Scrapbooking Fun with Kids

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Full disclosure: I am not crafty nor have I ever made an attempt before at scrapbooking!  Yes I am writing this as a total newbie Scrapbooker! What motivated me to take a stab at this was two things. For one, my kids love to do crafts and second, they absolutely love looking at their baby pictures.

So only a few sentences in and I’m about to make a second confession: I don’t have baby albums for my kids! I felt like I have failed my kids in not having any baby albums to show them where we can curl up on the couch and reminisce over how adorably cute they were (and they still are so very adorable today).

I have taken so many pictures of my kids over the course of 9 years; millions and millions of photos in cute outfits, of them sleeping, eating, crawling, drooling and the list goes on and on.

We take so many more pictures these days than our parents ever did. We all always have our cell phones aimed and ready to snap the perfect picture. But once that memory is snapped we either post it on our social media, or if you don’t post your pictures for the world to see, all of our memories end up flouting on a “cloud” or trapped on an old cell phone with pictures forgotten to be uploaded.  People probably only develop a small fraction of the pictures they have actually taken.

Why should I start Scrapbooking?

Scrapbooking is a way to preserve memories and display them in a creative way.  I came to a realization that I didn’t want to just have boxes of pictures to pass on to my kids. I also knew that this could be a start of a new hobby to pick up along with my kids.  It looked like an activity that we could all enjoy together. I hope we will continue to do for as long as we are taking pictures and making memories.

Here is a list of reasons why you should start scrapbooking today:

1. Its Relaxing

Scrapbooking is an activity you can enjoy doing on your own or with family and friends. It’s a very relaxing activity which can be done while listening to music, audible books, watching TV or even talking to family and friends. Its an activity which can take you out of a stressful day and bring you back to a wonderful celebration you had with friends, or a vacation you took years ago.

2. Its Great for Storytelling

A Picture is worth a thousand words. Your photos hold a much bigger value when there are words attached to them. The photos are no longer just random pictures you took, but stories you can tell to your family for generations to come. You are leaving a lasting memory of yourself and your family members.

3. Helps Strengthen Relationships

Spending time in creating a scrapbook by selecting pictures of family members and friends is a great reminder of the bond you have with them.  Sharing your album can help strengthen relationships as it helps people realize the importance they have in your life.

4. Gratitude

By documenting all the fun and wonderful memories in your life, with the people that you love, it’s a great reminder to be grateful for all that you have.

5. Its a Great Creative Activity

I love this activity for the kids because it allows them to be creative with their designs and how they present a picture. I also find it to be a nice creative outlet for myself as well.

What Supplies Do You Need for Scrapbooking?

If you ever saw a scrapbook before, you would have noticed that it involves time, creative personal touches, and supplies. If you have never attempted to do a scrapbook you might feel lost and not know where to start. The very basic, must have supplies you need are:

• album
• scissors
• adhesive or glue
• cardstock
• different colored pens

The nice-to-have supplies would be the extra embellishments like stickers and jewels to add more flair. I’m sure there are many more supplies available for expert scrapbookers. It all depends on the amount of time and money you would like to invest in your album.

How to Get Started on Scrapbooking with Kids

1. Consider Using a Scrapbook Kit for Kids

I decided it would be best to buy a scrapbook kit and save myself the time of trying to figure out what supplies to get.  This is where Alex D.I.Y. Groovy Scrapbook comes in to save the day. This is a fabulous scrapbooking kit that has everything you would want to start. It was great for me as I didn’t have to purchase any supplies other than provide the photos.

The kit came fully equipped with a hard cover album, decorative paper with cool designs, stickers, stencils, ribbons, gems, glue sticks, colored tape and even scissors (to be exact it came with 453 scrapbooking essentials). The kit also gives you an instructional manual on how all the items can be used to make your scrapbook beautiful. Alex D.I.Y is a wonderful starter kit and if you find that you enjoy scrapbooking you can always head to the craft store to find more supplies that speak to you.

Here are some more scrapbook kit options:

2. Search, Gather and Print Pictures

Let the kids pick their favorite picture and mementos. You could also round up any of their achievements and artwork that they can incorporate.

3. Talk About Organization

Discuss how the kids would like to plan out their pictures and designs such as starting with baby pictures first and doing each year by age. Or would they prefer to have a separate section for holidays and vacations, separate sections for birthdays etc.

Scrapbook Ideas for Kids

• Separate sections by age from infancy to each academic school year
• Favorite family pictures
• Birthday parties
• Best vacations
• Pictures of extra-curricular activities like sports or dance
• Pictures with friends and pets
• Favorite holiday pictures and events

What Age Should I Introduce Scrapbooking to My Child?

The age recommendation on the Alex D.I. Y Scrapbooking kit is age 6 and up.  But honestly, I would not hand this over to a six year old child unless you are prepared to completely chaperone this entire project or unless you have an extremely organized crafty 6 year old child! Personally if I gave this to my kids at the age of six, the entire book would have been completed in 30 minutes with random pictures in no particular order and with glitter glue oozing out of the album.

I think the right recommended age for this scrapbook kit should have been age 9 and up, as I think that an older child would definitely take more time and thoughtfully personalize the scrapbook that they would be proud of later on in life. But, that is just my opinion. If you already are a scrapbooker yourself, try to involve your child in assisting you and see if this is something they enjoy doing.

How Long Does it Take to Make a Scrapbook?

This is not something you would want to rush through. Scrapbooking is considered a hobby, so I would recommend you do it until you feel happy with your work. The Alex D.I Y kit came with an album which has 48 pages and we do about 4 pages in one day (which takes us about 1.5 hours).

Some people might get more done if they are organized with their pictures but I find that an hour to 2 hours is the perfect amount of time for me and my kids to have fun being creative and enjoy each other’s company while looking at old family photos. We love to do our scrapbooking on weekends or whenever the desire to be creative and crafty strikes us. 

What is Digital Scrapbooking?

Digital scrapbooking is using a personal computer and digital or scanned photos and presenting them using various graphics and artwork provided in computer graphics software.

This is a recent trend that people are enjoying.  Pages can be more easily shared online, as well as printed out with interesting graphics.  But I don’t think it would be as fun to sit around the computer with the kids and work on a scrapbook this way. Of course it would just add more screen time as well!

Scrapbooking is fun activity to do together with the kids. They love looking at their baby pictures, listening to stories and remembering some of our fun family moments! Their personal albums will be a great keepsake for them.

If you are looking for more fun family activities, take a look at Tips for the Perfect Family Game Night and Family Fun Night at Home Ideas.