Tell DIY All About Your Birthday!

What can we use if we don't have poster board, printed photos, stickers, or a scrapbook?

Use a flattened cereal box or several sheets of taped printer paper instead of poster board, phone screenshots or hand-drawn pictures for the 'Pick the photos or pictures' step, cut colored paper into sticker shapes, and repurpose a regular notebook as a scrapbook.

What should we do if photos move or glue wrinkles the paper when we try to arrange and attach them?

While you 'Lay out the photos and your notes on the page without gluing', use removable tape or paper clips to hold items, apply glue sparingly with a glue stick along photo edges, and press each glued photo flat under a heavy book until dry to prevent shifting and wrinkling.

How can we adapt this activity for younger children or older kids?

For preschoolers limit to 2–3 memories and let them place large pre-cut photos and draw while an adult writes the short captions, and for older kids use the full 6–8 memories, write detailed sentences under each photo, add intricate borders with markers, and scan or share the finished page on DIY.org.

How can we enhance or personalize the scrapbook/poster beyond the basic instructions?

Personalize it by gluing a small envelope to hold keepsakes from birthdays, layering washi tape and patterned paper around photos during the 'Decorate' step, and adding a timeline or a QR code linking to a birthday video before you 'Share your finished scrapbook or poster on DIY.org'.