Scrapping with kids!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Hi everyone…it’s Kylie and I’m here with a little scrapping inspiration from one of my very favourite people in the whole-wide-world…my six year old niece, Sophie!

Sophie, like many school-age children, is on school holidays right now and I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days with her recently. (Here in Australia, most schools are on a two-week winter break… and for the majority of our reader’s kids – it’s SUMMER VACATION time!!! YAY!) Are you currently on a ‘staycation’? Are the kids getting restless? Are you looking for fun activities for your kids to do in the comfort of your own home? Digital scrapbooking is something we all do and love here; why not share that joy with your kids…any time of year!

Children of all ages can get involved with scrapbooking – digital and/or paper, in some way, shape or form. In the most simple of terms, scrapping starts with a photo, a story and a little imagination! And when it comes to imagination, children never cease to amaze, do they?!! And, what child doesn’t enjoy creating their own work of art – whether that’s a simple drawing, painting or any other craft activity! So, why not let them try something new and steer some of that creative energy and talent into the world of scrapbooking. It is a fun way to spend time together… all the while, sharing one of your favourite hobbies (I’m sure they see you on the computer from time to time and wonder what it’s all about!), providing them with some new skills and, you never know, it may grow into a favourite hobby of their very own one day!

More and more these days, kids are very computer-savvy and generally pick up the basics of digital scrapping with ease… with a little guidance and patience, of course! ;o) Here are a few tips you may like to consider when starting out.

• Sit with them to begin with, either beside them, or if they are little have them sit on your lap…it is much easier if you both have easy access to the keyboard and mouse.
• Tailor to age group: Children at different ages have different capabilities. You don’t have to wait until they are ‘old enough’ to involve them in digital scrapbooking. Scrapbooking doesn’t have to be just about navigating the computer alone and creating a layout by themselves – or even a whole album. Break it down and introduce them slowly. If they are very young, just start by letting them pick out a photo that you can scrap… the colour scheme… some elements. You could let them “be the boss” and have them tell you where they want things to go. Let them have a go at clicking the mouse – it makes them feel very important… but pay close attention before your page disappears!! LOL! Talk about the photos, the memories, and the page – use what they tell you as journaling inspiration. Just asking their opinion is a nice little way to get them more involved and see if scrapbooking interests them in the first place.
• To template or not to template? Best to start simple! :o) Ask your child if they would like to start off with a basic template. Templates take the worry out of ‘designing’ a page and that way they can simply concentrate on the papers and elements. Although, you’ll probably find that most kids will want to start their page from scratch… allowing them total creative freedom. Giving them the option is the main thing here!
• One kit: Keeping it simple also means using just the one kit – too many options will often create confusion. As we know, digital kits come with all sorts of goodies – papers, frames, embellishments, wordart, alphas and more! Letting children pick their own items from a kit is all part of the creative process. It helps them own their page and their decisions. But, with young children, you may want to limit the selection to save some time. I asked Sophie what kind of elements she wanted on the page and she was very, very specific… rummaging through kits got tedious and often what she had initially requested didn’t quite match what was actually on offer. So my suggestion is to talk about what type of page they want to create and give them access to a kit that complements that vision. Once they get familiar with the kits they can, and will, start mixing and matching on their own.
• New skills: Start with the basics and teach one new skill at a time – opening a new blank canvas, drag and drop, rotating elements, resizing, reordering the layers palette, changing colours, adding text etc. Coach them through each step and let them practise… and practise they will, so be prepared to see these new skills used over and over again. LOL! Sophie’s favourite new tricks were changing the colour of EVERYTHING, duplicating elements and painting with brushes.  For older children think about adding in a few design principles too! Talk about the importance of journaling, adding a title and shadowing.
• Be patient and willing to let your child express their creativity. You may cringe at the colour combinations, awkward design, the proportions, the skewed shapes… but hey, it’s all about having fun and allowing them to create the page they want to create!! Let your child develop their own sense of style and artistic design. You are there to answer questions, show them the technical stuff and gently guide them if they get a little lost.
• Let them take their own photos to scrap! Kids love playing ‘photographer’ and with a standard digital camera it’s so easy to point & shoot and then upload the pic to the computer ready to scrap.
• Positive recognition: One last thing, and in my opinion the most important thing, tell them what a great job they’ve done! See if they’d like to share their pages and projects with other family members. Email a copy to grandparents, other special relations and friends. Print them and take them for ‘show & tell’ at school. Make up a special album to hold all their pages. :o)

Here’s a look at Sophie’s wonderful digi-creations!

Looking for something that doesn’t have the kids monopolising the computer? Well, here is a quick and easy hybrid scrapbooking activity using your collection of Shabby Shoppe digital kits. For Sophie, I printed out various Hopscotch papers, elements and some doodlebats (found here). She then went to town cutting, colouring, gluing and adding a little bling and other crafty bits & pieces to build up her own ‘favourite things’ scrapbooking page. I think she might take after her aunt… who can’t help but fill the page full of embellishments! ;o) It was lovely crafting and being creative together. I helped her cut and colour a little. And when we got to the ‘sticking’, I glued a few things, but only where she pointed her finger. She knew exactly how she wanted her page to look! A masterpiece… and destined for the ‘craft wall’! It really is a fun, simple and convenient way to introduce kids to paper scrapping and expand the use of your own digital kits! Here’s a peek at what she came up with.

Scrapping with kids is the best fun, for all involved… I do hope you’ll give it a try…maybe over the weekend?! :o) Scrapping or not… have a fantastic weekend and we’ll see you all back here on Monday with Layout of the Week!  Bye for now! :o)

KylieInspiration, Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized 7 Comments