Back in my teaching days these printable kids diary pages were popular with both the kids and their parents, often the kids would draw or write about something that was highly significant to them but the parents either didn’t know about the incident or the parents didn’t ‘get’ that it was such a big deal.

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Imagine back to when you were a kid, there are probably events that are as clear as day in your memory, whether it was a really fun day or adventure you had or something that changed the way you thought about the world, maybe these days looks like just an ordinary, run of the mill day to your parents so when you ask them about it they don’t remember the event or incident at all.

When you download your printable kids diary page file, (at the bottom of the post) the first page is a reference page for your child. I recommend printing one for yourself too so you can do it side by side. Draw each emotion into the face, remember to add your hair too! You can then keep this page as a reference guide, so that your child can do the page independently next time.

The pages are flexible for age/ability. The second page is easier and great for those just starting to read, if they know their days of the week, can count to 31 and  the months, they can simply circle or colour in the correct option.

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If you child is just starting to learn their days and months then you can do it together, start at the beginning and work through the week until you get to the correct day, then they can colour or circle the shape. Doing this every day (or realistically every other day) will help your child to remember and recall the days/months and will soon be able to do it independently. To introduce the writing, your child can just write their emotion (copied from the reference sheet) into the speech bubble.

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The final printable kids diary page in the PDF is for those kids who are writing, They can write a bit about their day and draw a picture in the box on the right. I would also encourage you child to write a bit more that just the emotion in the speech bubble. “Today I was happy because I got to sit by my best friend in music class” – as a random example!

Any time! If you want to do it on a regular basis then I would set a specific time of day but remember to make it fun! If it’s not fun then your kids will soon resent doing it. It would be a good wind down at the end of the day activity before bedtime or maybe when you are cooking dinner and you want to keep your kids from under your feet as you juggle spag bol and chopping salad.
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One of my students mothers asked if she could have a master copy of the page I was using in class with the kids, I gave her one, she said she wanted to use it at home. A few weeks later she came back with a A4 binder which had been decorated by her child. Inside were the diary pages, all filled in, she was getting her child to do the diary each day so Daddy could read it when he came home – typical salaryman working all hours, didn’t get to see much of the daughter. The fun thing was that Daddy was filling it in too, so each day had an entry from the child and the Dad, so they both started to see a glimpse into each others day.

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Some of the dads entries were brilliant, like he was annoyed because he had to stand next to a very smelly man on the train or he was happy because he thought he had lost his favourite work pen but he found it at the bottom of his bag! Such a great way for the family to connect when it’s not possible for them to actually spend time together. It also gave them something to talk about, often dads feel ‘left out’ because they miss so much of the day to day action.

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Because they were both filling it in, it was fun and they were doing it for the other person which gave a bit more incentive, something to think about if your child isn’t really into it.

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It’s also great to look back at the pages a year or two later, Ebi-kun keeps an actual diary now (This one available on Amazon) and now he is on his second year some of the entries from the previous year are great to look back on.