I always loved catching my little kids picking up a photo book and flipping through. I might love seeing it more now that they are older. I even see their friends pick up a book and look through the images from preschool or 4 year old park district soccer, giggling over the images of classmates when they were tiny. They have sat for hours going through talking about what they remember or telling stories. The books get the stories started and then they keep flowing.

I have a miscellaneous book of 4X6 prints from wherever and anywhere, typically they are prints that hung on the fridge at one point in our lives. The majority of our books have themes or subjects.
When my kids were about 4 years to 6 years I printed out the park map in the back of the Des Plaines Park District book. When we needed something to do we would go to the next park on the list. Of course I took pictures and when we completed our park tour, I made a book showing each park in a two page spread. I used Blurb  who at the time didn’t have as good of a design program as they do now. I imagine it is even easier to use. They even have a mobile app now, which I have yet to check out. Here are the two books I made at that time:

The other easy theme for me is vacations or short trips. One guess where this one is from:

On our way from Disney to Daytona we took a break and walked along a beach. It was intended to only be a break from driving but turned into an unplanned day at the beach with no suit or towel. And that is always a great part of the book to stop and laugh about.

This last book is from a camping trip. And it was the BEST. CAMPING TRIP. EVER. We spent three days canoeing and camping on the sand bar. As a family of three, we only packed one dry bag of clothing and one dry bag of sleeping necessities along with a cooler and a bag of food. That was it. My camera coming along was not an option. I relied solely on my Iphone. At first I was not happy about this but I ended up making a great photo book with it. I believe this was the first book I made with camera phone images and it worked out so well I have continued to rely on only my Iphone for many outdoor trips without being disappointed by it. I used Mix Book and it appears they now have a phone app as well. So I may need to download that and give it a try.

More photo book ideas for you to make:

Birthdays – Birthday parties – weekend trips – day trips – hiking – camping – favorite parks – best friends – halloween – any holiday – your favorite furry friend – your kids and their pets  – a walk around your neighborhood – preschool – class parties –

Don’t be afraid to leave your books out! They are made to be looked at. They are made to bring back good memories.