Starting a summer journal with your kids is a really amazing activity to do with them and it can be so, so easy!
One of the things that makes this summer activity extra important is that it’s a great way to spend quality time with your kids, whether you’ve been with them all day or not.
Getting them into the habit of journaling is also really important because it’s such a great stress reliever and important skill to bring into adulthood…so why not start them young?
It will also be so much fun and provide great memories to look back on!
So DO IT THIS YEAR! Get your kids a notebook and use one of these easy journal ideas to make it a daily endeavor:
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Draw a Picture of Their Day
All you need is a blank journal without lines (lots of scrap books are sold this way). Every day, have your child draw a picture of what they did!
This became something that my son looked forward to every single night and it was something that he didn’t need my help for, which is something we both loved.
This is a GREAT idea for a first journal for kids and a fun way to get them excited about journaling. It will also become a really great keepsake!
Photo-a-Day Journal
This is another journal idea that we’ve done as a family and it was a WILD success.
With young children you may need to help them out, but for any child that has their own phone or camera, this is an amazing journal idea that you’ll cherish forever.
For this journal, all you need to do is make sure you take at least 1 picture every day. If it can be reflective of what you’ve done, then even better! But really, any picture will do.
At the end of the summer, you can use a site like Shutterfly to create a beautiful journal that documents each and every day of their extended break!
When we’ve done it, we’ve only used the pictures, but Shutterfly will also allow you to add text to your journal, so you could also add captions if you want to elaborate even more.
Gratitude Journal
Gratitude journals have been proven time and again to have such a huge impact on overall happiness and well-being…so why not start them young??
This is such an easy journal idea for kids and a really amazing habit to get them into…and all they need to do is make a list of the things they’re grateful for!
If you really want things to be simple, you can purchase this gratitude journal for kids that will provide them prompts for every single day.
But you can also just let them pick out a cute notebook that they can write in every night (or morning) to list what they’re grateful for.
*For young children, you can also have them draw a picture of what they’re grateful for! This will have the exact same effect and you can start them even younger.
5 Minute Journal for Kids
This 5-minute Journal for Kids is based off of the life-changing 5-minute Journal for Adults and it incorporates a few of the concepts above.
What is great about this journal is that it provides specific prompts everyday so you don’t have to do any brainstorming…and the prompts are proven to make a difference, so it’s a really great way to end your day!
This is a really amazing journal for kids (the adult version is equally amazing) and it’s so easy to add to your day, so you really have nothing to lose from this and a whole lot to gain! I can’t recommend this one enough.
Scrapbook Journaling
Getting your kids started with a scrapbook is a great way to build a love for journaling!
Scrapbook journaling is simple – they write, color, or create every single day, but what they do is completely up to them.
They can draw something that happened that day, tape keepsakes like tickets, shells, or photos, or just write about what they’ve done.
This is a great way to keep kids excited because you can add things like stickers, paint, and polaroid photos, so everyday can feel new and different.
I hope you end up getting a summer journal for your kids this year! It will be a really fun tradition to start and can provide some really amazing memories.
Good luck!
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