Let Your Kids Make Their Own Scrapbook

Do your kids get in the way when you want to scrapbook? Children often want to mimic what we're doing, so give them their own supplies and let them make a scrapbook of their favorite things.

Collecting various items with your kids to put in their scrapbooking supply box can be a fun day by itself. When you're ready to work on your own scrapbooking projects, you won't have to spend time collecting the supplies for your kids.

Since the scrapbooks your toddler will make don't have to stand up to the test of time, it doesn't matter if the materials are lignin free, so use whatever materials you have on hand. Some things to gather for a child's scrapbooking stash might be:

Thin cardboard
Construction paper
Family photos
Old magazines
Leftover wallpaper or wallpaper border
Newspapers
Sale flyers/circulars
Toy store catalogs
Greeting cards
Stickers
Buttons
Scraps of Material
Bits of Lace
Markers/crayons
Non-toxic glue stick
Child-safe scissors

To save time on scrapbooking day, you may want to prepare the actual scrapbook foundation ahead of time. You can make a cover for your kid's scrapbook out of thin cardboard that is cut and folded to the desired size. Wallpaper or wallpaper border glued to the cardboard would make a pretty cover. If you don't have any from leftover DIY projects in the home, ask at your local paint store for their retired wallpaper sample books. The pages of the scrapbook can be made from construction paper.

Spend a rainy day with your toddler cutting out photos from magazines and toy catalogs and you'll have another step out of the way. Cutting words from newspapers can be turned into a homeschooling lesson on reading or spelling, and even current events for older children. Give your kids the photos that aren't good enough for your projects; it's a great way for kids to be reminded of family members they don't get to see often.

The idea is to have the scrapbooking tools ready so that your children can pick from items in their scrapbooking supply stash and glue them in place without needing a lot of help from you. On scrapbooking day, bring out your kids' supplies as you ready your own and let the little ones go to work gluing their favorite toys into their own scrapbook.

You may end up having as much fun as your kids.