How to Make a Children's Artwork Book, Step by Step

A shoebox full of drawings is wonderful and impossible to look at. A book of the best of them is something you will actually open. Making one takes an afternoon, and it is easier than it sounds. Here is the process, start to finish.

Step 1: Choose the scope

Decide what the book is about before you start. A book works best with a clear theme:

• A year in art, such as "Max, age 5".
• A school year, from nursery to leaving the primary school.
• A theme, such as "Animals", "Holidays" or "My family".
• A gift for grandparents, with the drawings that include them.

Step 2: Gather and digitise

Photograph each piece you might use. The better the photo, the better the page, so give it a minute: daylight, flat, straight on. Our guide to photographing kids' artwork has ten quick tips, and an app like Squiglet can straighten and tidy each picture for you.

Step 3: Pick the best

Choose about 30 to 60 pieces. Be ruthless: a book of 40 favourites is better than a book of 120 maybes. Pick:

• A mix of colours and styles.
• A few that show how your child has grown.
• Pieces with a story you can caption.

If you are unsure, ask your child to choose their ten favourites first.

Step 4: Put them in order

Chronological order tells the story of a year. A themed order, such as "Our pets", then "Holidays", then "Family", groups similar pieces. Either way, put a strong piece first and a satisfying one last.

Step 5: Add captions

Captions are what turn a book of pictures into a story. Keep them short and use your child's words:

• "Biscuit flying to the moon, age 5"
• "Our house. Mummy says it has too many windows."
• "The day we saw the dinosaurs"

Add the date or age; in twenty years you will not remember.

Step 6: Design the cover

A cover made from one favourite drawing is lovely. Or use a picture across the whole cover, front, spine and back. Add the title and the year in a large, readable font.

Step 7: Pick a size and a binding

Step 8: Check the quality

Look at every page before you order. Check:

• No picture is too small or blurry. As a rule, aim for roughly 150 to 200 pixels per inch at the printed size.
• Captions are spelled correctly.
• Nothing important sits too close to the edge or the spine.

The photo book designer in Squiglet does the layout for you: each drawing sits in a frame on its page with space for a caption, you flip through a preview of the whole book, and drafts save automatically so you can build it over several weeks.

Step 9: Order, then give it to someone

Printing usually takes a few days, then delivery. If it is a gift, allow extra time and order a few weeks ahead. A second copy for the grandparents is almost always a good idea.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Too many pages. A shorter book gets looked at more.
• No captions. Pictures without stories fade.
• Cropping too hard. Leave a little margin around the paper edge.
• Low-resolution photos. Re-shoot anything blurry.
• Waiting. A book of this year is much easier to make than a book of five years.

Next steps

Make a habit of photographing as you go, and in December, you will already have the pictures. Then it takes one evening to turn them into the book your child will treasure.

Seven themes that make a book feel finished

• A year in art. The simplest: January to December, in order.
• All about me. Self-portraits and drawings of family, friends and favourite things.
• Animals and creatures. The cats, dragons and sea monsters of the year.
• Our adventures. Holidays, days out and the drawings made afterwards.
• From scribbles to stories. A "growing up" book from the first marks onwards.
• Made for you. A book of the drawings a child made for one person, like a grandparent.
• Things I imagined. Rockets, robots, castles and other worlds.

Layout tips that always work

1. One drawing per page for the stars of the book, and two or three small ones on a page for sketches.
2. Mix landscape and portrait pictures, and let each fill its page rather than forcing a single shape.
3. Leave space. A little white around each picture makes it look like a framed print.
4. Keep captions short and in the same place on every page.
5. Put the strongest picture first and a lovely finishing one last.

Captions worth writing

Good captions have three parts: who, what and when. Some examples:

• "Max, age 5. 'This is Biscuit flying to the moon.'"
• "Ava, age 7. Our new house, with an extra window for the cat."
• "Zoe, age 3. Her first picture with a face."

Even a few words transform a page. If your child tells you about a picture, write their exact words, spelling and all.

A one-evening plan

Keeping the cost sensible

Prices depend on the size, the binding and the number of pages. To keep it affordable, choose a softcover, aim for around 30 to 40 pages and order extra copies together so you pay delivery once. Our price list shows the live prices for every option.