Crafty Blogger: All About Me Book for Kids

by Amanda from Crafts-N-Things for Children for GummyLump.com
for Ages 4 years and up with Adult Participation and Supervision


This is a precious keepsake for your child to have forever and possibly read to their own children when they are the same age!

Making an 'All About Me' book with your child is a great way for children to express individuality in a creative way. It may also help younger children learn to recognize familiar, simple words as well as practice their writing skills. I think it's a great Mommy & Me or Daddy & Me craft! You may be surprised to hear what their answers are and may learn some new things about your child.

Supplies:

• Jumbo construction paper
• Regular-sized construction paper
• Jumbo stamp pads
• Alphabet stamp set by Melissa & Doug
• Stickers
• Create-a-Face pad by Melissa & Doug
• Glue stick for kids
• Child safe scissors
• Free 'All About Me Book' printables found further down this post
• Stapler
• Optional: markers, colored pencils, crayons, paint, glitter glue, photos, magazine cut-outs, etc.

Time Needed:
At least 1 hour depending on the age of child and # of pages. It could also be completed over a few days if the child has a short attention span, is younger, or grows bored.

Prep:
Make a cover for the book by folding a piece of the jumbo construction paper of child's choice in half. Decide how many pages you would like to have in your book and have the child choose different colors of the regular-sized construction paper accordingly. Have all of your other craft supplies ready.

Instructions for the Self Portrait:

• Choose a silhouette from the Create-A-Face Pad. 
• Use the child safe scissors to cut around the outline of the silhouette.
• Place glue on the backside and stick it on to one of the pieces of construction paper.
• Use colored pencils or markers to draw the self portrait.
• Stamp the word 'ME' on it somewhere.

Instructions for the Handprint & Footprint Keepsake:

• Choose an ink pad & firmly press palm on it.
• Press the fingers and any other part of the palm on until the entire hand is covered.
• Press on to construction paper & the repeat the same thing with the foot.
• Stamp the words 'My Hands & Feet'
• Write the date and/or age.
•  Optional: add a cute handprint or footprint poem.
• Alternatively, you could use paint instead. I wanted all the details of his prints to show through so opted for the stamp pad instead.

Instructions for the printed pages:

• Print the free printable 'All About Me Book' printables below.
• Have child write their answers.
• Glue to a piece of construction paper.
• Stamp or use stickers to write the following titles on each page: All About Me, My Family, My Friends, My Favorite Things, My Favorite Activities, Other Things About Me, My School, My Emotions

Please click each photo to view larger, printable versions. Right-click to save to your desktop & print. *These printables are for personal use only. You may make copies to use in a classroom. They may not be used commercially or hosted/reproduced on another site. If you use these printables, a link back to this post would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Other page ideas:

• We also printed this Printable Map of United States and my son colored in all the states he has been to with one color & the state he lives in another color.
• My son also made a sticker collage of all his favorite things. 
• He also drew a family portrait of the 4 of us.
• You could also make a 'My Address' page. Have the child draw a picture of his/her home & write his/her address under it.
• Make a photo collage of friends or family.
• If you have pets, make a 'My Pets' page. The kids could draw a picture or place photos of the pets and write the names underneath each.

Instructions for putting the book together: 

• Color the 'All About Me' cover page & have the child write their name & the date.
• Glue to the cover you already made during the prep time.
• Take all your finished pages and decide which order you would like them to be in and place inside the cover.
• Make sure all the pages are lined up to the folded part nice & neatly.
• Staple the book in a few spots alongside the folded edge. Alternatively, you could use brads, a hole punch & yarn tied through the holes, or take it somewhere like an office store or even FedEx to use their binding services.

My 4 year old loves his Me Book! He reads it to us all the time since we made it together. Older kids will have fun creating their book mostly by themselves. It was a lot of writing for my son who is still in the learning stage, so I wrote his answers lightly in pencil for him to trace back over. I also did this because he is familiar with writing capital letters and wanted him to try writing with lowercase letters. For his self portrait he insisted that he needed to have blue hair, he, he. I love that we can reprint the pages in a few years and make it again. It will be neat to compare his answers!

Amanda, also known as @artsy_momma, is a mommy blogger who loves doing all things creative. She enjoys doing crafts with her children as well as mommy made DIY projects. You can follow them on their creative learning journey by heading over to their Crafts-N-Things for Children blog. Amanda's motto is to inspire & encourage imagination in others. She also has a passion for creating handprint and footprint art and you can find her blogging everything from keepsakes and home decor ideas to just for fun crafts.