Memory Books

One of the parents (RD) on one of the last days had called these a "yearbook," 

 and I thought it was a perfect name for these memory books.  They really are yearbooks, and thinking on it, the children probably would have loved passing them around to their friends and signing their names.

Back in May we did bubble painting on a heavy watercolor paper.  It was a fun experiment and had a beautiful result, here is the link to that project in case you missed it: http://www.artandsoulpreschool.blogspot.com/2013/04/being-blown-away.html

The children then used these painting as the cover for their memory books.

Some who missed that project painted their backgrounds

I printed out 10-12 pictures of each child over the year, there were so many to pick from it was hard to narrow it down.  They looked through their pictures and began to tell stories about their memories of the pictures, what their favorite experiments and projects were, and laughed and commented on pictures of themselves with friends.  I asked them to pick their favorite for the covers, and  I was surprised to see the photos they chose as the one they wanted to feature on the cover.

After they chose their cover picture, they then got to work gluing in the rest of their pictures. Their papers were not yet stapled together, next time I think I would do that first.  I had wanted them to sew the papers in as we have done in the past, but we were running short on time. I learned my lesson; papers, photos and glue were going everywhere, it was a whirlwind, but even in the chaos of it all you could tell the kids were loving being present with all these photos and memories. The pictures really honored their experiences throughout the year, and them as individuals.

After the pictures were glued in, the children spent several days drawing in their books and

spending some more time with the pictures.  Many of the drawings featured parents and siblings.  

 When they began to run out of ideas of what they would like to draw in their books, they were asked if they would like to do a drawing of some of the pictures in the book.  This idea was met with much enthusiasm and once again they blew me away with their renderings of the photographs.

I love these two different takes on the same picture.

They are such a fun book to have and save for when they are older.  I believe that through this process of revisiting the pictures, talking about the experiences in the pictures, drawing the moments captured, and later looking at the books will really solidify a memory of childhood for them for the future.