Your students are going to love learning about the parts of a computer while building their own on paper! These little laptops turn out so adorable you can’t resist smiling when you see the finished products.
This activity is meant to be quite open-ended, but the internal computer parts do each have a place. Decipher where they go by the size of the cut out.
The desktop icons can be placed anywhere, and all but one should fit. I left the website and the keyboard blank so that you can choose how you want students to fill them. Students could put both upper and lowercase letters on the keys. Perhaps have them draw their favorite website, your class website, or a safe-to-go-to website of their choosing.
Watch this video overview:
Watch this video to see how you can pick and choose the pages you use to make it as simple or as challenging as you need.
The last activity page is totally optional and is a matching activity so that students can learn a bit more about the parts of the computer.
Each student will need a copy of pages 3-5, with page 6 optional. If possible, print slide 3 on cardstock for a little more durability, or glue the back of the “laptop case” onto construction paper.
In addition to the lift-the-flaps laptop, there is a matching page with definitions of the computer parts for a little added academics.
Use the included pictures to guide you through putting the computer together, but know that it can also be totally customized to meet your needs. You can make it as simple (a coloring activity) or as complicated (learn and label the computer parts) as you need it to be.
Tara’s Feedback (Tech teacher grades 1-5): I love the fact that this student created a keyboard with movement. I thought it was so clever, I certainly didn’t think of it 🙂
Watch this little video of me putting mine together.
Suzanne said: This was by far the most fun activity we did this year.
On March 18, 2018, Tiffany G. answered:
My students absolutely LOVED this activity. Some of them still carry their paper computers around!
On April 27, 2018, Buyer answered:
My 6th graders loved this project and it was an excellent learning opportunity for a day my computer lab was being used for testing.
On April 24, 2018, Jean H. answered:
I paired this activity with the video the Magic School Bus gets Programmed and my 1st and 2nd graders loved it.
On April 9, 2018, Buyer answered:
My students loved this activity and begged to do it again for a second year in a row!
On February 28, 2018, Leslie Faett answered:
I used this with the lower grades and then the upper grades started asking if they could make their own computer. With a few adjustment to the degree of difficulty this was an excellent lesson.
Do you want to try this activity with your students? Click here: Build Your Own Computer Activity
