What you will need:
- an old cardboard box or other scrap cardboard
- 2 pieces of brown paper (we used a brown paper bag)
- several loose pieces of paper (we found pieces leftover from another project)
- twine, yarn, string or floss
- hole punch
- scissors
- natural glue
- a small twig or branch
- markers, colored pencils, or crayons
Step 1: Make the Covers
Cut two equally sized square pieces from a cardboard box to use as your front and back cover. You can make your book as big or as small as you wish. Then if necessary, use natural glue and a brown paper bag to cover any words or graphics that may be printed on the cardboard.
Step 2: Fill the Book
Cut the scrap paper to fit inside of the front and back cover for your journal’s pages. Then, punch holes in the paper and the front and back cover. Use twine to secure the front and back cover to the inside paper. Once it was tied securely, we weaved a small twig into the binding for a nice finishing touch.
Step 3: Decorate!
Let your child use markers, crayons or colored pencils and scrap pieces of paper to design the front and back cover. My son found this to be the best part of the project — my favorite part was when he wrote our names at the bottom.
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what a wonderful idea! and a great way to get kids involved in the whole process like that! we always talk about what we are thankful for from the past year and what we hope to be thankful for in the coming year after we eat dinner on Thanksgiving day.