Back to School Photo Tips for Scrapbookers
By Sara Naumann

September is right around the corner—and for parents, that means photo opportunities as kids head back to school! From shopping for school supplies, to sending your little one off on her first day of kindergarten to your teen’s senior year, how do you capture this wonderful time of the year? Here, our design team offers their tried-and-true tips for taking photos for back to school.

Preschool Pictures: LeNae and her Preschooler

LeNae’s daughter headed off to pre-school this year, giving LeNae dozens of photo options. Here’s her checklist for must-have shots for the first day of school:

• a photo of the school building—outside and inside
• that new first-day outfit (complete with lunch box)
• a photo of the child with the teacher
• a photo of the child at her desk

“Later in the year, make sure get photos of the kids doing projects (art, drama, games), plus pictures of the kids with friends and on school trips.”

AnWhat about all that artwork kids bring home from school? LeNae suggests: “You can color copy and reduce art (and newspaper sports clippings) and display them on the page. I also saw recently that someone used sports card holders (baseball card sheet protectors) to store and display their mini artwork in their albums. Another idea is to make pockets or use full size sheet protectors as pockets.”

LeNae’s preference on album size is a 12”x12”. “I’m scrapbooking Lauren’s school years from the beginning, and find I need the larger format.”

Elementary School Photos: Paris and her Tween

Paris’s daughter is in the fifth grade—called “tweens”, kids in this age group are halfway between childhood and teenage years. When it comes to photographing tweens, Paris relies on the effective use of humor. “I always say funny words to make them laugh—instead of "say cheese" I will say "say rhinoceros". It always brings a giggle and smile. "Gross-out" words like "booger" work well with the boys.”combination.

“I always take photos of Natalie on the first day of school in several places: the same place in the front of the house, in front of the school (next to the sign with the name of the school) and with her new teacher. Sometimes her teacher will have a cute bulletin board that I will have Natalie stand by and take her photo.” Paris also tries to take pictures of Natalie with her best friends, and with past teachers if they see them on the first day of school.

Paris counts herself lucky that Natalie is still at an age where she’ll let Mom accompany her to school and take her photo. “I haven’t had to worry about the embarrassment factor yet...Natalie loves to get her picture taken,” but adds: “Bribes of candy will probably still work at this age!”

How does she scrapbook Natalie’s school years? “I keep school photos as part of our family chronological scrapbooks, but I only have one child. Many of my friends keep school albums for each of their children, with one or two pages of each year. Mini theme albums work well too. I also have a large keepsake box for special art projects, award certificates, etc.”

High Schoolers: Susan and her teenagers

Sending your teens off to school can be stressful enough without trying to photograph every significant moment. Susan, the mother of two teenagers, offers her ideas.

“As kids get older (starting in junior high), plan on taking more back-to-school photos at home, maybe with their backpack and with a classmate or two. Sometimes their friends want to ham it up in front of your camera, which makes
it "ok" for your child without being embarrassed; but it's good to ask (or
beg) first.”

Susan adds: “With high school students, you'll be lucky if you can get them to agree to a photo, especially anywhere near the school. So be clever! One year I gave my daughter a disposable camera to take pictures of her with her friends to record their first day of school. When I took them to be processed, I made doubles, so we both had lots of cute photo memories, and she and her friends had a blast taking pictures of each other.”

“My husband worked in retail for years, so every year we would help the economy by buying plenty of back to school clothes for our two girls. I took the girls shopping together, and we would have lunch out and make a fun day of it. We always looked forward to it, and had fun looking at their new clothes, backpack, and school supplies when we got home. For some reason I didn't think about taking pictures of this annual event, and I now wish I had.”

As for scrapbooking those photos, Susan recommends making a mini album with yearly school photos to be a timeline of the child's school experience. She adds, “If your teenager is interested in scrapbooking, by all means let him or her create an album. At the very least, they can contribute journaling!”

Sorting Photos

Shauna is the busy mother of two elementary school kids—and as a scrapbooker, she’s always saved photos and memorabilia. How does she organize them?

“Right now I have them all sorted by year, in big boxes, along with their artwork, report cards, papers and school work so when I’m ready to put together an album, everything is in one place. I also keep a file of school themed papers, embellishments, quotes, etc. related to school in one place so when I’m ready to start the project, I have everything in one place.”

Shauna adds: “When you do start your project, choose only the best photos to scrapbook. You’ll have so many photos and if you try and scrapbook them all, you’ll never get past kindergarten!”

Shauna’s special technique for scrapbooking multiple photos on a page is a square punch. “I suggest using a large square punch to punch out portions of photos, highlighting your child. This allows you to fit a lot of photos on one layout and it supports the busy school theme with a lot going on. To make it really simple, do a 2 page spread for every grade, using the child's school photo and class photo and maybe journaling highlights from the year. Save unused photos and store them in a photo file box if you can't let go of them. Of course, there’s always Grandma and Grandpa!”

One Last Tip
Don’t forget—those everyday details can be great scrapbooking material!
“I wish I would have taken photos of the stacks of books I had to buy during my college years,” says Paris. “No one believes me when I tell them one semester I had to buy 17 books!”