Children’s photo albums: ideas for artwork, school & memories

Ever looked at a massive papier-mâché dinosaur and wondered where on earth it’s supposed to live? Hard relate. The good news: if you can photograph it, you can preserve it. A children’s photo book is the easiest way to turn your kids’ artwork, school projects and family memories into something you’ll actually keep forever. Simply scan their drawings, snap their school projects and mix in holiday pictures, school moments and funny family quotes to create a unique keepsake they’ll treasure forever.

At Photobox, you can upload, arrange and print everything into a high-quality kids’ photo album in just a few clicks – whether that’s a baby book, an end-of-year wrap-up or a family photo album that documents the beautiful madness.

Why make a children’s photo book from their art?

We all want to encourage their inner Picasso, but it’s easy to run out of places to show off and store the piles (and piles) of art. A printed children’s photo album preserves their creative projects without you having to sneak things into the recycling bin (we’re sorry, Mr Giant Robot made out of cardboard). The benefits are hard to argue with:

• Free up your house: get your fridge and wall space back
• Make those paintings last: turn crumpled sketches into glossy pages that will last
• Track their progress: see how their drawing skills improve over time
• Easy to share: a book of art is much easier to show off to the grandparents
• Make them feel proud: kids light up seeing their work treated like a published masterpiece

Family photo book ideas to customise your book children’s photo album?

We’ve pulled together a few simple family photo book ideas to help you figure out the page layouts, pick the right text, balance the content, as well as what to avoid. Ready to create a family photo album of dreams? You absolutely are.

What layouts work well for a children’s art photo book?

We recommend keeping the backgrounds of your kid’s photo album as clean as possible, so those mini masterpieces stand out in all their glory. Here’s what else you might want to consider:

• Single out the showstoppers: Give the 10/10 pieces a whole page (or even double page spread) to themselves. They truly deserve the VIP treatment.
• Group tiny doodles into grids: Got a dozen of random sketches of stickmen on scrap paper? Throw smaller drawings into a grid layout so they look like a neat collection.
• Make before-and-after pages: The day they learnt how to colour in between the lines is a day worth remembering. Show off their progress over a few years by putting nursery’s scribbled potato face next to a semi-recognisable face from Year 1. Oh, look how far they’ve come.
• Match the art to the artist: Put a snap of their creation on one side of the spread and add a cute photo of your little one on the other. This works especially well if you’re making a family photo book and have more than one child, so you can remember who did what.
• Sort everything by season: Keep images of mildly terrifying Halloween pumpkins and glitter-bombed Christmas crafts in their own dedicated chapters.
• Theme the pages by colour: If they went through a phase where absolutely everything had to be painted red, group those together. A rainbow coordinated album? Simply stunning.
• Make collages of crafts: Is your little one coming home with a new craft project every day? Take photos of their clay pots and pasta necklaces from all angles and use a collage layout to show them off.

What text should you add to a children’s photo book?

It’s always nice to add a little bit of context next to the images. Here are a few things we love to jot down in a kid’s photo album:

• The absolute basics: Record their name, age, the date and where they were when they made it e.g. ‘Mia, age 4. August 2024, at Granny’s kitchen table’.
• The ‘official’ title: Ask them to explain the masterpiece and type out their exact quote. Looking back at a caption that says ‘The Purple Dog (who’s driving a tractor because he’s late for work)’ is guaranteed to make you smile.
• The backstory: Add a quick parent’s note explaining the reality of the craft session. Something like ‘The afternoon we used up all the finger paint and ruined Uncle Ed’s new rug, oops!’.
• School details & milestones: Jot down their school year, class name or big memorable milestones e.g. ‘First day of reception’ or ‘Year 3: The great watercolour art phase’.
• Who’s who: List the names of the family members featured in their wonky portraits, especially when they’re not quite obvious just looking at it. E.g. ‘Leo’s family portrait of Mummy, Grandma Edie and a very tall version of Aunty Cleo!’.

How do you mix photos and artwork in a family photo book?

Flipping through pages and pages of crayon squiggles is cute, but can end up feeling a teeny bit samey. The trick is variety. Alternate close-ups of artwork details with full-page images to keep pages visually interesting.

Open each section with a portrait and make space in your photo book for family snaps to tell the story. Did you manage to snap them covered in PVA glue and glitter? Include those iconic behind-the-scenes shots too. And once you add some captions too, you’ll have the perfect artistic balance for your book.

What common mistakes should you avoid?

A few smart decisions can make the difference between a book you’re proud of and one that feels cluttered. Here’s what to look out for:

• Including every single drawing: Edit ruthlessly and only include the best ones.
• Uploading blurry or dark photos: Poor image quality won’t look great once everything is printed.
• Overcrowding your layouts: Make sure to leave empty space around photos to give them more impact.
• Writing captions that are too long: A name, date and a bit of context is all you need
• Mixing too many layout styles: A consistent style will make the book look less chaotic
• Forgetting to add dates and ages: You’ll love looking back at those little details
• Letting photos pile up: Sort things regularly saves an overwhelming backlog years later

How to create a family photo book with your child’s drawings

Don’t worry, creating a family photo album with Photobox is very straightforward. All you need is a few steps:

1. Digitalise your child’s drawings: either by scanning or photographing them
2. Fill the photo book: add their artwork along with family photos
3. Personalise the book: add captions and get the little ones involved too

Pretty simple, right?

How do you photograph or scan children’s artwork?

For all the flat drawings and paintings, simply use a desktop scanner. For the chunky 3D crafts, use your phone to take photos instead.

Don’t own a scanner at all? Do not panic, free phone apps like Google PhotoScan, Adobe Scan or Photomyne can do the job for you. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Lay the artwork on a flat surface in natural daylight
• Hold your phone directly above the paper to avoid weird shadows
• Shoot against a plain background and use the crop tool to tidy up the photo’s edges if needed
• Snap a few different angles of their 3D crafts
• Save your files straight into organised folders e.g. by child, age or theme

How can children help create their own kid’s photo book?

Why not let your little one take the creative wheel for the afternoon? They usually love having a say in how their masterpieces are displayed. Plus, handing over some control turns it from an admin task into a genuinely fun activity. Win-win.

Even the tiniest hands can get involved. Ask them to pick out their favourite pieces, then get them to narrate what’s happening in each picture for the captions. Let them choose the background colours or themes for the pages and let them pick some cover ideas for your family photo book. It’s a lovely way to make personalised photo books for toddlers feel like their own little project.

Why is creating a children’s photo album meaningful for the kids?

When you sit down to create a family photo book together, it shows them how much you really care about their hard work. It also…

• Makes them feel valued and super proud of their creativity
• Gets them chatting and practising their storytelling skills
• Acts as a massive confidence booster
• Helps them see how much they’ve grown and improved
• Gives them the cutest keepsake they want to show everyone that visits (and we mean everyone)

As much as you might feel you need to, you don’t have to keep every single scribble to prove you love their art. The perfect middle ground is to photograph the highlights and drop them straight into a large family photo album. They get to feel like absolute superstars seeing their work printed in a real book and you get an easy win for your next family gift. Just make sure you order an extra copy as a grandparent’s photo album too.

Create your children’s photo album

Children’s photo book FAQs

What is a children’s photo book?

It is a printed book that keeps all your little one’s photos, drawings and milestone moments safe in one place. You can use it as a baby book, a portfolio of their artwork, a school year photo album or just a fun family keepsake to look back on.

What should I include in a kid’s photo album?

The best family photo books mix up your normal everyday snaps and birthday photos with their wonky doodles, school pictures, holidays and whatever toy they’re obsessed with right now.

Can I make a photo book from school artwork?

Absolutely. A family photo book is the perfect way to keep all those school projects without stuffing them into the bottom of a wardrobe. Just take pictures of the art, upload your snaps and pop them into one of our photo book layouts. Add captions and design elements or organise by school year, subject or theme then you’re good to go.

Are children’s photo books good gifts?

They make a-mazing gifts (Grandparents especially go mad for them). A photo book puts all those sweet drawings and milestones into one gorgeous and glossy book that everyone can flick through.