Summer Journaling
The unstructured days of summer can feel long at times! But, even if your kiddos attend day camps or care, there are still more hours of fun and daylight to fill. For the last three summers, we have found the perfect outlet to fill those long summer hours and document the activities and goals of each summer. Summer journaling! In our case, journaling is a little misleading as we focus more on pictures, stickers, and short captions, but the possibilities are endless.
Begin by purchasing a lined composition book- in most cases, we pay less than two dollars for them. Then hit up Walmart or hobby lobby and get some fun duct tape and stickers. Using your duct tape, customize the front outside cover of your journal. Then add your stickers, initials, or the year on top of the tape.
Because all the pieces and parts can get messy, we use little canvas totes to keep each kid’s supplies in. Our canvas totes each include the following: journal, pens, scissors, stickers, washi tape, colored paper, and glue. Each bag has a mini hot glue gun for a firm application that dries quickly, but a glue stick is sufficient for little kids.
The next steps and pictures are just recommendations- once you open your journal, it is yours to create!
We begin with a summer to-do list. This is a fun point of inspiration on lazy days, and you can check off and journal the tasks as you go. See this summer to-do list blog post for tons of ideas!
Once you’ve finished your own list, do a “last day of school” page. Feature a snap from the first day of school and as many as you want from the end of the year. Including the grade you completed and a list of friends or memories is a fun addition. Once this page is done, begin documenting your summer! We print off any picture that inspires us, whether it’s breakfast in bed or an exciting day at an amusement park.
When it comes to printing pictures, we do it every 4-5 days or after a big event. So find your closest Walgreens or photo printing spot and grab them on your way home. Walgreens almost always has codes for 40%-50% of your prints, so keep an eye out.
If you are looking for inexpensive “stickers,” grab magazines from around the house. For example, we kept an outdoor gear marketing magazine to cut out graphics for our recent hiking trip.
It’s fun to watch the journal fill up. Our girls pride themselves on a fat journal with lots of pictures and notes hanging out. Be bold with your cutting; this doesn’t require the same detail and attention as traditional scrapbooking. Little keepsakes, like movie tickets or wristbands from parks, are a wonderful addition!
We have found that all can enjoy summer journaling, from little kids with cute handwriting to a mom taking time to be crafty with the kiddos to college kids documenting a fun summer.
When it comes to printing pictures, we do it every 4-5 days or after a big event. So find your closest Walgreens or photo printing spot and grab them on your way home. Walgreens almost always has codes for 40%-50% of your prints, so keep an eye out.
If you are looking for inexpensive “stickers,” grab magazines from around the house. For example, we kept an outdoor gear marketing magazine to cut out graphics for our recent hiking trip.
It’s fun to watch the journal fill up. Our girls pride themselves on a fat journal with lots of pictures and notes hanging out. Be bold with your cutting; this doesn’t require the same detail and attention as traditional scrapbooking. Little keepsakes, like movie tickets or wristbands from parks, are a wonderful addition!
We have found that all can enjoy summer journaling, from little kids with cute handwriting to a mom taking time to be crafty with the kiddos to college kids documenting a fun summer.