Halloween is one of the most highly anticipated holidays of the year for children of all ages. Help your children remember the joy of this time of year by creating scrapbook albums together. Scrapbooking is a fun and easy way to keep memories alive for years to come. What is now a simple project will someday be a treasured keepsake.
Building the Album
Some people enjoy purchasing scrapbook albums while others prefer to make their own. There is no right or wrong when it comes to deciding which type of album to use. There are many beautiful albums that are available for purchase. However, a good project for children begins with making their own album.
A three-ring binder can be purchased inexpensively at any discount store. Choose from Halloween colors like black, orange, lime green, or purple. Have children go through fall magazines and cut out their favorite spooky images. These can then be placed on the binder using craft glue. Once the child has a look that he or she likes, the images should be covered in the craft glue again before being allowed to dry for up to two days.
Some may wish to cover the exterior of the binder with clear contact paper so that years of wear do not begin to remove the images. Of course, children do not need to be limited to pictures from magazines. They can draw their own pictures or can use print-outs of pictures of themselves from Halloweens of the past.
Individual Pages
The really fun part of scrapbooking is the individual pages. On these pages, children can truly let their imaginations come to life. Halloween themed scrapbook paper is widely available in multiple sizes. For most three-ring binders, the appropriate size of paper will be 8.5 x 11. Children may prefer to have blank pages or those that are decorated, though an assortment of styles and colors usually make the most impressive display.
Kids can then go through their photographs and choose the ones that they like best. Let your children create an entire page for a photo they particularly love. Share with them how multiple photos can be grouped together as well. When they settle on their selection of photos, help them find the best paper to match the scene. Show them how the hues from the photographs complement the colors of certain papers and contrast with those of others.
Trick Or Treat (Photo credit: debbiepiercey)
After the photos are in place, children can decorate pages with adornments. They can use the stickers, buttons, and ribbons that are traditional with scrapbook pages. They can also use some of their own unique finds. Perhaps a child would like to decorate a page with candy wrappers, fall leaves, or personal drawings. These options are perfectly acceptable. After all, scrapbook pages should be unique. There is no better way to make an album completely original than to let a child’s imagination run free.
Scrapbooking for Halloween is a project that parents and children can enjoy together. This hobby can turn into a lifelong tradition. The secret is to make sure that this fun project is light-hearted and stress-free. Children may even begin to look forward to the scrapbook as much as costumes and trick-or-treating.
About this guest blog post: Brianna Kelly has over 5 years experience publishing articles on childcare education and parenting. She writes on a regular basis for Giraffe Childcare, a Dublin childcare provider with 18 locations.
