Childrens photo books with text are doubly great. Sure, they're fun... but also because sitting and reading with a child can be one of the most rewarding activities you can ever share.

Now imagine that the favorite book the child chooses is one that you have created for that child or that child has made with you! Now that's truly special.

What are Children's Photo Books

Kids' photo albums or photo books are pretty much any custom book for kids. These projects tend to become your child's favorite books and ones that are shared time and time again.

Ideas for Kids Photo Books

There are lots of fun ways to use the photo books you can design at places like Shutterfly or Picaboo as gifts or photo craft projects for children. Like:

Grandparents can put together books that share what they do while they are apart from their grandchild. They can make a book of what their childhood was like compared to their grandchild's.

Parents can use it as a creative way to make pre-reading activities more fun.

There are as many different types of books that can be made as there are types of children! Want to make a children's photo book or customized kids story book album? Read through these kid's projects and choose one of them to make for or with your kiddo.

Children's Artwork Photo Book

Refrigerators have been decorated with children's artwork since the time they could first put crayon, pencil, or paint to paper. This artwork can be used as a book of art or as illustrations in a story the child writes. Artwork can be scanned and saved as a JPEG file. This JPEG file is then treated as a picture by the photo book software. The picture can be used as a background to a story or as a way to share the work the child has done in a published format.

The limits you have with scanning pictures is the size of the scanner or your ability to "stitch" scanned portions of the picture together. You can also take the picture to Staples or Office Max and scan the picture there. You can also reduce the size of the picture if you are using a copy machine. More directions on scanning can be found in Scanning Your Pictures.

Family Photo Books for Children

When I was young, my grandparents lived in the same town that I did and I saw them every week. My children do not live in the same town as their grandparents, and only get to see them a few times a year. A photo book can bring the grandparents into the child's life. Grandparents can share:

A picture of their house and a picture where a visiting grandchild can sleep

Activities done by the grandparent such as cooking, sports, visiting friends, reading, hobbies

Pictures of the last visit together -- or a compilation of photos when they were together throughout the child's life.

Favorite sayings or bits of stories and pictures that go with them.

In turn, you can work with your child to put the same type of kids photo album together for their grandparents!

Kids Pattern Story Books

A pattern book follows a fixed formula. One of the finest examples is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" by Bill Martin. The book starts out with "Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see? I see a red bird looking at me." The next pages are "Red Bird, Red Bird what do you see? I see a X X looking at me."

How to Make Your Own: This sort of customized kids story book is an easy pattern book to duplicate. You can substitute any animal or person to start your story as long as you include a color in the description. This is a fun exercise to do with children and can be translated into a fun kids project. First, work out some ideas with your child and go on a photo safari to get the pictures. A black or blue bird in a tree, a gray squirrel, white ducks, or any other animals that you can find in your environment and use these to make your book.

These books are also called pattern predictable or predictable books. There are many books to start from and here are a few lists of books you can use:

Pattern Books
Predictable Pattern Books
Predictable Books

You can also read more about creating personalized story books for kids right here!

Making ABC or Counting Books for Kids

An ABC or Counting Book is another good kid's project to work on. First "storyboard" the book by discussing what pictures you would like to get to fit each letter or what would be good to use for each number. Make a plan to get all the pictures needed and then you can proceed with the book. This is a good project to do with a young child if they are making the book for themselves or with an older child and have them use it as a present for someone else.

Return to Idea Center from Children's Photo Books and Albums for Kids.