Children love to look at pictures, especially pictures of themselves. So start there and go through their baby pictures. Be prepared for them to make faces at the way Mommy dressed them when they were little, but also be prepared for wonder and amazement and laughter. They will want to know the stories that go along with the pictures and who all the other people are.



After you have organized the pictures chronologically you can start teaching them how to lay out their pages and decorate and journalize each one. They will have a wonderful time with the scissors and stickers and colorful paper. You will really be able to see their creativity shine through. It is easy to get started in scrapbooking, stores devote whole sections to scrapbooking supplies now. There are even specialty store that sell only scrapbooking supplies. Besides scrapbooks of every size and for every occasion, you will find paper in every color and design you can imagine.

You will find paper cutters, edging scissors, shape punches that cut designs right into the paper and cut out templates for every occasion. Some stores have whole aisles just for stickers for every conceivable object or event, even glitter, glow-in-the-dark and three dimensional stickers. Pens in all colors and writing widths can be used for journalizing, dating and decorating your pages. Just browsing the aisles will give you hundreds of ideas. Just be careful to always buy acid free paper and supplies to preserve and protect your precious memories and family history.

Ah, family history...

Sooner or later you will want to dig deeper into those shoe boxes and you will no doubt come up with pictures of your childhood, your parents in their younger years, your grandparents, and maybe even their parents. It is amazing how many memories you will find hidden away in those shoe boxes. And this is where the educational part really begins.

The kids will want to know everything - they are thirsty little sponges. You can tell them stories of your childhood. They will, of course, laugh at your clothes and hairdos and cars, but they will remember. They will learn how different things were then, how much has changed, but also how some things never change - like family and love. It will all be chronicled in those wonderful shoe box pictures. Your children won't even have known some of the people in the pictures. This is your opportunity to tell them what you know about those individuals who contributed, through blood and genes, to make you and your children who you are.

Through your ancestors, your kids will see their family history growing. They may become so interested that they decide when they are grown that they want to know even more. They may take those albums and expand on them through genealogy research and create your family tree. But, that's a hobby to talk about another time.