If you like this post on DIY Kids Summer Journal Ideas you may also like this post on 25 DIY Gifts for Father’s Day or this post on Instagram Photo Album Ideas.
Hello! Today I’ll be appearing on WDRB in Louisville at 8:15 am (Eastern) chatting about some ideas to keep kids busy during the summer! I’ll come back and add the link to the video to the post later today.
Last year I shared this tutorial for a DIY Kids Summer Journal and it’s been so popular that I thought you guys might like a few more ideas for similar projects.
The idea behind these journals came from my insistence that my kids sit down and write a few minutes each night when we are on family vacations. They were so young and I was afraid that they would forget many of the things that they saw and experienced on vacation.
They were at times “less than pleased” as you can imagine and I thought anything that I could do to encourage them to sit down and write would be helpful. To make the summer journals a bit more fun, I glued maps of where we were visiting on vacation to the front of composition notebooks and added a custom “Adventure is Out There” tag to the front.
You can download the tags for free on the Templates page.
I’m sure you’ve got an old map in your car that would be perfect for this project.
I know how easy it is to let kids slip into routines in the summer that don’t involve reading or writing. I also know how important it is for kids to keep reading and writing in the summer. One of my kids has a learning disability and the possibility of the “summer slide” is always on my mind.
For these coloring book summer journals instead of gluing a map to the front of a composition notebook I glued coloring book pages! This project would be especially good for younger kids and would make a great notebook to take on a road trip.
For directions on how to glue the coloring book pages to the front of the composition notebook check out this tutorial for detailed instructions.
These would also make really cute gifts! Just package them up with some fresh crayons and sharpened pencils! The kids can color the front and back covers of the journal before they start writing in it.
You can find free Disney Coloring pages online, or you can just use a few pages from a coloring book that you already have.
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My kids are grown now but they love going back and reading through travel journals—and other writing projects—-they worked on–even though they weren’t happy at the time to do it~! Never pass up a learning opportunity—someday they will thank you!!!!!!
We found one of my daughters kindergarten journals the other day and got such a kick out of reading it. I was so grateful that her teachers had her journal everyday, it’s such a blessing to have all of those memories on paper.