My kids love to look at pictures of themselves, places they’ve been or things they have made. I think that is typical of most kids and people in general. I have found that my kids will look at their scrapbooks, yearbooks, photo albums, etc. more often if those items are within their reach. That sounds obvious but it may be something you never think about.

My IKEA Expedit shelves make up almost one whole wall of my office and stores my scrapbooks and about half of my crafting supplies.

I cannot express how much I love these shelves. They do not sag under the weight of my scrapbooks and my 12×12 scrapbook albums fit perfectly! I recently did a little reorganization and cleared out two of the cubes in the middle row. I reserved one cube for each child to hold there memories. Kara’s cube holds her preschool portfolios, personal yearbooks, school yearbooks, books she wrote, Disney autograph albums, brag books with Christmas photos and the summer scrapbook she made last year.

Colin’s cube holds his preschool portfolios, personal yearbook, summer scrapbook he made last year, Disney autograph albums, photo book and brag books with Christmas photos.

The kids often wander in the office and look through the things in their cubes. They don’t have to ask anyone to help them, they can reach their memories on their own.

I love to hear them discuss what they remember when they look through their photos. I love that they remember details that I do not. I love that they usually do this together. I love that they will remember!

I am going to get 8×8 versions of our Project 365 photo books and add them to their cubes. Do you have a space where your kids can reach and look through their photos or memory books?

This same concept applies to adults too. I have my scrapbook and photo books on my Expedit so I can easily take them off the shelf and look at them. I wouldn’t be able to do that if they were hidden in the closet or other storage. You work hard to make your memories so put your memories within reach and you will look through them more.