Whether you are a seasoned or novice artist, this Emoji Journal is sure to be right up your alley. With a twist on traditional journaling, this activity is designed with school-aged and adolescent children in mind. This activity allows each child to design their own original journal and fill it with their original thoughts. Through journaling, each child has the opportunity to express themselves in a creative way, while critically thinking about how their emoji (or other picture) relates to their emotions surrounding a given day. The best part? There is no right or wrong way to complete this one-of-a-kind activity!
What You Will Need:
Printer Paper or Construction Paper
Scissors
String or Ribbon
Writing/Coloring Utensils (crayons, markers, pen, etc)
Let’s Get Started:
Step 1: The first thing that you need to do for this activity is decide how long you want to use your journal. For example, if you only want to journal for a few days, you will only need 2 or 3 pieces of paper. If you want to journal for a couple weeks, you might need more like 6 of 7 pieces of paper. For this example, I am going to make a journal for myself that will last for about 10 days, so I am going to use 4 pieces of paper.
Step 2: Once you have decided how long you want your journal to be and the pieces of paper that you will need, go ahead and place your paper together in one stack.
Step 3: Now, you are going to fold your paper, so that it looks more like a book than a stack of papers together.. To do this, you need to take all of your paper, together, and fold it hamburger style one time. Make sure to tightly push down on the crease, or folded end, of the paper so that it all stays folded.
Step 4: Next, while holding your folded journal in one hand, you will want to carefully take your scissors and cut each folded end of the paper about 2 inches, or the length of your thumb.
Step 5: After you have made your two cuts, unfold your paper by laying it down flat, take your ribbon or string, and place it in the center of your unfolded paper.
Step 6: In order to secure your journal, you are going to take the string and wrap it around the book, making sure that the string goes between each of the cuts you previously made.
Step 7: Now that you have wrapped your string around your book, you will want to secure it by tying a knot or a bow in your string.
Step 8: After you have created your journal, now comes the fun part! You get to decorate the cover of your journal however you would like. You can put a title on your journal, or draw a picture and color it. Whatever you do to decorate your journal will be great!
Step 9: Once you are finished decorating the cover of your journal, it is time to create labels for each of the pages of your journal. If you are wanting to journal several times a day, you can do it on the same page, or use separate pages. However, if you are wanting to journal once a day, you will label each separate page with the day of the week you want to journal on.
Step 10: Now that you have finished labeling your pages, it’s time to start journaling! For this type of journal, you are going to think of the emoji that best explains the way that you are feeling right now. So, for example, if you are feeling especially silly, you might use the laughing face emoji. Or, if you are feeling hungry, you could draw an emoji of your favorite food. Whatever you are feeling, go ahead and draw that on the first page of your journal.
Step 11: Once you have finished drawing, you can choose to write a couple words below your picture, describing your picture, if you would like. If not, you can go ahead and close your journal for the day.
Step 12: Each day, you will draw a new emoji describing how you feel for the day, until you have completed your emoji journal.
Step 13: If you run out of pages in your journal, but still want to continue journaling, you can make an entirely new journal! Just follow steps 1-4 to create another emoji journal for you!