Our Field Trip Notebooks

Field trip notebooks are a great way to get in some sneaky writing practice and create an amazing keepsake.

Field Trip Memories {and learning, too!}

After coming back from a  trip to Michigan with 100 pictures, several brochures and tons of memories, I racked my brain for a practical way for my children to put it all together into fun memory books.  I wondered if a mixture between scrapbooking and notebooking might work as a motivating way to both record our vacation memories and count towards a bit of school.  It was perfect!

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A Sturdy Notebook

It’s important to begin with a hard cover blank sketchbook.  Most high-quality sketchbooks contain thick, acid-free pages which are great for gluing things.  Since we’ve decided these field trip memory books will be used over and over for many years, the hard cover keeps them nice.

Jump Right In

Keeping a vacation and/or field trip journal is quite easy.  For most field trips, I ask my children to create one or two pages in their journal.  Vacations tend to have more memorabilia, so they get several pages.

My children add whatever they like from our stash of pictures, brochures and/or other collected items.  The only mandatory part is writing.  They have to write about the trip.  It might be a summary, a description of their favorite part, or something else – but writing is not optional.

Surprisingly, they don’t mind the writing.  Keeping the journal is so much fun, that writing just flows naturally!

To make room for plenty of photo memories (and to save ink or printing costs), I copy several pictures from the trip on my color printer in wallet size.  The pictures aren’t as nice as if professionally printed, but my children haven’t complained.

These field trip notebooks make great keepsakes!

My children really look forward to completing their journals after a trip.  Partly because they love looking through all the memories each time we pull them out.  But, partly because they get out of regular school work, too.  It’s such a sneaky way for me to dole out a writing assignment, don’t you think?

How do you sneak in writing assignments?