Big Sibling Journal & Memory Book * Moms and Crafters

This big sibling journal was designed as a memory book for my own kids to make to celebrate their new baby brother! If you want more ideas, check out my favorite big sibling gifts for kids of all ages! This post contains affiliate links.

I’m excited to be launching something new: a big sibling journal! Now, what’s so cool about this one?

It’s simple: I created what I wanted for my own kids, ages seven and ten, for when Baby Jay was born. So it’s mom-created and designed, as a big sibling gift from the new baby.

Of course, my big kids know it’s not really FROM the baby, but they get a kick out of the idea!

Inside the big sibling journal

So what makes this big sibling journal and memory book so cool and unique? The answer is simple: it is designed to help the big sibling appreciate the baby – from baby’s name to their new “standing” in the family, it’s a relationship-building journal, that encourages minimal writing but doesn’t require too much.

There is space for photos and drawings, and even letter writing! There’s room for creativity – but it doesn’t require too much of it.

And there’s though in every detail! Backgrounds of pages can be colored in, but because there are accent colors, they are decorative without being colored. And each relevant prompt has a space to write baby’s name, so that the big sibling can get used to it and start connecting.

And yes, it’s gender neutral too!

The big sibling journal is designed as a “next level” big sibling book, for the child who is too old for a “yay, I’m a big sister” or “favorite character has a new baby” book. It’s tailor made for my own kids who are ages 7 and 10 but appropriate for early writers (or younger if an adult will write it) through age twelve.

I’ve made it available as both a digital download and a printed journal and I’ll include the advantages of each below.

Here’s a quick rundown of all the included pages:

Prompt Pages

Prompt pages follow a basic format. You have a prompt, with a space to write baby’s name, a space for photo(s) or drawings related to the prompt, and a place to “answer” the prompt.

Your child has enough space to write a few sentences, but it won’t look too empty if they choose to write just a few words.

Some prompts include (please do not plagiarize!):

How I felt when [name] was born
My favorite thing about [name]
Why [name] is an important part of our family
My favorite thing to do with [name]
Something I look forward to when [name] grows up
What your name [name] means to me
How we prepared for [name]’s arrival
What makes me unique in my bigger family

Bonus Pages

To complete the book, I included some additional pages. I wanted there to be more for the big sibling but without there being endless prompts.

First of all, the printable version does come with a front and back cover so that you can assemble it book report style or bind it. Even the cover has a space to put baby’s name!

Other pages:

“This journal belongs to”
A page for the giver to write a note to the big sibling
Letter writing pages for big sibling to write letters to the baby for when they grown up (repeated a few times in the print version, and print as many as you’d like if using the printable)
“Our favorite moments” pages with spaces for drawings and photos.
An inspiring quote page about siblings.

You also have a guide for the adult gifting it and a guide for the kid using it.

Tips for gifting a big sibling memory book kit

You can, of course, just gift it as is, but here are my tips!

Assembling the digital version as a printed gift

One of the “perks” of buying the digital version is that you can gift it to multiple people with one purchase! You can also print pages as needed and customize it to your needs – leaving out any pages you don’t like, printing multiples of the ones you want more of…

So if you have multiple kids who are in the correct age range and will be big siblings (I have two) or if you’re a grandparent, aunt/uncle, or nanny with multiple kids who you’ll be giving this to as time goes on, you may prefer the printable version.

You can also assemble it into a much nicer, more substantial journal, depending how you do it.

Some ideas for gifting it:

Laminate the front and back cover with 5ml (stiff) laminating sheets and spiral bind it.

Use a report cover to assemble it.

Get a half-inch binder with cover pockets. You can assemble the interior by punching holes in the pages, but it’s much nicer to put it in sheet protectors.

Bundling the print or digital version as a gift basket

To give my kids a more complete set, I included the following:

Washi tape (for taping in photos)
Gel pens
Spare paper for their KidiZoom PrintCam cameras.

And yes, if your kid doesn’t have one yet, and you’ll anyway be gifting something nicer to go along with it, that’s a fabulous option. If your tween has a smartphone already, you can gift a Sprocket printer or spare paper to go with it…