Start a Personal Art Journal Sketchbook

A blank notebook or sketchbook

Pencils and colored pencils

Markers or crayons

Glue stick

Stickers and scraps for collage pages

Watercolor set (optional)

Choose a blank sketchbook. It does not need to be fancy — a simple blank notebook works. Or staple sheets of paper together to make your own.

Decorate the cover together. Write your child's name, add drawings, stick on stickers, and make it unmistakably theirs.

Open to the first page. Write today's date. Draw or paint something from the day — breakfast, the view out the window, a pet, a feeling face.

Turn to the next page and try an art experiment. Draw with your non-dominant hand. Paint with a cotton swab. Make marks with your eyes closed for 10 seconds.

Add a mixed media page — glue in a found scrap, a ticket stub, a leaf, or a piece of wrapping paper, and draw around it.

Write a few sentences about what you created. How did it feel? What do you want to try next? This is the reflection piece.

Make a plan to add at least one page to the journal every few days. The habit is the real project.

An art journal is a zero-pressure creative space. Nothing has to be good. The point is to practice, experiment, and record.

Start the habit together. Keep your own art journal alongside your child. Fill pages together at the kitchen table.

Some pages will be quick — a two-minute sketch. Others will take 30 minutes of focused work. Both are valuable.

Over months, the journal becomes a treasure. Flip back through old pages and notice growth, recurring themes, and changing interests.

This is the beginning of a portfolio habit. Documenting creative work is a skill used by artists, designers, and architects throughout their careers.