Tot-Book - Thomas the Train

Our First Tot-Book!
We were inspired by Carisa at 1+1+1=1 and used the Thomas the Train Tot-Book that she so generously shared.  As it was our first, we followed it a little to the letter, or so to speak.  (In addition to being our first Tot-Book that we've made, it's the first I have tried to photograph ... hopefully I'll get better at that, too!)

The Cover.  I downloaded some Thomas clip art, printed it out, covered it in contact paper and ran it through my Xyron to make it sticky.  Dew1 helped me decorate.  To make the flap cover, I found a graphic of a wooden Thomas track and used it to cover up my bad folding job (first lap book fold - I missed it a little!)

















The inside, open.  I covered just about everything with contact paper for my first go round.  It was very time consuming but I figured that Dew1 was going to Love it Very Much so it was worth it.  I also put a piece of cardstock weight paper behind the center panel to give a bit more support to the folded part. 

The inside, right side.  Dew1 used dot markers as well as crayons to colour the trains.  I covered both covers and the pages to the Thomas and Friends book with contact paper for a little durability.  I also ran the back pages of both books through the Xyron before stapling the books together to make them stick better.

















The inside, left side.  I made two copies of the shapes so they could be matched.  I covered just the front of the shapes, pockets, and pages of the How Many book with contact paper to make them old up a bit better.  The pocket (after assembly) and the last page of the How Many book also went through the Xyron.


We were supposed to go spend a Day with Thomas this past summer and I had planned to take a picture of Dew1 with Thomas and use it to make a puzzle to put on the back cover.  Our trip had to be rescheduled, but when we do go, I'll be sure to do the puzzle and update.

I've found that the Xyron adhesive works so much better than a glue stick, even if it is more expensive.

Dew1 has loved this book dearly.  My only minor annoyance is the fact that you need to use paperclips to keep the shapes and How Many book in.  But as you follow Carisa through her Tot-Book journey, you'll see that she has solutions to all of these little problems (Hello Activity Pack!)