My son and I had a blast making this photo board book for my 9 month old daughter. Not only is the book entertaining for her , creating it was a lesson about emotions and giving to others for my son. All in all it was a family project that gets played with a lot.
- Gather your materials .To start you will need to take photos of different emotions . This is a great chance to talk about each of these feelings with your kids. I sat my son on the couch and we chatted between pictures. It was such a wonderful talk , we shared what makes us happy, sad, worried etc… and really listened to each other. We also made lots of silly faces!
- Now after printing out the pictures you will also need an old board book, contact paper, card stock , scissors, a marker and double stick tape. Let me explain why I used a book and paper instead of just laminating sleeves like I have before like for the Eye Spy Book. My daughter likes to put the book in her mouth. I don’t let her just chew on it but the laminated pages can be really sharp if you get it at the right angle on sensitive gums. So I opted for the board book. If you are making this for older kids a simple laminated book would be great.
- Next write out the emotions with marker on the card stock ( of course if you have a printer you can just use it). Cut.
- Time to do the layout. My son helped choose the paper from our stash and I taped pieces of card stock on each page to cover the existing illustrations. Add the photo and emotion.
- Cover with contact paper . I cut mine so it covered the paper but didn’t go all the way to the edge .
- Fill the whole book.
- Make a cover page, I tried to get my son to help but he was busy playing pretend spy( Oh and that is my art closet packed up behind him… we are down to the basics until we move).
- Let your baby explore! She lit up and unlike most books she didn’t immediately try to eat it. She gently explored touching her brother’s photos. Success!
** Safety Notice : Only you can decide what is safe for your baby. This book is made to be used with an adult caregiver , it is not a baby toy. **
I think you have a budding actor on your hands by the look of that first photo. And how cute is the I Spy outfit! Oh and great idea too. 🙂
aw i love this!! what a great project that can teach on so many levels. this is defintely one i will be doing with the 4 yo for the 20 mo old!! fun fun fun!
Super Cute! Karen
I love houw you reused a book! The pictures look wonderful!
I love it! Have you read The Way I Feel by Janan Cain? I found it at a used bookstore, and it quickly became a favorite. It even hits on being frustrated, disappointed and silly!
Yes! I reviewed it years ago here : https://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2008/04/that-blows-frustration-feelings-and-fun.html it’s one of my very favorites.
For older kids you could make it interactive by laminating the words and putting velcro on them and the book and they can match the words to the pictures.
What a great idea! I love it!
What a great idea! We did a matching memory game a while back that is similar. http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2010/10/feelings-matching-memory.html
what a fun idea!
This is a great idea! I think I am going to do this and make the pictures into matching cards (my kids LOVE matching games…) This is an especially good thing to work on with my kids (especially my oldest) because he is prone to tantrums when he can’t express his emotions.
I liked the way you reused a board book… I may have to use that idea.
Great idea! This is what I love about blogging, the ideas build on each other and kids win!
Such a fantastic activity! I love the way all the family have been involved – brilliant! 🙂
I really love this idea! Thanks!
This is a FANTASTIC idea! 🙂 Both my 18 month old and my 6 year old would love it!! And you are SO right– talking about emotions while making books about them is a super great way to get a young boy talking about them…and it’s so important to do that. Awesome.
I sure would have liked a link to this “Eye Spy” book you mention… Hmm… now to try to find it. 😉
P.S. I love this idea, i just don’t have any little little ones anymore. (Sad face.)
I absolutely LOVE this ! I am going to do it for my daughter !
Thanks so much !
Love this. Going to try
This book gets so much “traffic” from my daughter still, she loves seeing her “Bubba” make silly faces.
Hi Allison. I visit your blog from Pinterest when I tried to see something for my baby in future. And I see your blog with many topic about edicate for kids, that is very impress! I just want to thank you.