Homemade Books

My son Isaac does not usually travel well. A messed up routine, missed naps, and overstimulation usually make for awful, sleepless nights for us all when we go to visit out of town family lately.

So before this current trip we're on, I decided to make a couple books that might help remind Isaac of home, and remind him of his usual routine, even if we're not sticking to that routine very well these couple weeks.

You can make a homemade book about any topic. I chose to make an alphabet book and a bedtime book. Our alphabet book is full of photos of objects that Isaac knows and loves; mostly toys, but also his kitty cat, his Auntie, our yard... It's not as easy as I had anticipated to get the perfect photo for each letter of the alphabet. In fact, I didn't have anything good to photograph for "X," so there's nothing on that page other than the letter. Oh well!

I used a small photo album I already had to put the photos in for each book. My photo album had enough pages that I was able to use it for both books! Open it on one side and it's Isaac's alphabet book. Then turn it over and it's a bedtime book! This feature is especially handy for traveling: compact, and easy to keep track of.

Notice that I simply cut and taped small pieces of paper onto each photo to create the text. You can get fancier if you have more space in your book, or if you want to utilize your printer or get fancy with stencils or stamps. I was short on time while getting ready to head out of town, so due to time constraints, I stuck to writing the text with a marker.

Oh, and you obviously can create your book using something other than a photo album. I would have preferred to assemble my pages all pretty on some paper and then to laminate each page, but again, time was an issue while making these.

Isaac loves his books. And so does his cousin whose home we're staying at. And now her mom (my sister) is making one of these books for her too! AND we're all getting great sleep on this trip! It's gotta be these brilliant books, right??

Ever made your own books with/for your child? How did you do it? What was your book about??