Teaching history doesn’t have to be dry or boring. Check out these free history lapbooks your kids will love!
Do you remember how you learned history in school when you were a kid? More than likely, it involved a list of wars, dates, and fill-in-the blank worksheets.
The good news is that homeschool history doesn’t need to be dull or boring. Instead, we can use literature to help our kids feel they’ve really entered the story of history. Historical fiction, biographies, and narrative nonfiction are all wonderful ways for our kids learn about the people and events that impacted history.
It’s even better new that we can teach history from a Christian perspective. While our children learn about the important events in history, they can also be learning character and theology. With books that highlight how individuals chose to live for Jesus, kids can learn how ordinary men and women can impact the world for the kingdom of God.
As our kids read great books about important history, we want to use the tool of narration. What is narration? It’s simply having our kids retell the story in their own words. Lapbooks and notebooking are wonderful tools to help our kids practice written narration. I particularly like using lapbooks with elementary-aged kids, because they’re fun to put together, and they give children a great visual keepsake of their learning journey.
History lapbooks develop 6 important skills:
- Handwriting | Practice makes perfect! As your children write in their lapbooks, the process of writing long-hand naturally helps develop handwriting.
- Reading and Listening Comprehension | Your children will begin to pay attention and deepen their understanding of the information they are hearing or reading, knowing they will be taking notes on it.
- Pre-writing | As they recall information, children identify what is important and organize their thoughts.
- Research | Lapbooks provide an excellent tool to do extra research on a subject, like the mini-Bible studies included in the Who What Why history lapbooks.
- Long-term Memory | Written narration helps cement what students have studied into their long-term memory.
- Cognitive Skills | Taking notes requires a higher thought process. At first, your children will need help to process and narrate what they’ve learned, but cognitive skills will soon become second-hand.
History lapbooks, paired with good books, help kids learn in a hands-on way they will remember for years to come!
History Lapbooks Kids Will Love
The Who What Why Christian history series of books has a series of free history lapbooks. They’re fun to make–and they allow your kids to keep track of important facts they learn about Christian history, the Bible, and theology.
- Who What Why History Lapbooks | With the Who What Why lapbooks, your children will delve deeper into what they’ve learned, including:
- The impact of each historical person and movement on history, on the Church, and on your child’s world.
- The world throughout history. Your child will learn about what it was like to live during the time of each historical movement.
- The people involved in each historical story.
- Historical and theological vocabulary.
- The timeline of each historical event.
- The geography of each story.
- Theology: Bible passages addressed in each story from history.
History lapbooks are a powerful tool to help your 7-12 year olds consider and remember what they’ve learned!
Danika Cooley’s Who What Why Christian history series is perfect for your 7-12 year olds. Your children will better understand the history of the Christian faith, the people who loved Jesus, and what the Bible says about really important issues! Danika is an award-winning children’s author and Bible curriculum developer. Her popular Bible Road Trip™ is used by tens of thousands of families.
Learn more about the Who What Why series and grab your free history lapbooks here.
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