Mix-and-match books like AlphaBot are fun to make! Each page has three flaps, so you can draw different heads, bodies, and feet on each page. When you turn the flaps, the different parts mix together to create fantastic robots, monsters, animals, or whatever you can imagine!
I created my first draft of AlphaBot with pencil drawings on simple printer paper. It was my first time making a mix-and-match book, and it was so much fun to see the different parts mix together. I’ve put together a template and instructions so that you can make one too!
MATERIALS
• 1 printed template page
• 2 blank sheets of paper
• 1 piece of construction paper (for the cover)
• Stapler and staples
• Scissors
• Drawing supplies
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Place your printed template page on top of 2 sheets of blank paper.
2. Fold the stack in half, along the center line, with the printed template on the outside.
3. Staple at the two staple spots along the folded edge.
4. Holding the pages tightly in a stack so they don’t move, cut from the edge of the paper along the dotted lines through the entire stack.
5. Placing your book on a flat surface, carefully fold back and forth on the line near the staples. This is to make sure your flaps lie flat when you flip them.
6. Fold your construction paper in half to make a cover. Put your blank pages inside the folded cover and staple along the edge with three staples (put one in the middle and the other two outside of your original two staples). Fold the cover open so it lies flat when you flip the flaps. Now you have a blank mix-and-match book!
7. Create your mix-and-match elements. If you aren’t particular, you can draw whatever you want in whatever order you want! If you want your elements to line up perfectly, here is one approach to make sure each element will line up:
– Draw the first full page (head, body, feet).
– Make the heads: Turn the top flap only. Make a new head that lines up with your old flaps. Turn the top flap again and draw another head. Keep doing this until you’ve filled out all of the head flaps.
– Make the feet: Go back to your original three flaps. Flip the bottom flap only. Make new feet (or wheels, or tentacles, or whatever you like) that line up with your old flaps. Turn the bottom flap again and draw another set of feet. Keep doing this until you’ve filled out all of the feet flaps.
– Make the bodies: Go back to your original three flaps. Flip the middle flap only. Make a new body that lines up with your old flaps. Turn the middle flap again and draw another body. Keep doing this until you’ve filled out all of the body flaps.
8. Finally, decorate your cover. You’re all done! Congratulations, you have completed your very own mix-and-match book!
About the Book
Even the youngest robotocists will love flipping the flaps to create their own robot—while exploring a simple A to Z roundup of robotics terms.
Found your circuit-board head? Your voice-control torso? Your hydrojet feet? Hooray! You’ve made one of the 729 mix-and-match robots that are possible with this innovative flip-flap book. Alongside the bright and cheery illustrations of robot parts is a basic alphabetical listing of terms—from android to gears, neural network to program, wheels to Z-drive—and a basic definition of each. Printed on sturdy card stock to hold up to enthusiastic flap-turning, AlphaBot is full of appeal for young robot lovers, preschoolers who love machines, and anyone looking for STEM books for the younger set. Back matter includes a brief explanation of the three key abilities of robots: to sense, think, and act.
Available for pre-order! For personalized/signed copies, leave a comment at checkout with Linden Tree Books.
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