Making and Keeping Memories-School Year TIME CAPSULES

Early FAMILY FUN FRIDAY

I tried so hard to have this up yesterday. Just didn't happen. Better late than never.

Image Via Pinterest

Well, our new school year has started off with a bang. The kids had a great first day of school. Both of our kids changed schools this year.

Our daughter just started first grade and is in a French Immersion Program. Half of her school day is only in French (including Math). No English will be spoken by the teacher. She already came home after the first day, spitting out French phrases and introductions. Little minds are amazing.

I can't get over how fast our lives are changing and our kids are growing. I am sure I just got married. Actually, I still feel like I am 19. But I am not. 10 years of marriage and 4 kids later, life is flying by and sometimes I don't feel like I am making time to document the growth and changes. So I am changing that.

Here is a great little family activity, perfect for the start of a new school year. It will help you keep track of your children's growth, without taking a lot of time or resources. And your kids will love it. Don't worry if school has already started. There is plenty of time and your kids will still be very willing.

SCHOOL YEAR TIME CAPSULES

The idea is to document the small things about your child that will change over the next school year. Things like height, weight, likes and dislikes, even handwriting. 

You don't need much.

A container

Rope or string or ribbon

Paper

Pens/Pencils

Camera

First...decide what you want each child to keep their capsule in. Our daughter is going to use a Mason jar, our son chose an old shoe box, our youngest is going to use a #10 can. (Even though she is not in school, she doesn't want to be left out. :)

HEIGHT

Have your child stand up against a wall and lightly mark how tall they are. THEN...take your rope/string/ribbon and stretch it the length of your measurement. Cut the string to the right height length, and put it in your time capsule. They will love getting it out at the end of the school year and seeing how tall they have grown. 

WEIGHT

Write down how much your child weights. If you don't know, don't worry, skip this one.

LIKES/DISLIKES

On a piece of paper, have your child write down the following... 

favorite color

favorite meal

favorite fruit

favorite vegetable

favorite activity

least favorite food

favorite tv show

favorite movie

favorite book

favorite subject in school

favorite friend

favorite snack

favorite shirt/pants/shoes

favorite toy

You get the point. Add your own to the list. 

(I need to learn to make printable pdf's for you and then you could print off a template. I will put it on my to-do list)

GOALS

Have your child write down 3 goals they have for this school year. At the end of the year you can see if they accomplished those goals. 

HANDWRITING

Have your child write their name. For even more fun. Have them write it on a piece of paper/chalkboard/whiteboard and then take of picture of them holding the piece of paper up. This way you will have a picture of them and see what their writing was like. It will be fun to see how their writing has changed at the end of the school year.

TRACE HANDS/FEET

Trace your children's hands. Include the tracing in the capsule. Your kids will love to see how their hands have grown. We like to include feet also. 

PICTURE

If you took a picture of your child holding up their name, then you can use that as your picture. If not, you probably took a picture the first day of school. Add a picture to the time capsule and you are set. 

Once you have everything filled out and gathered, put it in your container of choice and seal it up. We have thought about burying ours in the backyard, but that is still up for debate. just tuck them away until the end of school. 

It will be so fun to have a special START OF SUMMER PARTY next year when we open them up and see how the kids have grown and changed. 

THE ULTIMATE GOAL

We have decided that we are going to do this every year until they graduate from high school. I will keep every year in a special box and when they graduate, we will have a nice little history. Our own way of keeping a journal. And each child's can be stored in a very small container because there is nothing bulky or big about what we are storing.

Simple, fun, and memorable. It doesn't get better than that. 

How do you keep your memories?

How do you ring in the new school year?