Letter from the Editor

Now, All Too Soon, Is This Bright Summer Ended?



It is the end of summer. A time for your children to get back to school again! It seems that summer break is always too short, and it flies by before we realize it. Are your children ready to go back to school? Are they moving to the next level of education when the new semester starts? Or have you just relocated to a new place and your children will be "new kids on the block?" If you are concerned about how to prepare your children for these different life transitions, I would like to invite you to visit the Resources for Parents Section of our fall 2002 issue. There are several types of materials, such as websites, organizations and their contact information, and a list of books to help prepare you as well as your children adjust to a new semester, new school, or a new level of education.

Before moving on, is there anything from the summer that you would like to save as a keepsake? For this issue, we would like to share the idea of making a family scrapbook, which hopefully will help you to keep the memory of summer throughout the coming year.

Here Is How You Go About Creating a Family Scrapbook

Materials Needed

1. Photos, brochures, admission tickets, birthday invitation cards, and any artifacts that you collect that represent your family activities during the summer
2. Construction paper, color paper, and writing surface of different texture, sizes, and colors
3. Stapler and staples
4. Scissors and other cutting tools
5. Glue stick and tapes
6. Writing tools, such as marker, colored pencil, etc.


Suggestions and Procedures

a. Discuss the project with your children before you begin. You may want to create the scrapbook in terms of a theme (family members, a trip to the beach, or neighborhood friends) or chronological order. Select and sort your artifacts accordingly.

b. After selecting all of the artifacts you need, discuss with the children how to design the layout and how to arrange different artifacts on the paper. For younger children, you may need to help them with cutting and gluing. Cut and paste the design on the paper. Leave some space for writing, if you and your children decide to annotate the pages. Annotations might include:

"What would I like to title this page?"
"Who is in the page?"
"What are these people doing?"
"What is fun about this page?", etc
"How do I feel about a particular artifact I put in the book?" etc. . .

c. When you have finished all of the pages you have planned, staple them together, and you and your children will have your very own "Family Summer Fun Scrapbook, 2003." I hope you enjoy this project.

For more tips and ideas about scrapbooks, you may also wish to visit the following websites:

Some sample pages of a scrapbook

Tips on Creating an Archival Scrapbook or Photo Album

Unicorn Art's Favorite Scrapbook Page

Have fun and keep all your sweet memories forever!


back to Parents and Children Together Online Issue 7

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