Summer is just around the corner and my kid’s are super excited! They love letting their mind’s rest a bit and recuperating from a full school and sports schedule. Of course as a mom, I enjoy keeping them working and thinking, so I do what any parent would…sneak it in! Haha! Handwriting seems to be an area that my children could always use some improvement in, so by giving them fun handmade summer journals they are able to be creative and work on their handwriting at the same time. Not to mention that these summer journals become amazing keepsakes to look back on years from now. It’s always great to see your vacations or day to day activities through the eyes of a child.
I got the idea to make a summer journal from J and A and Company slightly modifying it to fit our needs. I went to my local dollar store to pick up most of my supplies and was able to find disposable cameras for about $5 each at Walmart.
You will need a writing pad (I chose to use one with space for their pictures – it is a K-2 grade pad), pens or pencils, disposable camera, scrapbook paper, glue and a small amount of elastic or ribbon.
Using scrapbook paper and glue, cover the front of the writing pad. I also chose to cover the inside front and back as well as the back cover. Sew or glue together the ends of elastic or ribbon to wrap around the book. This will serve as a pencil holder as well as a bookmark to keep their spot. I tied the disposable cameras onto the elastic with a small piece of coordinating ribbon.
On the inside cover add a small envelope holding stickers and embellishments or photo corners. My kids love to decorate their artwork, so this was a great solution for them to have options and to really personalize their writings.
I explained to my kiddos that they should take one picture for each day of the summer and write one journal entry about their picture. It could be what they did that day, a pretty bird, something funny that they saw, and so on. We will have the photos developed at the end of the summer and they will perfectly fit on the top of the section of the page in their writing pads. I should mention that my four year old is not quite writing much more than her name yet, so I bought her a drawing pad so that she could draw a picture explaining her photos.
We started our summer journals slightly early as we are on a quick vacation this weekend. If you follow along on Instagram or Twitter you may have seen me post a few pictures of my own. The kids were super excited, not only to have a personalized journal, but to be able to take photos of whatever they choose! They love them and have written two entries each as of this posting. I adore that they will be working and practicing and learning all summer while having fun and being creative!
Do you have any tips or tricks to keeping your kids actively learning during the summer? I’d love to hear them!
And if you are looking to add a fun vaca of your own to journal writings, make sure to enter to win a trip for four!
Linked at Practically Functional
What a great idea, I love it! Just stopping by to pin this and let you know I featured it on my blog today! Thanks for sharing at the Creativity Unleashed link party!
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Thanks so much, Jessi!