Your child's first day of kindergarten scrapbook is one that she will pass on to her own child someday, so you want it to be exceptional. You can easily fill an entire first day of kindergarten scrapbook with treasured memories that your child will appreciate for the rest of her life.
Organize Your Photos and Mementos
Plan ahead and organize well. Scan each page as you create it (when making a traditional paper scrapbook) so you can share your child's memories of her first day of school with your friends and family. This keepsake is one that everyone can enjoy for years to come.
- If you already have your photos, gather them on your computer desktop (for digital scrapbooking) or lay them on a table. Include any mementos from this special day, such as drawings. You can refer back to your photos to help plan your layouts.
- Group your photos and mementos into subjects. For example you can categorize your child's school bus, friends, classroom, school work, and recess or play time in chronological order.
- Place keepsakes from this day in a shoebox to scan or add directly to your scrapbook.
Plan the Color Scheme and Elements
- Review your photo groups and decide whether you want a single color theme for your scrapbook, or want your colors to be varied and based on individual photos.
- Choose several papers and embellishments to coordinate with the theme you selected. If your child's first day of kindergarten was on a brisk, windy day, then scrapbook elements that include autumn colors, leaves, and apples to give your scrapbook a classic back-to-school look. On the other hand, if your daughter insisted on wearing only pink clothing, you may want to emphasize her style with pastel colors and gem embellishments.
- Ask your child to help plan her scrapbook. She will appreciate it even more in the days and years to come if you include her in the process.
Journal Your Precious Memories
Documenting this auspicious day in your child's life is especially important. Use these tips so you don't forget a single moment:
- Fill several journaling papers with your child's memories of her first day. Be sure to include your memories and thoughts.
- Ask friends and relatives to add their thoughts and wishes for your child and include these along with a current photo of the person quoted.
- Make a journal page for every page of photos you use. Years from now, you will be glad that you the extra time to do this.
First Day of Kindergarten Scrapbook Ideas
As you gather photos and mementos for this special scrapbook, remember that too much is better than too little. You can always remove a page, a photo, or an item, but you can't go back and capture lost memories if you don't document them.
Here are more ideas to help you make a one-of-a-kind scrapbook for your child:
- Include copies of everything you can think of that relate to your child's first day of kindergarten, even the front page of your local paper and a list of the top 40 songs and bestselling books for that week.
- Leave an extra plastic-pocket page empty and enclose fabric swatches from the clothing that your child wore on her first day of school after she outgrows the clothing.
- Cut a small locket of your child's hair and tape it to a page, either from an inconspicuous place at the base of her neck, or after her next haircut.
- Measure and weigh your child on the first day of kindergarten, then write this data on a scrapbook page with a photo of her stretching in an effort to be as tall as she can.
- After school, ask your child to paint her hand with finger paints and add a hand print to her scrapbook. Virtually no child will object to participating in this fun project.
- Include photos of and journaling about siblings and friends in the scrapbook. It will help your child to remember her first day of kindergarten in greater detail later on.
- Create a page that summarizes the important events of this day to include in a scrapbook of your child's entire school scrapbook album, and one for an end-of-school-year memory book to show how much she's grown.
- Include the book cover from your child's favorite book on her first day of kindergarten, or scan a page from her book and print it for the scrapbook.
- Scan any items that you can't literally add to the book for a rich, in-depth document of this day.
After you have reviewed these ideas and have decided on your color scheme and elements, roughly plan your page layouts based on your groupings, and begin creating your child's beautiful first day of kindergarten scrapbook. Take extra care to keep all elements well-protected and acid-free, and your loving creation will become a treasured family heirloom. Your child will always be reminded of how much you love her when she looks at her scrapbook, which is what scrapbooking is all about.
