Scrapbooking with the Kids

Yesterday, Cameron was bored. His brother had gone to a youth activity, so it was just me and Cam all day. We read, played games, did chores...and he was still bored. Anything I suggested, he didn't want to do. Finally, I asked him if he wanted to scrapbook with me. "Sure, I guess." he said.



Now, I have to admit that scrapping with the kids isn't always that easy for me.
Problem #1: I'm a perfectionist. I really have a hard time stepping away and letting them do what they want.

Problem #2: One time, Cam was happy with slapping some pictures on a page and adding some doodles. But that was only one time (or maybe two...see the zoo pages below). Since he sees me scrapbooking almost everyday for assignments, he has decided he wants his pages to "look like Mom's." So here's some tricks I've learned to help the process along:

• I let them choose the pictures they want to scrap. Then I pick a few papers and embellishments that match and let them decide what they want to use. The fewer choices, the better!
• I find it easier for them to create a layout if they have a visual idea of what it could already look like. Usually we look through a magazine together until they see something they like. Then we scraplift.
• I have to turn my head the other way when it's time to attach pictures and titles. They are most likely going to turn out crooked and I have to let it be OK. (Really...it's OK)!
• I like to let the kids journal in their own handwriting. This makes the page that much more memorable in years to come.
• Last night, Cam wanted me to attach everything to the page for him, but I tried to have him help me with as much of the layout as he could. For example, I lined up the stamp but he pressed down on it. When punching holes, I held the setter while he pounded with the hammer. (Ouch!) He applied the adhesive to the different elements and I attached them to the page.
• Remember, kids always feel like it's their creation when they are involved in the process.
  

Here's what Cameron and I made last night:

He thought the flowers on this paper looked like the jungle, which went great with his jungle-themed birthday party.

We punched holes in the round frame with a hammer and eyelet setter. (He only hit my thumb once)! He stamped the "6" on the tag and wrote his name and the date.

This was the 2nd layout of the night. It was a scraplift from a Sande Krieger layout in the July 2009 Scrapbooks Etc. Cameron soon lost interest and wanted me to finish it for him. The little circles are punched from patterned paper with a 1" circle punch, then cut in half. Very easy!

Cameron was very excited that I was going to show you his birthday layouts and wondered if we could show all of the ones he has made over the years. So here we go!

In case you couldn't tell, these are from his trip to the zoo:


This was his first year of baseball. He liked the doodling best.


Taylor is older and sort of a perfectionist in his own way. Here's some pages he has made over the past few years.

Shooting BB Guns at Cub Scout Camp

Taylor wrote all the journaling about his favorites at age 9.

Taylor loves using my old Coluzzle alphabets. It makes it easy for him to cut out a title by himself. He also did all the stamping.

This was one of the 1st pages he ever made. The dinosaur is an overlay we created on the computer with clipart and a blank transparency.

Taylor made this page all by himself.

Taylor had drawn plans so his Dad would know how to cut out his derby car. We shrunk the image on the scanner and printed it out for his page.

Well, there you have it. Involving the kids in making their own scrapbooks can be a great boredom buster. And sometimes I have even learned some great design tricks from them!