12 Best Journals For Kids To Supercharge Confidence & Connection
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Inside: 12 of the best journals for kids of 2021 – 2022. These kids’ journals promote confidence, connection, gratitude, and self-esteem and foster a growth mindset.
This blog post will cover 12 of the best journals for kids on the market today.
We’ve compiled a wide variety of journals that will be perfect for any age and offer various benefits that will help kids grow, express themselves creatively, and have fun along the way!
Journals are also an excellent way for kids to record events, explore their creativity, and work through emotions and experiences.
We’ll also go in-depth about what makes these journals so amazing and how they can be used with kids between different ages and stages of development – from toddlers to pre-teens.
Journals for kids are increasing in popularity, and because there are now SO many options, it’s hard to know which one is best.
But here’s the good news:
We are here to help.
So, without further ado, let’s get started!
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Because we all want our kids to be happy and healthy — not just for right now, but for the rest of their lives.
Our Top Picks
Amazing Me
Go!
Me
The 12 Best Journals for Kids
Best Journals for Growth Mindset
Teach kids to tackle anything that can (and will) come up in life.
Why We Chose It:
This is our VERY OWN journal for kids. I’ve poured my heart and soul into these pages to create the best book to help kids believe in the amazing little mini-humans that they are.
Amazing Me is a one-of-a-kind activity journal that takes kids on a journey of self-discovery as they learn the social-emotional skills needed to tackle everything that can (and will) come up in life.
Filled with colorful illustrations and engaging content, Amazing Me explains social-emotional concepts in a child-friendly way by inviting children to become special agents working their way through 10 personal growth missions.
Each mission is packed with fun activities, journaling pages, and special assignments that harness the power of the growth mindset as kids learn how to:
- Explore their dreams and goals
- Handle big feelings that come up
- Develop healthy habits and routines
- Build their confidence and use positive self-talk
- Tackle things that are new or unexpected
- Set healthy boundaries and choose kindness
- Cultivate an attitude of gratitude
Teach kids ages 7 to 10 to think positively with this growth mindset journal.
Why We Chose It:
Learn Grow Succeed is a kid’s growth mindset journal based on the scientifically proven principles of Carol Dweck’s Mindset Theory, which has been used by professionals in many disciplines for decades now.
This workbook is full of charts, exercises, quizzes, positive thoughts, and prompts that will guide your child to a growth mindset by the end of the journal. Kids will learn how to identify what’s holding them back from being their best selves, build self-worth, and motivate themselves through goal-setting.
“This 10-week journey is designed to help you foster an attitude of resilience in your child. The secret here is that when you think like a diamond, you sparkle.” – LearnGrowSucceed.com
Big Life Journal helps children develop strong Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and growth mindset skills through inspiring stories, colorful illustrations, and engaging guided activities.
Why We Chose It:
I’m obsessed with everything The Big Life Journal puts out; this journal is no exception. They are the Cadillac of growth mindset resources; you won’t be disappointed with this journal.
In this illustrated journal, children discover:
- how to believe in themselves
- how to face challenges with confidence
- mistakes are opportunities to grow
- they can achieve anything when they’re persistent
Best Journal for Creativity
Inventive, hilarious, and joyously colorful, this fill-in journal was designed to help kids capture nearly everything that’s uniquely rad about them.
Why We Chose It:
With design-savvy, yet completely kid-friendly illustrations, kids are asked to draw or write about a bunch of interesting things—like what their hair looks like, what their band name would be, what they’d bring to outer space, and how they feel about lightning, lizards, and pickles.
There may or may not be a place for super-secret stuff inside the book jacket. Whether kids complete their entire compendium on a rainy day or finish it over a year, it’ll become a treasure to look back on and smile.
Ideal for the holidays, rainy days, and happy occasions of all kinds, this imagination-building gift will engage kids for hours on end!
Best Journals For Teenagers
This beautifully designed, science-based journal helps tweens and teens develop a resilient, growth mindset so they can grow into confident, happy adults.
Why We Chose It?
Finding something designed specifically for our complicated teenagers is difficult, but the Big Life Journal has done just that.
This beautifully designed, science-based journal helps tweens and teens develop a resilient growth mindset to grow into confident, happy adults.
Best Keepsake Kids Journals
A fun and clever way to keep kids on track (and look back).
Why We Chose It:
One Question a Day for Kids is a guided journal with fun and thoughtful questions for each day of the year.
I just love this idea: Kids answer the same question every day for three years, and children will be able to see how their thoughts, creativity, and even handwriting change from year to year.
Prompts are short and sweet, allowing kids to answer as concisely (or elaborately) as they want.
Why We Chose It:
The Five-Minute Journal for Kids is a children’s version of the New York Times bestselling The Five Minute Journal. It includes kid-friendly prompts, helps build self-confidence, and fosters an optimistic outlook on life.
The journal leads kids to set daily intentions—encouraging them to start each morning with something they’re grateful for, plan what they want to accomplish, meet basic needs, and take care of themselves before anything else.
Reviewing how the day went at night will help your child learn from their experience and see that mistakes don’t define who s/he is–and it sets up progress toward the next successful day.”
A must-have shared mother-son journal for the pair that's seeking fun, creative ways to connect with one another.
Why We Chose It:
A must-have shared mother-son journal for the pair that’s seeking fun, creative ways to connect with one another. With thoughtful prompts, coloring pages, challenges, and free creative space, Between Mom and Me is the perfect love-filled gift for mom or son!
With this engaging guided journal, together you and your child will:
- Answer Thought Provoking Questions: What are your thoughts on kindness? What would we do if we had the whole day together with no work or chores?
- Record Memories: One of my favorite traditions is; that our favorite thing about the season is…
- Compare Perspectives: What were you like when you were my age? Do you ever feel pressured or uncomfortable about anything online?
Most Unique Journal for Kids or Teenagers
Perhaps you're a seasoned Wreck-er, having made your way through one or more copies of Wreck This Journal. Or maybe you're new to the phenomenon (little do you know, this experience might just change your life). Whatever the case, you've found the perfect book to destroy...
Why We Chose It:
“Not gonna lie, this is probably the coolest journal you’ll ever see. . . . Wreck This Journal is here to inspire you.” —Buzzfeed
A spectacular coloring and painting edition of the incredible journal that started it all, in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the 10-million-copy international bestseller
Perhaps you’re a seasoned Wreck-er, having made your way through one or more copies of Wreck This Journal. Or maybe you’re new to the phenomenon (little do you know, this experience might just change your life). Whatever the case, you’ve found the perfect book to destroy…
Welcome to an all-new edition of Wreck This Journal, now in spectacular full color! Inside, you’ll find prompts for painting, shredding, transforming, and unleashing your creativity. With a mix of new, altered, and favorite prompts, Wreck This Journal: Now in Color invites you to wreck with color: mixing colors to make mud, letting chance dictate your color choice, weaving with brightly colored strips of paper, and more.
Best Travel Journal for Kids
Bring this journal on your next adventure to create the best-ever souvenir.
Why We Chose It:
Bring this journal on your next adventure to create the best-ever souvenir.
This travel journal from the award-winning creative design team behind the Wee Society suite of products and apps is filled with a bunch of thought-starters so kids can capture important stuff, like cool things they spot, new things they try, and people they meet.
There are also adventure badges to earn, stickers, places to keep photos and other treasures, and postcards to send. Whether you’re headed to grandma’s, camping for the weekend, or taking a summer vacation, Go! is pretty much guaranteed to make your next trip even more memorable.
Ideal for holiday travel and adventures of all kinds, this is an imagination-building gift that will engage kids for hours on end! Happy trails!
(Go! is also available in two additional jacket colors, so you can collect them all and complete one for each adventure you take.)
Best Gratitude Journals for Kids
Why We Chose It:
We chose this journal mostly for its affordability.
Gratitude is a skill. An attitude of gratitude is a positive way of looking at life. Gratitude can increase the children’s happiness, teach them to be more empathetic, and help them to be more thankful for everything they have.
Studies have shown that living a grateful life can increase happiness. It’s good for the mind and body! In turn, being grateful can have a big effect on kid’s everyday lives, like how they do in school and their relationships with family and friends.
A journal to help children practice mindfulness and gratitude.
Why We Chose It:
The 3 Minute Gratitude Journal for Kids is a simple and effective way to teach kids the importance of gratitude while providing them with space to express their thoughts and feelings about what they are grateful for.
Be creative! Find a unique way to express your gratitude. This journal is about encouraging kids to be creative and expressive in showing gratitude. You can insert photos, drawings, or any other special keepsakes you want.
What are journals for kids?
A journal is a notebook, logbook, or diary that records the writer’s thoughts and feelings.
Many people journal to make sense of events in their life or because they want a written record of the things that happen during it…
Journaling can be used as a form of self-therapy or simply an outlet for creativity.
Why are Journals for Kids So Amazing
It’s important that children have the tools available to help them in different ways – and a journal is a fabulous tool.
It allows kids to explore new thoughts and feelings, and journaling as therapy can even help children who have experienced traumatic events.
There are SO many ways journaling can benefit your child!
“The world of journals has never been better.”
There are so many amazing benefits of journaling for kids, such as:
- Improving reading and writing skills. This isn’t school, and it’s a no-pressure, safe place to express themselves.
- Exploring thoughts and feelings. We all feel better when we talk about our thoughts and feelings. A journal provides this outlet to express feelings safely.
- Bringing out your creative side: Many guided journals will have your kids drawing pictures, thinking up stories, and answering guided questions.
- Improving confidence and self esteem – many journals, one being our Amazing Me journal focuses on teaching kids a growth mindset, and this mindset will help your child to believe that they can achieve anything!
- Developing an attitude of gratitude: You know what they say, grateful kids are happy kids.
Choosing the right journal for your kids
AGE
Any journal you choose should be age-appropriate. If you give a young child a journal that they can’t understand, they will quickly become overwhelmed and lose interest. Similarly, if you give an older child a journal that is too childish, they won’t want to use it. Always read the age guidelines when choosing your journal.
Purpose
What are you and your child hoping to get out of this journal? Perhaps you are looking to help your child express their feelings? Improve gratitude? Foster creativity? Think about what you hope to achieve and then choose the appropriate journal.
Different Types of Journals
1. Blank Journal
Blank journals allow you to make them into whatever you want- they come with a lot of pages to write about whatever might be troubling your child, but they are also nice as therapy journals for children who are old enough to journal on their own.
If you are looking for fun journal prompts for kids, this might help you.
4. Guided Journal
Guided journals are great for kids and adults. Because sometimes you need the prompts to inspire you.
Have you ever asked your child a question, and they just answer, I don’t know? Well, it might be hard to plop a blank journal in front of a child and expect them to fill the pages with their heart and souls.
Guided journals are excellent options. There are many guided journals on our list above to choose from.
5. Log style
A log style can give your child bite-sized opportunities to write in their journal. The journals take little time each day, keeping it from feeling like work.
These journals are helpful if your child is easily overwhelmed.
6. Memory or keepsake style
Many journals are designed to record memorable events so that you can look back on them years later. Journals such as travel journals, mom and me journals are perfect keepsake journals.
7. Locked journals
All kids love having their own private space to express themselves. I still remember my locked diary when I was a child.
Quick tips on getting your child into journaling:
- Find a journal that’s easy and fun – Your child’s journal should be one that they’re drawn too.
- Encourage them with journal prompts
- Set aside journal time
- Allow them to pick out their journal
- Give them time to journal without distractions or pressure. It’s important they feel safe and comfortable when journaling, which can be difficult if there are other children around or their parents expect too much from the journaling session.
- Be available to talk with your child about what they journaled and how it made them feel – this is an important part of journaling, as a journal can be really fun, but it can also be very emotional for kids too.
What Makes a Kids Journal Special?
A journal can become a cherished keepsake for you as a parent to look back on years later (and smile) but also a keepsake for your child to look back on when they are adults (and maybe even show their kids one day).
Journals are little nuggets of joy that we never get rid of. We keep them tucked away and one day when we open those pages we can be flooded with sweet nostalgia.
Final Thoughts on The Best Journal for Kids
I hope you have found a journal you and your child will love and use. Tell me which one from the list is your favorite.
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Because we all want our kids to be happy and healthy — not just for right now, but for the rest of their lives.
Resources You’ll Love
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