How to Make a United States Scrapbook

Are you searching for the perfect craft project to share with your child, something that combines creativity with a little education? A United States scrapbook might be just the thing, fusing imaginative, artsy fun with good old-fashioned learning. Here's how it's done.

Things You'll Need

• Scrapbook
• Paper
• Pencil
• Markers
• Encyclopedia
• Scissors
• Magazines
• Glue

Instructions

How to Make a United States Scrapbook

1. Purchase a scrapbook from an arts and crafts store. On a separate piece of paper, make an alphabetical list of each state in the United States.

2. Use the first two pages of your scrapbook to illustrate Alabama, since it is the first state, alphabetically speaking. Use a marker to boldly label the top of the first page with the word "Alabama."

3. Use an encyclopedia, or any other resources you may have at your disposal, to learn about Alabama. Find out what its state flag looks like, what the name of the state capital is, and what the state flower, tree, and bird are. Find out who of world renown was born and raised in Alabama. Find out what natural resources are found in Alabama, a little about the history of the state, and what its main tourist attractions are. List these on a sheet of paper.

4. Flip through some magazines and look for photos or pictures that would go well with some of the items discovered during the course of your Step 3 research, then cut them out and glue them to your Alabama pages, being sure to label them appropriately. Use markers or a pencil to draw pictures to illustrate other interesting information you discovered during Step 3. List additional facts in text form.

5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 with each of the 50 states.

Tips & Warnings

• When selecting a scrapbook, be sure it has at least 100 pages--or you will run out of space!

• This activity would work well under a variety of themes; the possibilities are endless--"Countries in South America," "The 20 Largest Cities in the World," or "Sports of the World," for example.

• Allow the glue to fully dry before moving on to the next page--you don't want your pages to stick together!