Summer is coming to an end whether you are sending your kids off to school or keeping them home for school. More than likely, their friends are going to want to know all about their summer, so why not reflect on all the summer fun by creating an end of summer time capsule. Not only will it jog your child’s memory before school starts but when next summer rolls around you can open the time capsule and remember all the good times you had (and maybe set goals for having even more fun)!
To create their time capsules, the girls used paint, stickers, and markers to decorate recycled oatmeal containers (any type of container will do).
Several different items went into the time capsules, including tracings of their hands that have their heights and weights on them.
Also inside the time capsules we placed:
- photos
- items found on walks: rocks, leaves, and flowers (press the flowers first)
- special drawings
- wrist bands and tickets from festivals and movies
- their signatures
- simple surveys with questions about their summer: what was your favorite place we visited?, what was your favorite summer movie?, etc.
- letters from me to them about their summer: things they accomplished, funny things they said
- their reading records from our local library summer reading program
Making your own time capsule is easy, all you need is a container to place your items in and lots of summer memories! Along with the fun things we placed in our time capsules you can also include these items:
- summer statistics/prices of your child’s favorite items: food, toys, places to visit
- letters from your child to their future self
- goals your child has for the upcoming year (to see if they accomplished them)
- a list of things your child would like to do next summer (so they don’t forget)
- instead of tracing hands you can make handprints by painting your child’s hand
- foot tracings/prints
- postcards from any places you visited
- letters/postcards from any friends on their summer vacations
- newspaper clippings or a list of events that happened during the summer (we were really excited about the royal baby!)
When you are done adding all of your summer memories to the time capsule, seal it up and hide it away to be opened in 2014 or even several years later, then have a time capsule opening party!
What would you include in your time capsule?
What a fun way to keep memories of summer and remember them at a later date with the kids!