I was very fortunate to come across 3 excellent books for making centers earlier this summer.  I purchased all 3 from Amazon.com and so far the total to make 50 centers has been about $30.00. The books are:

Take it to Your Seat Early Learning Centers

Take it to Your Seat Math Centers

Take it to Your Seat Science Centers

All you do is laminate the pages, cut them out and either glue them onto a gift bag, or a two pocket folder.  I’ve made all of them from these 3 books.  The only thing I have left to do is copy the recording page that included for each center.  I plan on putting these at my Parent Volunteer Center and having some of them help the children complete them until they can do it on their own.  I have a metal file folder frame that I will use to store them in (it’s made for hanging file folders and stands independently on the table).  I will have one file folder for each center.

I like them because they can be used independently or in a small group and the children have to record something to show me what they have learned.  Does this take the place of Inquiry Learning–No!, but the first part of the center (15 minutes) allows for that self-dicovery in a guided way, and then the children record what they have learned.  Here are several pictures of some of the centers I have finished (minus the recording sheets-which store inside each bag/folder).