Back to School Time Capsule Journal Craft

As your children get ready to head back to school this fall, take some time as a family to record memories and laughs in a time capsule journal. This simple craft can be as creative or unique as your child's imaginations and serves as a memory keepsake your child can add to each year. By the time your kids graduate from high school, their time capsule journals will be cherished records of their likes, dislikes, sports and funny memories.

First, keep this craft eco friendly and green by using materials already available in your home. You'd be surprised how many materials are perfect for this back to school craft when you scour your desks and storage bins before heading to the craft store. Look for a three-ring binder to serve as the base for your time capsule journal craft. Then gather some construction paper in both colors and plain neutrals, page protectors with three-ring holes, and photo album phages with three-ring holes.

Next, begin gathering scraps to decorate the time capsule journal. Paints, colorful paper or cloth scraps, patches, stickers and photos are perfect for decorating. Choose a photo of your child or family to place on the front of the binder. Use paint to write "Time Capsule" and your child's name and finish decorating the front.

Now, choose a piece of construction paper as the first page. Help your child decorate the time capsule journal page with current photos and their likes, dislikes, goals, dreams and fears about the upcoming school year. Include a page with their favorite memories from the previous school year and photos.

Examples of pages and sections to include in your child's time capsule craft could be:

School sports your child is looking forward to playing in the new school year, a photo or drawing of your child in her back to school outfit to wear the first day of school, a list of your child's favorite and least favorite school subjects, or illustrations of what your child is most excited about and most afraid of when starting the new school year. Be sure to include pages for the things that happened during the summer. Make copies of photos from family vacation, summer camp, or Bible school. Include postcards your child received from friends or purchased during vacation. Let your child cut out pictures from current entertainment magazines to record what her favorite movies, t.v. shows, songs and games were over the summer.

For other decorations and craft touches in your child's back to school time capsule journal craft, include painted handprints and bare footprints so your child can see how he has grown over the years. Press flowers or leaves and glue small pebbles, shells, or beach sand to the vacation scrap book pages.

Don't forget to record your children's friends as well. Set up a fun digital photo shoot of your child with their best summer pals or let your child draw portraits of them with their friends. When including photos, make a variety of copies in black and white and sepia along with the color to keep the time capsule journal visually interesting.

Once your child has finished decorating the pages for this year's addition to the back to school time capsule journal, slide them into plastic page protectors and snap them into the three ring binder. Include extra photo in three-ring photo pages. Your child's back to school time capsule section could be one to five (or more) pages each year. Let your child include as much as they want. Next summer, as you get ready for back to school, pull out the time capsule and talk about what your children included. Talk about whether they achieved the goals they set, want to play the same sports, and how they dealt with the things they were nervous about. Then, start over with a new section for the upcoming year.