A keepsake journal triples as travel entertainment, art preservation, and a grandparent gift

Jennifer's smart, simple idea for capturing some of her daughter's spontaneous art:

My four year-old loves to draw and color. I found one way to preserve her art -- by giving her a journal book full of blank pages. We take her book and crayons everywhere: restaurants, traveling, even shopping. It's portable and a great keepsake once she fills it up. Then I date it and store it or send it to the grandparents as a gift.

I'm a regular user of Moleskine notebooks -- the paper is lovely and smooth and they take a serious beating. They'd be great for this sort of thing.

Related:
Preserve kid art in decoupage
Kid art as wrapping paper

Comments

[Kelly]

Love this idea! I'm huge into journals myself, why not get my daughter started?! :) Thanks!

[Kaye]

Love, love this idea. And what's crazy? I work for a company that makes journals, so I have access readily available! Why didn't I think of this?! Thanks for the great tip!

[Katy]

Before my children were old enough to write, they journal our vacations with pictures. At the end of the day, they draw the day's events. I write in the caption and label particular scenes in case we don't recognize what the it depicts!

[phyllis]

this is a great idea. *and* i just saw a bunch of these on sale at b&n...good for stocking up!

[Mephala]

That's a great idea! We already have our son draw in his own art book but we will buy some nice journals for him to make gift books. :D

[Meagan]

As fast as kids go through paper though, I'd suggest something cheaper than a moleskin.

[K & A]

Great idea! My grandaughter, Kaitlyn, does this and I have Volume 1.

[K & A]

Great idea! My grandaughter, Kaitlyn, does this and I have Volume 1.

[Parent Hacks Editor]

Meagan: True -- I'm just thinking for archival purposes if one wants these notebooks to last for a long time.