Searching for Spring: Book-Making with Kids

Last week, during one of those gorgeous 70 degree days, we decided to head out to a favorite park and spend the afternoon there. Being a shutterbug, I grabbed my pocket camera, some snacks for the kids, and sunscreen.

We started out in the usual spot.... playing on playground equipment. But the park we chose had gorgeous scenery all around, so we decided to hike for a bit and “look for spring”. My three year old and his twenty one month old sister were up for the challenge, and when my preschooler wanted me to take a picture of his first “find”, an idea was born.

I started snapping photos of every sign of spring they discovered... from the puddles on the ground, to the gorgeous spreading tree starting to green up. Once they knew their observations were being recorded, they were really motivated to find more. It sparked great conversations about what was and what wasn’t a sign of spring (we decided the many cars in the parking lot were a sign of spring, but trash on the ground might be a bit of a stretch).

If I had planned ahead, I’d have also brought along our trusty clipboard and some drawing/writing tools... my preschooler loves to be the scientist, recording what he sees. But we relied upon our photos and memories of the day, of which there were many. We saw dogs splashing in the creek, found a worm on the sliding board, chased after some butterflies, discovered flowers and seedlings, couldn’t shake our shadows, and even tracked fish in the fast-moving stream.

Once we returned home, we put the pictures to work; my preschooler and I set about creating the photo book. Since our pictures seemed publish-wort

hy, we opted for a photo book from an online shop. Many online photo printers now have book-making options... artscow, shutterfly, picaboo, and snapfish come to mind. These companies provide software and templates (just add photos and text) that make book-making a snap. Ours took about an hour total to complete.

We went through the pictures on the computer together, sorted them into categories, and then started telling our story. My three year old was more than happy to narrate the entire book himself, but we made sure to put some quotes from our toddler in as well.... my favorite being, “yook mommy, fwowa!” (Translation: Look Mommy, a flower!). Using their words and memories really made the book come to life.

We conducted our investigations at Valley Creek Park in Malvern because it is a lovely park and we had errands to run nearby, but this is a nice portable activity you can do just about anywhere. You could even repeat for all 4 seasons... publish your own family series! The only downfall has been a certain little boy requesting photo print-outs and homemade books about virtually everything he does, at which point I promptly introduced him to the additional wonders of the homemade book.

Cost for a 20 page 8 X 8 hardback book from artscow.com = $9.99

(These make great gifts for friends too!)