Twinkle Little Star Color Matching

Zel is really loving colors right now. We talk about colors a lot! I filled our living room book bucket with all the color books I could find, but I wanted to do something even more special. I decided to make him his very own color matching book. One of Zel's favorite shapes is the star, so I decided to base my book on twinkle, twinkle little star. The idea behind the book is that each page would have a colored star and then a blank spot where Zel could put the matching star using velcro.

Here are the materials I used:

• 6 sheets cardstock  (I used a creme color)
• 1 sheet star printed card stock
• construction paper (whatever colors you want your stars to be)
• contact paper
• velcro
• black sharpie
• glue stick
• spray adhesive
• thin cardboard (I used a cheez-its box)

Look on Google images to find a star shape (I used this one). Print the star and cut it out. Use the star cut out and trace 2 stars for each color of construction paper you have chosen. Then cut out all of the stars. 

Fold each piece of card stock in half so that it looks like the pages of a book. On the upper part of the pages, write the words to your story. I chose to use "Twinkle, Twinkle little red star how I wonder where you are?" on the first page and "Up above the world so high, like a rose up in the sky" on the second. You will change the wording of the color and object for each different star. Make sure that when you write the words you leave enough space for the star cut-out. Use a sharpie to write your words. Then use a glue stick to glue the corresponding colored star on the bottom of the first page. On the bottom of the second page, trace a star with the sharpie.

On the remaining colored star, write the name of the color on the star. Then laminate the star using contact paper (or a laminating machine if you have one) by placing contact paper on both sides. Then trim the excess contact paper away. Place the Velcro on the back of the star and the corresponding Velcro piece on the page of card stock in the middle of the outline of the star.

Use the spray adhesive to glue all the pages together. Cut out two pieces of cardboard so that they are slightly larger than the size of the pages. Glue a piece of construction paper to cover up the writing on the cardboard. Then write your title at the top. I used "Twinkle Twinkle Matching Stars." Leave space to make a pocket for the stars to be stored in.

Cut the star print card stock so it is a square with three little flaps. Fold the flaps twice to make a shallow open box. Use glue stick to paste it to the cover of the book. Use a knife to press down on the parts that you can't reach with your finger.

Glue the front and back covers to the pages of your book using spray adhesive. Then use a strip of the star card stock to cover the spine of the book using the glue stick.

Place the stars in the front pocket and you have a book!

Zel was very excited to finally read it because I have been working on it for a few days. He just kept saying "star" over and over. Then he pointed out some of the colors that he knew. When he picked the wrong color I would point to the star glued on the page and then point to his star and ask, "Does it match?" Zel would say, "Noooo" and then search for the right star.