Course Detailed Description

Book making is an excellent activity in the educational process. Creating a book provides an interesting way to learn about new subjects. Educators and teachers who strive to improve their work are always looking for new ways to make their classes, lessons and lectures as effective as possible. This makes lessons more interesting, engaging and child-centred. This is one of the reasons why manual binding of books is used in kindergarten or school. Special emphasis is placed on the promotion and development of manual work. Hand binding books is applicable and useful in most educational settings.

Making your own books requires a combination of many areas, including: Writing, Drawing, Painting, Communication. It also develops various skills: Fine skills, children learn how to use scissors, holes and glue. In addition, concentration and eye for details are improved.

Making books allows students to go through the whole process of creating a book, using their skills and developing the skills mentioned above.

What the children draw or write themselves in their own handmade book will certainly help them to memorise the lesson material better.

The task is to make a book and show others what they have learned. Once the children start making a book, they will definitely want to finish it. The project of creating a hand-bound book will encourage them to learn more about the topic they have chosen for their project.

Once they start, they will want to fill the whole book, finding, exploring and adding more and more details about the given topic. Whether it is math, nature and society, history, art and culture or foreign languages, book making can become an integral part of any curriculum.

Making books encourages and challenges communication skills. What is written in the book has to look nice, which practices handwriting, but also correct writing. It is also an exercise in visual perception. Sharing books or displaying books allows students to share what they have learnt and show other students what they have learnt. In this way, the exchange of ideas is encouraged.

In the end, each child can say with satisfaction, "I made that myself."

In short, craft books are a great way of correlation and interdisciplinarity where writing, illustrating, discovery and research, creativity and presentation come together to support the curriculum in the classroom.

The main goal of this course is to get familiar with the process of book binding, tools to include students with less opportunities into the process and how to use the newly created books.

Other course goals are:  

• get to know more about bookbinding techniques and options

• get acquainted with methods to use book binding for mental health improvement

• understand the pedagogical approach to teaching with bookbinding

• be aware of different options in work with bookbinding 

• learn how to use adequate tools to support students in the process of creation

• enhance collaboration and networking  

• make individual books

• analyse and evaluate the process and the course 

 Topics:  

design, book, book design, accordion binding, one sheet book, book binding