Art journals for kids

I did my very first volunteer job today, hosting an after school art program at a local school. It was a frenzied hour and a half and my praise goes out to teachers who do this 8 hours a day! I had three or 4 groups of kids, from 1st grade to 8th, 6 at a time. We made simple journals, like the ones above that i made in Lisa Sonora Beam's workshop i spoke about here. The kids were coming and going, getting picked up throughout the session - so it was a bit rushed.
The school had a large stack of heavy handmade paper in assorted colours. The first group (thankfully the oldest students) helped tear the paper into half and half again to make the covers for the books. Each kid selected the colour they wanted for their cover. Then chose from a rainbow of colour printer paper for the pages inside.Each page was folded in half,to then stack for the signature, and tied into the cover with yarn. For some added glitz there were beads to tie onto the yarn. One little boy wanted something other than the flower paper i brought to accent the books, and he was right, that i needed something masculine. so i cut out a sail boat, complete with waves for his book. The other kids were happy with sticker labels, plus they could work on them more at home.

I suggested they tear pictures from magazines of things they like and start a "glue book". Or they could use it as a journal. But one girl thought that would not work without a lock, since her brother would surely read it. I suppose she was right!