Pop-Up Book Lesson Plan

This is a wonderful project that bridges art and writing. It could also have an integrative aspect (science, math, social studies, etc.)

Materials:
Several sheets Oak tag or Bristol board to be folded in half & used for figures
2 pieces of heavy chipboard, a little bigger than your book
Drawing paper to make covers with
Pencil, eraser
Practice paper
Scissors
Elmer’s Glue
Sharpie Markers
Watercolors
Watercolor Brush
Water Can
Colored Pencils
Note: Do not use pastels or craypas, as they will smear.

Procedure:
Begin by planning your book. Decide how many pages you want it to have and how many moveable characters you will need. Most likely, your book will be horizontal in format, so plan accordingly.
Your story can be worked out on scratch paper. Students may use word processing and cut out their printed copy and glue it to the bottom of their books after the illustrations are done.
The top half of the book will be background for an outside scene or the wall for an inside one. The bottom half will be for the story and is the ground or floor. Your pop-ups will come out of folded area.
Once you have your story, fold your oak tag in half and draw your scene lightly in pencil. Outline in sharpie and watercolor in. Colored pencils can be used later, if you wish. Mixed media can add a rich look to your art work.
On separate oak tag, make your characters. When dry, cut out.
Book Assembly: Pop-ups are based on the idea that everything will fold flat along scored lines when the page is closed.
First draw an “11” on the outside of the fold. Make sure your pop-up will not extend outside of your book by visually measuring first. The “11” can’t be too thin or too thick, too long or too short. As you do this, you will get the hang of what size to make your “11”. Fold back and forth to score and put back into position. Open the fold and push out your “11” which now becomes a stair step. Your pop-up will get glued onto the front of the stair step—not the top!
For a slider, make the “11” and then cut a long strip twice the length of the slider you want. Slide it through your “11” and then glue it to itself at one end. Then glue the character or thing on the outside of the strip.
You also may use z-strips—small strips folded like zees that pop out things like clouds, birds, etc.
Advanced pop-up techniques include angled folds and pop-ups attached to pop-ups. There are many books to refer to if you want to get more sophisticated.
Glue your pages together, being mindful not to slop glue too near the open holes formed by the “11’s”.
Cover: The cover uses the “envelope” technique I showed you for your accordion books. You need to create a spine for your book which will vary depending on how many pages you have. Lay your cardboards our on your cover paper with a space between them that will become the spine. It may be as close as a quarter of an inch or as far apart as three-quarters of an inch. Trace the cardboard and remove. The cardboards, remember, are a bit bigger than the book pages (Maybe ¼” or so on each side). Draw envelope flaps from the exact corners. Angle in, not out! The spine area is just made straight. The lines are only drawn on an angle from the corners. Put the cardboard back on the tracing and fold the flaps tightly over the cardboard and tape down. Do this all eight times.
Draw your cover, sharpie and watercolor. Put your title on the cover and your name, too. It should have a compelling illustration to make us want to open it.
The last step is gluing the end book pages to the cover. Glue around the edges, and your book is finished.

Reflection:
Share the books as usual. Books may be displayed in the library or classroom.
Follow-up or Variations:
Students can make pop-up cards using this technique. Simple one page pop-up pictures can be done by kindergartners. If you want to display on a bulletin board, tie a piece of yarn or string on the oak tag to hold the fold open.