From the time children are very young through adulthood they’ll love making scrapbooks because it’s simply a lot of fun. Kids naturally love cutting, pasting and making colorful projects so it’s not difficult to get them to participate. And it’s not just the girls who enjoy it since boys also love to create. Children will get the most enjoyment out of having some friends in on the project as well. They can each do a book of their own or pitch in on one book. Separate books are best so that each can take their project home. Talk about starting the scrapbook for a week or so to allow plenty of time for the children to round up photos, school awards, A+ papers, and other worthy materials.
Try to help the child decide on the theme of the scrapbook. Sports, school, family or friends are good beginning themes. Other good ideas are a particular vacation the child really enjoyed, a birthday party, or a day at the zoo or circus. Let them choose the items that will go in the book. To make the project even more fun allow the child to go with you as you get supplies. Let the child choose background papers, tags, stickers and some supplies. Suggest things that kids really like working with: yarn and ribbon for borders, foam pieces, animal punch-outs and other fun additives. You can steer them in the right direction by suggesting some supplies which will look good with certain pictures. It takes a long time to accumulate all the items needed to make a perfect scrapbook. Decide if you will purchase just enough for the child to complete a project in an afternoon or if it will be ongoing. Ongoing projects encourage the child in a hobby and teach them patience whereas an afternoon project is a better choice for very young kids.
While organizing the photos and other supplies reminisce and laugh with the child about what was happening at the time of each photo. Let the child arrange the photos and other collectibles in the manner he or she wishes. Their idea of arrangements and yours may be different but resist the urge to “correct” things.
Kids love stickers so supply plenty of them for the project. Make sure you have a few sheets of letter and number stickers to make it easier for the child to spell out words or number pages. Scissors that leave a design when they cut are favorites of children as well. If they’re not old enough you can do the cutting for them. Buy glue sticks since they are much easier for kids to handle than traditional adhesives. A paper punch is a handy tool that most kids can operate. They can punch out foil and paper then arrange the cut-outs how they wish. Get an ink pad and a few stamps so they can have even more fun stamping images on the pages of their album.
If the children are of an age where they can write and draw let them make their own tags. Even if it isn’t perfect the child will enjoy making as much of the scrapbook as possible by himself.
