3 Easy Ways to Make Books at Home
My 7-year old loves reading books. He also loves drawing and telling stories about books. So it was just a matter of time before he asked me if he could make a book of his stories. He’s enjoyed making books (just like Daddy) so much that it occurred me other kids might enjoy it, too. And parents may be looking for an easy craft to do at home with kids.
So I’m sharing some simple ways to make a book at home. You don’t need any special tools, just basic arts and crafts supplies. And these easy book binding methods don’t have to be done perfectly to look really nice.
The first method is pretty easy and you’ve probably done it before. I’ve added a few small things that make it look pretty nice.
Staple Binding
You might need:
- paper (blank or already written/drawn on)
- a stapler
- construction paper
- solid-colored tape (electric tape, masking tape, duct tape, colored masking tape, doesn’t matter as long as it isn’t clear cellophane tape
- glue stick
- ruler
You’ve probably already stapled a bunch of papers together to make a book. There’s nothing new about that. But what makes it look really nice is to add construction paper front and back covers. That also helps protect the pages inside.
Once you staple it, you can also take a piece of tape and cover the staples over. That covers any uneven stapling. It also protects your fingers from the sharp staples, but mainly it looks cool.
The hard part is lining the tape up straight. But even if you don’t, you can tape it from the front and then tape it from the back as long as the tapes overlap. The two layers of tape actually help hide the staples.
I went out and bought some different colored tapes. but plain beige masking tape, electric tape or duct tape work, too. I actually like making books with black front and back covers and using duct tape for a nice industrial look. You can also cut a piece of construction paper out and use a glue stick to cover over the staples.
Another nice touch is to put a ruler along the edge of the binding and fold the book gently. That helps protect the binding.
You can decorate the cover, put the author and illustrator name on it, or even photocopy an illustration from inside the book, cut it out, and glue it on the cover!
Tip: If your child wants to draw or write before you make the book, have them leave a good .5 inch margin on the left sides of their papers. Either leave it blank or make sure nothing important goes there. That way the good stuff doesn’t get swallowed up by the margin. Remember, that if they write or draw on the back of the paper, they still need to keep the left margin free of anything important.
Now, I like to divide the pages of my book in half so I can put a picture on top and write a story on the bottom, like this:
You can also make half-size books (This one could use another layer of tape to hide those staples, but I was in a bit of a rush:
My son loves to make books about monsters! We always divide our paper in half so he can draw a picture on the top and then tell about the monster below.
Once, I joined him and I decided to write about the kinds of monsters that might live in a house, like the monster under the bed who grabs your ankles! On a whim, when we were done, I cut the pages in half and stapled them like that.
If you do plan to do this, and you write on both sides of the paper, bear in mind that things will be reverse. The top half of the back will be on the right side of the spread when you bind them and the bottom half will be on the left.
If you do this, you might want to glue the front and back pages to the covers. Or you may want to make a title page and an about the author page instead.
You’ll note that I only drew on one side of the paper originally. This meant I ended up with blank spreads. I could have glued them, but instead I decided to draw on them here, once they were bound. It’s easier for me to keep track of what is happening like that.
Yarn or Ribbon Binding
Instead of staples, you can also bind the book with yarn or ribbon! This looks very cool and holds together well.
You’ll need a hole punch and a piece of yarn, ribbon, or string about two times longer than your book.
- If you have a three-hole punch (or paper with holes in it), punch three holes in the paper.
If you have a regular hole punch, use a ruler to draw a straight line down the left side of the paper, about 1/3 to 1/2 an inch away from the side. Make three to five holes along that line with your hole punch. Note that you can add more holes to your three-hole paper, if you want. More holes will make it stronger.
2. Put your yarn through the top hole from back to front. Pull most of the yarn through, but leave enough to tie a knot around back. You may want to tie a big knot in that end, just in case.
3. Pull the yarn around the top of the page and then back through the top hole from back to front.
4. Weave the yarn through the middle holes from front to back and back to front. You may have to realign the pages every time to get the holes lined up. Here I only have one middle hole so I’ll just do it once.
5. Then pull it through the bottom hole, wrap it around the bottom, and pull it back through the bottom hole again. If you have three holes like me, the string will go back to front, around the bottom, and back to front again.
6. Weave it up the page again, back through the middle holes in the opposite direction.
7. When you get to the top hole, tie the excess pieces of string together. You can make a simple knot first, then tie a decorative bow on top of that knot, if you like. Pull the knot through to the front, if you want to show it off! Cut off excessive string if you like.
Now your book is beautifully bound. You’l notice it’s a bit looser than staples so be a bit delicate with it.
To make it stronger you can put colorful tape or a piece of construction paper over the string, as we did with the stapled bindings. You can also go through the book page by page with a ruler and bend the pages about 1/2 to 2/3 of an inch in. This takes the pressure off the string binding.
6-Page Section
Traditionally books are folded into octavios, with 16 pages. This involves folding the paper 4 times which is much too smal if you start with a standard piece of paper.
So here’s a nice method that gets you 6 pages, and it’s very easy to do.
- Start with a piece of paper. This one is 8.5x11 but you can do it with bigger sheets too. Fold it in half lengthwise.
3. Unfold it again to make a crease down the middle.
4. Then fold it half the other way, short end to short end. Don’t unfold it.
5. Now, you’re going cut along the last fold to the center point. I’ve turned the paper into a tent to show you exactly where and how far to cut.
6. Make sure you cut only to the middle. Otherwise the book won’t hold together very well.
7. Now fold the front flap around to the middle.
8. Finally, fold the back flap around to the middle and you’ve got a nice little 6-page book.
The middle page is a double-page but resist the temptation to cut it or the book will fall apart.
I made a list of things that make me happy, which seemed appropriate!
Note that you can make several of these and staple them together to make as long a book as you like.
What to Write About
If you’re looking for ideas for younger kids, here are some of the things we’ve enjoyed:
- monsters or animals or household items or family or friends and their characteristics
- a list of things I like
- how-to books (could be anything depending on the child’s interest)
- a funny thing that happened to them
- a great memory
- a fantasy memory (what I did when I was a princess, my vacation on the moon)
- an opinion about their favorite Pokémon/thing to build in Minecraft/food/place to go on vacation/animal/sport/toy/game…
- Keep a daily journal where the child writes down a memory every day, or how they feel and why.
Making books is something kids really enjoy. It makes them feel accomplished, like a real published author. And it’s a great way to show how much you value their work.
Also, if they know they are making a book, it helps them be creative. Instead of doing one drawing or a short story, they have to add enough to fill a whole book (My 7-year old averages 4 pages; we’re not talking about a massive tome).
I hope this tutorial was useful. There are loads of other ways to make books that are easy for children to follow so Google away. And if you have any other ideas, share them in the comments for everyone.
