If you’re anything like me, the idea of a flip book can be a bit intimidating. How am I supposed to fold the page? Is that enough space? Did I put the paper in the printer in the right direction? I am here to give you tons of flip book ideas so that you can put these fears behind you and start using flip books in the classroom! I’ll share my favorite flip book ideas for language classrooms for any level of student, plus you’ll get a free flip book template to use with your students!
I also always thought that flip books were too childish for my high school students, but boy was I wrong! Even middle and high school students love to color, cut, draw, etc. They don’t get to do that too often anymore, so when the opportunity arises to bring out their inner child or artist, most really enjoy it! Flip books are the perfect storm of appropriate content and creativity for middle and high school students. Now, I love using flip books to encourage student creativity because they can be really low-prep on my end, yet produce really high quality content!
What is a flip book?
There are a few variations of flip books that I use in Spanish class, but in general, a flip book is when you take a piece of paper or a few pieces, and create mini booklets out of them. Flip books can be used for grammar, vocabulary, or storytelling! Flip books are generally very interactive, as students will complete a variety of tasks within the flip book either demonstrating proficiency, learning new content, or reviewing previous material.
My 3 Favorite Flip Book Ideas
Scaffolded Flip Book
The first of my flip book ideas requires 3 sheets of paper and allows you to create a booklet with 5 pages, each in varying sizes. I use this type of flip book when I have a lot of information that I want to teach or review with my students – especially material that I can scaffold. Your first page will be relatively small, and each page gradually gets larger until your last page, which is the biggest. Lending itself to be the perfect template to scaffold material from small, easy chunks to larger, more detailed sections.
Here is an example of a flip book that I created for learning about Cinco de Mayo. You can see that when folded completely, there is a cover, 5 pages, and a back. (Check out the video below to see what each page looks like!) On page 1, I started with very basic information about Puebla, México to introduce my students to the geography. Page 2 gets a little bigger, so with more room, I wrote short texts about the two sides of the war. With page 3, I was able to add some images along with the text. On page 4, with more space, I created an annotation activity. Flip books are a great way to encourage annotation because students still feel like they are “coloring,” but really they are reading and deeply analyzing a text. Finally, on page 5, I had students summarize another short text. On the back, I usually like students to reflect about what they learned.
So, you can see that a flip book in this style could be used for any type of content, as long as you scaffold the material!
Other flip books in this style:
In addition to using this style of flip book for content, I found it extremely useful to do this with grammar. I was teaching Spanish 2 students a few years ago and we were just beginning the preterit tense for the first time. I had a wide range of student abilities in my classes and was not sure if just jumping into a brand new tense and doing drills would work for all of them. I also knew that some would not be able to grasp the concept with comprehensible input alone, either. (This flip book has extra pages – you can create a flip book with as many pages as you want. I generally stick to the traditional 5 pages.)
So, I of course did a blend of each style of teaching and added the Preterit Flip Book, which you see below. Rather than give students a printed version of this, I supplied them with the paper, and they all created their own. (Yes, there is a learning curve to creating this… so I created a free template for your students to use when they create their own flip book! Print double sided on the SHORT side.) As long as they fold directly on the dotted line, they will have a flip book in minutes! If you don’t want to make a bunch of copies of each paper, here are the measurements. Just have your students measure and draw a line to fold each page.
One Page Flip Book
The second style of flip book that I like to use is much less cumbersome to design, print, and assemble. Each flip book only requires one page of paper, and gives you four pages of content. Simply take a blank sheet of paper and fold in half and then in half again, creating four even-sized pages.
These mini flip books are great for reviewing or teaching one concept, since they are relatively small. On the first page, have students write a title. Maybe, a Spanish-speaking country, a famous Hispanic, a holiday, etc. On each page, they can put different facts and images to describe the topic. They can either research the material or they can create the booklet after you’ve taught the lesson, so they are showing their proficiency and understanding of the topic.
These books also serve as perfect vocabulary reviews. With a large list of vocabulary words, assign each student one word. Their booklet can include the word, a drawing, a definition, a sentence, or even an interactive activity, like a riddle, word search, or true or false question. Each student will create their own booklet, and then they can display them around the room. Have students circulate and read each book during a gallery walk! Administrators will love this flip book activity – it makes a great observation lesson. Students are creating content, up-and-moving, reading, and more!
You can use this for any grade level, as well. With upper level students, it may seem too easy or simple. However, if you create enough of these mini booklets, they can be used for an entire unit or month! My favorite type of mini flipbook teaches students about famous Hispanics. With this set of 24 Famous Hispanic flip books, you can give one per day during the month of National Hispanic Heritage, and students will learn about a new Hispanic each day. They are simple enough and not time consuming, where you can squeeze in a quick mini-lesson on culture and still cover your curriculum.
Other flip books in this style:
The most traditional way to create flip books is just by taking a piece of paper and folding it in half. You can add as many or as few pieces of paper as you want to create the booklet. Recently, I began using this style for vocabulary. Beginning with a theme, such as “Day of the Dead,” I came up with a vocabulary list from A-Z to teach about Dia de muertos. Then, I filled the booklet with these terms, images, and sentences. It is a great way to enhance your lessons around the holidays or during a vocabulary-heavy unit.
To have your students create their own vocabulary mini booklets, just supply them with paper! They can easily fold it in half and create their booklets. I wouldn’t require them to use all 26 letters of the alphabet, unless you have advanced students and a lot of vocabulary to use. A great sub plan lesson would be for students to create their own booklets with the vocabulary from your current unit, including the word, an image, and the word used in a sentence.
Other flip books in this style:
I’ve also used this mini booklet version for creating your own fairy tale, children’s book, or legend/myth. You can purchase the create your own fairy tale project here, complete with rubric, vocabulary, and detailed instructions.
Which of these flip book ideas is your favorite? Any style of flip book is perfect for a sub plan, project based learning, to promote creativity, incorporate culture, or review a concept!
