Making a "Time Capsule" with children

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favourite things

– ‘My Favourite Things’, The Sound Of Music

Our favourite things. As we get older, the fluctuation of what our favourite things tend to slow down and level out. They may flicker here and there but our main ‘favourites’ stand fast from year to year, perhaps only changing slightly every few years. For children however, these favourite things swing like a pendulum. The speed that the pendulum swings seems to simply depend on the day, or if we are being really honest, even the hour! 

They are so busy all the time and are still exploring the world and discovering new things. New tastes, new smells, new toys, new friends, new films, new music, new loves and new dislikes! It’s fun to note down your child’s preferences at the beginning of the year and then see how they have changed over the course of that year or two! 

As a young adult, I was always a little envious when reading or watching stories of those digging up a time capsule that they had buried 10 years previously. It must be so exciting seeing what you had left inside. I bet some might even be a little nervous to see what their younger selves may have written. So, let’s not be envious anymore, let’s get to it! 

Today we shall be creating our own Time Capsule with our children! It is really so simple and can be adapted in various ways to suit your family’s needs. 

So join us in bottling your favourite things in the present, to be opened in the future!

What you will need:

• Shoe box/ glass jar/ plastic container
• Paper and or printer
• Pen and pencils
• Scissors
• String
• Stickers

Instructions: 

1. Firstly you will need to decide if you are going to bury it or keep your Time Capsule in the house. That will decide what sort of container you will need. We will be using a simple shoe box as we will be keeping it in our garage. If you want to keep it outside or underground you will need a non-decay case, like a closed glass jar.
2. Once you have your container you can decorate it in any way your children would like to. Some ideas are; stickers, paint, decoupage, sharpie pens and spray paint.
3. Now it is time to think about what you would like to put inside it. First off, we measured how tall the children were. Get your child to lie down on their backs with their legs together. With a piece of string, measure how tall they are and cut. Attach it to a note stating the name and age of the child. When you open it in the future it’ll be a fun way to see how much they have grown!
4. Now on a piece of paper, get your child to draw around their hands. Now allow them to cut it out. This will illustrate how much their hands have grown by the time they next open it. 
5. Do the same with their feet and write what shoe size they are inside. Cut them out.
6. On a third piece of paper, ask each child to draw themselves within a large oval frame. This is a fun way to see how much their drawing skills have developed when they next open the box.
7. Lastly, type/write/print out a list of questions for your child to write the answers of their favourite things. This will be age dependent so altering the questions for each child is necessary. You can make your own, or use our Favourite Things Questionnaire!

Take a look to Los Olivos' time capsule here!

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