Guest Author - Kimberly Misra
Keeping a travel scrapbook is a wonderful way to get kids excited about vacation, keep them entertained en-route, and help them remember their trip once they get home. The scrapbook can be a blank sketchbook, a purchased travel scrapbook (see resources below), or just paper stapled together or placed in a 3-ring binder. Your kids can bring their scrapbooks on vacation to record events or leave them at home to fill in later. While youre on vacation, tell kids to be on the lookout for things they could save for their scrapbook. Some possibilities include:
Photos of the hotel, the room/bed they slept in, a special park they enjoyed, the airplane, rental car, favorite souvenirs, and anything else they can think of
Ticket stubs, receipts, or boarding passes
Menus from favorite restaurants, a clean napkin with a logo, the fancy toothpick that came with their sandwich
Postcards
Business cards from favorite gift shops or hotels
Tourist brochures: great for cutting up and gluing into a scrapbook
Natural items they found: flowers, neat leaves, sand from the beach
Souvenirs: bumper stickers, souvenir pennies, decals
Anything else that catches their fancy
If your children take their scrapbooks on vacation, they can record the days happenings travel-diary fashion, along with drawings of what theyve seen. Young children may enjoy dictating their memories to you each night; their thoughts will be priceless to read as they get older. When you return home, let the kids embellish their scrapbooks with items collected from around the house or from a craft store. Check out the scrapbooking aisle of your craft store, youll find a large selection of themed papers and other items for your travel scrapbooks. Some things to consider:
Hole punches: Plain and fancy, many shapes are available
Stamps and stencils
Glue sticks
Scissors
Double stick tape
Coloring supplies: Crayons, colored pencils, markers, fancy pens
Stickers: Look for some that remind you of your trip. Perhaps fish stickers for a trip that included snorkeling, animal stickers for a zoo trip, or seashell stickers for a beach vacation.
Sequins, glitter, foam shapes, ribbon, or whatever else catches your fancy.
After you collect all your materials, set them out and let your kids go to work. Travel scrapbooks make wonderful keepsakes to show relatives and friends and to reminisce over in the years to come.
