Let’s be honest, January in the classroom can feel like a letdown. The twinkle lights are packed away, the holiday parties are a distant memory, and your kiddos are walking back in from break with wiggly bodies, big yawns, and zero interest in sitting still for a worksheet. The excitement of December is gone, but we still have months of learning ahead. So how do we bring that same sparkle back into the classroom? That’s exactly why I created these January Flippy Flap Activities as something fresh, fun, and easy to pull out the moment you’re back from break. You can ease your students back into a routine while keeping that cozy, happy classroom magic alive all winter long!
Why You’ll Love These January Flippy Flaps
I’m always looking for new and engaging ways to get students excited about learning. After all, we already know that the more fun kids have with their learning, the more likely they are to be engaged. This is one of the many reasons I love using Flippy Flaps, or lapbooks in my classroom. My students absolutely LOVE these activities and they’re a great way to snag attention and keep it.
If you don’t already know, Flippy Flaps are lapbooks that students create about a specific topic. In my room, we work on a Flippy Flap throughout a week, one day at a time, to store everything we’re learning. These are great for students to look back on to see what they have learned and to take home and share with families.
Another amazing benefit of using Flippy Flaps with your students is that it allows you to teach in a cross-curricular format. It can be a struggle to fit science and social studies into our busy schedule. Lapbook activities like these January Flippy Flaps are a great way to weave science and social studies into your literacy block and make the most of your time in the classroom. So if you’ve been searching for a way to incorporate more science and social studies into your lessons, I know you’ll love these activities!
Flippy Flaps are also super versatile! I have created January Flippy Flaps for fun topics like winter, penguins, polar bears, and even Martin Luther King Jr! Each lapbook comes with multiple activities so you can pick and choose which ones work best for your class. From the various topics to the variety of activities in each Flippy Flap, you’ll have plenty of things to do throughout the cold weeks inside.
These lapbook activities also foster independence and target important skills such as fine motor and listening. For our primary learners in kindergarten and first grade, Flippy Flaps will be an MVP to help them grow in many different ways!
Ready to see the January Flippy Flap activities? Let’s dive in!
Winter Snowmen Flippy Flap
This January Flippy Flap lapbook is all about winter, snow, and snowmen. Students will learn by exploring what makes winter different from other seasons. Inside, there is a variety of fun activities that focus on sorting, writing, and labeling.
They will label a snowman, sequence building a snowman, and describe a snowman. Students will also sort clothes that are worn in the winter and games that they can play in the winter.
This is a great introduction to start your winter unit in January. I like to use this one right after we return from holiday break and spend some time discussing what to expect during this season. After the holidays, this is a great way to refocus, practice following directions, and exercise those fine motor skills.
If you’re curious, you can take an in-depth look at all the winter lapbook activities here!
All About Penguins Flippy Flap
Do you study penguins in the winter? These playful creatures are perfect for your January lessons and there’s so much to learn! This Penguin Lapbook is the perfect way to display everything you can learn about penguins. Some of the activities included in this one are:
- Penguins can/have/are
- Label a Penguin
- All About Penguins
- Penguin KWL
- Penguin Vocabulary
- Penguin Facts
- Life Cycle of a Penguin
- Penguin Adjectives
One of my favorite activities from this lapbook is the Label a Penguin task. My kids love learning new vocabulary words to describe penguins and have a lot of fun putting the labels in the right place.
Another fun activity is the predator and prey sort. This helps my students grasp the difference between each as we’re learning about penguins.
The great thing about these January Flippy Flap activities is that you can pick and choose which ones work best for your group. Include the activities that seem to fit best with the skill levels you’re working with and leave out any that aren’t quite right for your kiddos. I love the versatility of lapbooks!
Polar Bear Flippy Flap
Polar bears are another interesting creature we like to study in January. My kids love reading books about polar bears and then creating a research project of sorts with their January Flippy Flap activities. I like to read some books aloud first and then work on an anchor chart as a class.
First, we will write down important vocabulary words and interesting facts. Then, we use this information as we work on filling out the Polar Bear Lapbooks. Students love being able to label a polar bear, describe a polar bear, compare a polar bear to other animals, and sequence the life cycle of a polar bear.
The great thing about these lapbook activities is that they lay the foundation for some Polar bear-themed writing as well. Once we’ve gathered our facts and filled out the foldable activities, students can use the information to build sentences about what they have learned.
These January Flippy Flap activities make it super simple to conduct an in-depth study on polar bears with primary learners. The best part though is that when we’re done, they have a visual record of everything we’ve learned. They love bringing these home to share with their families at the end of our unit!
Walrus Flippy Flap
I’ve got one more fun polar animal lapbook that’s perfect for January! This one is all about Walruses! My kids think these creatures are just the funniest thing and most of them have never seen a real walrus before. This makes them a great topic of study since engagement is so high. My Walrus Lapbook includes tons of fun activities such as:
- Walrus Vocabulary
- Walrus Facts
- Walrus Adjectives
- Walrus Predators/Prey
- How do walruses stay warm writing prompt
- Favorite Walrus Book
- Compare Walrus & Seals
- Compare Walrus & Polar Bears
I love being able to read a little bit about these animals each day and then do a corresponding activity with my students. We usually do these activities in a whole group format, which is great because it allows for plenty of questions and conversations.
As we work through the activities and add them to the lapbooks, students are also getting plenty of fine motor practice too! Each activity is a cut-and-glue practice, some more in-depth than others with pockets and lift-the-flap pieces. Your students will quickly become scissor experts using these January Flippy Flap activities.
Martin Luther King Jr. Flippy Flap
Flippy Flaps aren’t just for cute winter animals, they can also cover important social studies topics for January. With this Martin Luther King Jr. Flippy Flap Lapbook, you’ll be able to educate your students on this incredible man in an age-appropriate way.
This Flippy Flap is great to help you lead discussions about his life and his accomplishments. Students will sequence major events from his life and learn interesting facts. They will also sort ways that we can be peaceful or not peaceful with others. There is also a section where students can write their own dream just as MLK Jr. did in his famous speech.
I like to use these activities the week before we are off for MLK Jr. Day. We read books, work through the flippy flap activities, and discuss the topics as a class. Then, I encourage my students to take their finished lapbooks home and share them with their families when we are off for MLK Jr. Day.
This is such a simple way to ensure that your students understand the purpose of the holiday and are able to retain and share what they have learned!
Digital January Flippy Flap Activities
While I absolutely LOVE the hands-on learning element that comes with these January Flippy Flaps, I also understand the need for different types of activities in the classroom. That’s exactly why I created a digital version of these activities too!
In my room, I like to use the digital version as a teaching guide as we walk through the activities. It’s great to review information you’ve read or learned before sending the kids off to work on their physical lapbooks. I have Digital January Flippy Flap activities for the following topics:
The activities in the digital version of these January Flippy Flap Lapbooks are also great if you’re trying to use technology more in the classroom. Simply assign a few activities during center time to allow your students a chance to work with the digital format.
Students can complete the activities and print them out or use them to reinforce what they have learned during their lessons. No matter what you decide, the versatility is a big win in my book!
How I Use January Flippy Flaps Throughout the Week
If you’re new to Flippy Flaps, don’t feel like you have to complete the entire lapbook in one sitting! I like to introduce the topic first with a read-aloud, discussion, or short lesson, and then add one or two Flippy Flap activities each day as we learn. Here’s an example of our week as we study penguins, using the Penguin Flippy Flap to store all the information we’ve learned.
- On Monday, we read a nonfiction book or two and talk about what we’ve learned. This is our introduction to the topic and gets students excited to learn more.
- Then, on Tuesday, we’ll complete the “Label a Penguin” activity together, using the vocabulary we’ve learned the day before.
- On Wednesday, we might work on penguin facts, referencing the books we read on Monday.
- For Thursday, we build out the life cycle of a penguin. This is a fun day since students love to talk about fuzzy baby penguins and how they grow up.
- On Friday, we’ll finish with a predator and prey sort, discussing the animals penguins eat and the animals they need to avoid.
By the end of the week, students have a completed lapbook that shows everything they’ve learned about our topic and can take it home to share with their families! Since each of the activities inside the lapbook is short and focused, you can weave these activities throughout your week in a way that fits well with your students’ needs and attention spans.
Get Started with these January Activities!
Don’t these January Flippy Flap activities look like fun? I know once you get started with Flippy Flap activities, you’ll be hooked! These activities are an easy way to pair real information with fun crafts and fine motor skills. Your students will love exploring each of these topics and creating a display they can take home to share with their families!
If you’re anything like me, you might find it hard to decide which one to use first! In this case, be sure to check out the bundle of printable January Flippy Flap Activities in my TPT Shop. You get all 5 of the fun lapbooks so you can work on one every week in your classroom!
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