Making a mini book - piano hinge

By Spotlight

Projects for teachers and childcare professionals

Final Result

Materials

• cardstock for pages
• scissors/paper trimmer
• 3 wooden skewers
• pencil & ruler

Step 1

Cut 2 pages 8cm x 16cm. Fold each in half and mark along the fold at 2cm, 4cm and 6cm. Make 3 x 0.5cm cuts in from the spine at each mark. This creates the tabs for the skewers. Cut the skewers into 10cm lengths from the point. Starting at the bottom of the first page, thread the skewer into cut 1, out at cut 2, into cut 3 and out the top edge. Push remaining tabs to the back. For the other page thread second skewer from the bottom out through cut 1, into cut 2 and out at cut 3. Push remaining tabs to the front. Place the pages together aligning tabs and thread the third skewer from the bottom to the top through all 4 remaining tabs.

Optional: cut off tops of skewers or wind with some thread and add some beads for decoration.

Handy Hint

Children can embellish the covers and pages with stickers or hand drawn pictures then write little stories inside.

Handy Hint

Change the dimensions of the pages & covers to make these books in any size. Add more pages if desired.