Time Capsule for Kids

As 2020 (and hopefully the chaos it brought) comes to a close, I wanted to create a way for my children to reflect for years to come. Resolutions don’t really stick in our family, so we decided to start a time capsule tradition for our boys this year. 

We wanted our time capsule to be a way for our kids to look back on their childhood and see how much they’ve grown or changed from one year to the next. The capsule can truly be anything: a small keepsake box, a journal, a photograph, or even a digital time capsule. We’re going to turn ours into a family activity and take time to sit down and reflect on our lives and our year together. 

We envisioned our time capsule idea to involve clear reflection and goal-setting (mainly for me). As I always say, it is important to meet your kids where they are. If they can reflect on their own, allow them the creativity to do so. If they aren’t quite there yet, feel free to encourage them with open-ended prompts. What accomplishments did they experience this year? What fun things did they do? What difficult things did they make it through? What are some things they did this year that they don’t want to do again? What is something they are proud of? If your kids aren’t able to write on their own yet, feel free to have them share their ideas and write it down for them. They can also draw out their ideas and experiences. 

We hope our time capsule project inspires you to find a way to reflect that works for you and your loved ones.

Written by Ngoc Nguyen Lay, Head Rascal. Mother of two rascals, ages 5 and 7.