unit studies for science and social studies. Lapbooks are normally a way we wrap up a concept. It’s a change of pace for him and since it is hands-on it helps understand the important points better. When finished he has to present it back to me and one other family member (usually dad or a grandparent). You can take a look at my blog if interested in a few ideas. www.homewiththethreebears.wordpress.com