Last Summer I introduced the Project Life Childhood Mini Kits in THIS post, including a video. I got all philosophical and really dug into in explaining the purpose behind my product development – and how these little kits evolved to be. If you haven’t seen the video, I encourage you to check that out. You’ll see how I personally love to use the cards in my kids’ albums as I flip through a years’ worth in Porter’s scrapbook.

Today I have some explaining to do. I want to explain the who, what, how, when, where, and why about these Childhood Mini Kits – and how they might fit into the “big picture” of your memory-keeping. As a reminder, all 3 editions are currently 20% off this week. This is the time to pick these up. The direct links are on our Products page in the Core Kits + Mini Kits section.

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WHO are these Childhood Mini Kits for?

This is for the mom who feels totally overwhelmed about the very idea of documenting her child’s life. This is for the person whose child is no longer a child, but they have a desire to go back and create an album (or more) of their son or daughter’s childhood memories. This is for the person who wants to go back and record their own childhood (check out Jessica Turner’s college scrapbook!). And this is most definitely for the kid (of any age) who wants to record their own story – past or present.

WHAT comes in a Childhood Mini Kit?

A Mini Kit includes 100 cards. There are (20) 4×6 Title Cards, which are completely flexible to use either vertical or horizontal (same design printed on both sides, but different orientations). There are (40) 3×4 Prompt Cards, which are also flexible (horizontal or vertical) and include journaling prompts about childhood and school memories – various topics in a child’s life. And there are (40) coordinating 3×4 Journaling Cards that can be used for any kind of notes on one side, and the other side has a “filler design” in case you have nothing to write in that particular space.

Note: There are 3 editions of the Childhood Mini Kit – Bridgeport, Mayfield, and Wellington. Same prompts, same designs for the most part, but different color palettes. Be sure to click on each one so you are familiar with the difference between the 3 options.

HOW was the Childhood Mini Kit designed to work?

The kit was designed with complete versatility in mind. The prompts are worded in such a way that they’re not just for a child to write about their own life, or a parent to write about the child. For example, instead of saying “my favorite teachers” or “your favorite teachers” … the card says “favorite teachers”. So the kit was designed so that parent – or child – can use the cards to document life.

The kit was designed with 3×4 and 4×6 cards – just as you would expect out of any Project Life kit – so that they work beautifully with the Photo Pocket Pages that we offer.

The kit was designed to document a full year’s worth in a child’s life. The photos below will outline that concept. Or … you can certainly spread them out across several years.

Be sure to check out our INSPIRATION page which shows sample Project Life pages using the Childhood Mini Kits. Those were created with no extra embellishing. Just photos + cards slipped into Photo Pocket Pages. Simple. Fast. Fun. DONE. And it looks amazing.

WHEN is the best time to use the Childhood Mini Kit cards?

The kit was designed so that you could fill the cards out throughout the year – kind of “as you go” or “in the moment” … or … as a totally retrospective project for those who want to go back and document the past. In other words, any time is the best time.  : )

WHERE should I include the Childhood mini Kit cards?

The kit was designed to provide plenty of cards that you can use throughout a 12×12 album, but as we’ve seen this week, a Mini Kit has the perfect number of cards to include in a Project Life Mini Album with your photos.

Let’s not forget to think outside the box. Those adorable 3×4 cards are SO great for little notes in your child’s lunch box or backpack. Or leave a little stack of those cards out with a pen and invite everyone in the family to jot down random compliments toward one another – or what they’re grateful for – and then … (you know where I’m going with this) … those cards slip right into the 3×4 pockets in the Project Life Photo Pocket Pages!

WHY does a little box of cards have to be so awesome?

I know, right? They are so fun. So beautifully designed (go Lori!). So versatile and user-friendly and inspiring.

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Now – Let’s talk big-picture. This is for those of you who are planners like me. Or maybe you don’t think of yourself as “organizationally-minded” and so you’d like some help. I love the idea of beginning with the end in mind, and want to share with you my thoughts on this as it pertains to the Childhood Mini Kits.

If you are beginning with the end in mind, I encourage you to envision what your child might be physically bringing with them in terms of scrapbooks, when they move out of the house as a young adult. This thinking + planning exercise can be very helpful to you, and what you decide makes the most sense does NOT have to be the same as what I’m about to suggest, or what your friend or sister-in-law is doing. Do what make the most sense for you and your family (and your space!).

The following is simply a suggestion, and a sample, of what I’m talking about: Let’s say I wanted to document my child’s entire life (birth to age 18) and let’s say I use a Childhood Mini Kit per year to document those school-aged memories. That would probably end up being about (8) 2-page layouts per year. Figuring I’ll want to have a few additional layouts for a big trip, birthday, holiday, or some other special occasion … let’s round that up to (12) layouts per year that would summarize that year in my child’s life.

If there are 12 layouts per year, and I know that 60 Photo Pocket Pages fit beautifully in a standard 12×12 album, that means you can essentially get 5 years worth in one album. But let’s remember all the memorabilia that you want to add in the Big Envelope Page (sold out but coming back in May) at the back of the album, right? So with that in there, I am suggesting that you can cover 18 years in 5 albums. Still with me? As an “end result” a child’s complete set of albums could look like this:

Album 1 = First Year (which includes a little family history) … using the Project Life Baby Edition, of course!

Album 2 = Toddler + Preschool Years (yes the Childhood Mini Kits can certainly work great for this, or use any Project Life Core Kit)

Album 3 = Kindergarten + Grades 1 to 4

Album 4 = Grades 5 to 8 (4 year’s worth)

Album 5 = Grades 9 to 12 (4 year’s worth)

I realize many of you reading this are not in the U.S. and your “grades” and “years” aren’t exactly like that. It doesn’t matter. I’m just trying to share the general concept and share the big-picture vision that’s in my head – and perhaps your head too.  : )

I also realize that some of you have children that are older and you’re feeling pretty darn overwhelmed about the idea of several albums per child, if you have more than one kid. I have a friend right now whose daughter is about to graduate from high school and she’s working on telling the story of this girl’s entire childhood in ONE album. And that is awesome. See what I mean? Do what works for you.

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I’ve gone on long enough and I don’t want you to sit at your computer all day reading my blog. So let me just end with a series of pictures that will show you a sample year’s worth of Project Life pages using all but a few of the cards in a Childhood Mini Kit.

These 8 layouts would summarize a year in a child’s life. The white cards represent where photos might go (which, for the purpose of these sample layouts, totals 40-45 photos). I’m mostly using the Design A (our most popular design) Photo Pocket Page, but I’m also sprinkling in a few other page designs so that you can see how easy it is to flip cards over, or on their “side”, depending on your photos and which orientation and page design you choose.

Note: Our Big Packs of Design A are currently sold out, but coming to stores in May (very soon!). We do currently have our Big Variety Pack 1 and Big Variety Pack 2 in stock on Amazon. You may want to pick those up while you get your Childhood Mini Kits.

Also note: The following sample pages show cards from the Wellington Edition.

Both pages are Design A.

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Design A (left) + Design B (right)

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Design B (left) + Design A (right)

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Design A (left) + Design F (right)

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Design F (left) + Design A (right)

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Both pages are Design A.

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Both pages are Design A.

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Both pages are Design A.

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As a reminder, the Childhood Editions are not only 20% off on Amazon, but so are the digital version of these editions on AC Digitals.