DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Home Made School Journals

We provide both of our children (ages 2 and 6) with a journal for home each year.  They take it on trips with them and use it when they feel like it at home.  It's sort of a cross between a homework journal, a diary and a scrapbook.  We write and draw in it and we glue in special things (tickets, leaves, photos, etc).

We had a hard time finding hard cover journals with cute characters on them, so this year we made our own.  The hard cover ones are much nicer for using in the van, outside on the lawn or on their bedroom floor.

Purchase a hard cover book (ours was about $5) and some clear contact paper (ours was about $1 for two books)...  We bought both of these at an office supply store.  

Print out the template pieces, arrange on the book and cover with contact paper.

To put the prices in perspective, a Winnie the Pooh soft cover notebook cost $10 at the same store!

You could also use many of the coloring pages (posters) on the site or the color clipart to get a variety of different themes.