Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Heritage Journals

Do you know what is a great way to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month? By having your kids fill out their own heritage journal!

My Heritage Journal Series includes five different Hispanic cultures:

1. Mexican
2. Puerto Rican
3. Spanish
4. Cuban
5. Guatemalan

And because we are so often a mix of cultures, My Multicultural Heritage Journal is always a winner. 

Each book contains a page at the front where your kids can record their name and write down the year in which they start the journal.

image from the My Mexican Heritage Journal

The next two pages include a map of the country so that your child can color in where in that country their family has lived, as well as space for writing down any explanations or explaining in greater detail the who, where, when, why, or even how their family lived in that country. NOTE: The Multicultural Heritage Journal has a world map so that kids can color in the countries in which their family/ancestors have lived.

The next page contains writing prompts where your child can record his or her own story and history. And there is space for drawing your family's crest coat of arms, if you know what it is. FYI, there are lots of online sites that can show your family's coat of arms. Just make sure that you monitor your child's time online and don't let them use a site that asks for all sorts of personal information. They only have to enter their last name. Or you can Google your last name and add "Coat of Arms" at the end.

Or, if you prefer, you can have your child design and draw your family's coat of arms! (Fun, no?) This might be preferable for families with mixed ancestry. Kids can look up different coats of arms from their family heritage and then choose elements to create their own.

And of course, no heritage journal is complete without a place to draw your family tree! Right after you do so, you can even draw or post snapshots of the family members listed in the family tree with space for captions.

image from the My Puerto Rican Heritage Journal

image from My Cuban Heritage Journal

image from My Multicultural Heritage Journal

Then the main part of the journal is filled with journaling pages. Kids can write their family stories here. And because I wanted to be sure and emphasize the heritage aspect, there are 17 journaling pages with small cultural images and fun facts about the country scattered throughout the book. (The Multicultural Heritage Journal just has images of items and places found in countries across the world.)

image from the My Spanish Heritage Journal

There are even a few pages for recording family interviews. Sketch pages and more photo pages are also scattered throughout the journal. Don't be afraid to really think outside the box. Scrapbook these pages! Add text and dimension to your journal. :)

image from My Spanish Heritage Journal

And it all ends with a section in the very back for writing down favorite family recipes.

Don't these sound like the perfect way to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month?

You can find all of them available on Amazon!

Oh, and they are also available as downloads in my TpT shop. Just print the pages you want to use and go!

New Titles in Heritage Journal Series: Guatemala & France

I'm so happy to share that two more titles have been released in my Heritage Journal Series! I had several requests for a heritage journal that explores Guatemalan heritage. So I wrote My Guatemalan Heritage Journal (aff) to help kids explore and document their heritage... and I had a lot of fun researching it.

**And I'm pleased to say that now through August 1st, I'll be donating a portion of the sales of My Guatemalan Heritage Journal to Save the Children for the work they are doing for the asylum-seeking families in Deming, NC.

In addition, I've started working on a series of non-Hispanic titles, starting with My French Heritage Journal. A French version will be coming out soon. And I'm working on Spanish translations of the titles that explore Hispanic heritage. So keep an eye out for these.

As with my other heritage journals, these two books contain:

• a journal cover page,
• "This journal belongs to" page,
• a map for coloring in where in Guatemala/France their family has lived,
• a page allowing children to write where their family has lived,
• a page for drawing or pasting your family's crest coat of arms,
• pages for drawing a family tree,
• a page for drawing or pasting snapshots of family members with lines for titles and captions,
• a page titled "Why I consider myself to be Guatemalan/French" with writing prompts and room to write down thoughts and answers,
• 17 journaling pages with small cultural images and fun facts from Guatemala/France, plus one blank journaling page to be reproduced as often as you like,
• 3 pages to share favorite family memories or stories with space for adding photos or drawing pictures,
• 4 pages for recording family interviews,
• 4 pages dedicated just to photos,
• 1 sketch pad page,
• and a family recipe cover page and actual recipe page.

I loved learning about some of the fascinating facts, crafts, and traditions most closely associated with these countries. For example, in the Guatemalan journal, your children/students will learn about places such as Tikal and Pacaya, as well as products like jade, cacao, and coffee. They'll read about worry dolls and huipiles, then discover the resplendent quetzal.

In my French journal, they'll read about famous landmarks like the Arc de Triomphe and Louvre, as well as the traditional game of boules and the popular Tour de France. They'll also be introduced to French cuisine and famous people.

All these and so much more are found within the pages of these journals. They are here to guide your children as they explore their family heritage and provide a place to record their discoveries. These are designed to be family treasures to be passed down from one generation to the next.

You can find a complete list of all the titles in my Heritage Journal Series here.

And to see some sample pages, take a look at this post that I wrote for the launch of the series.

If you've purchased or plan to purchase any of these titles, I would like to ask that you please, please, please consider writing an honest review on Amazon. Those reviews help my journals show up to families searching for these titles. Thank you!

Heritage Journal Series for Kids

I am SO EXCITED today to finally be able to announce my new series of activity books for children! My Heritage Journal Series for kids has been designed for children ages 8 to 14 and provides them with a way to record their family's story and heritage.

The first group of books is now available in TWO formats: a pdf download and the physical books shown above. (That's right. I said "first group" because I have a lot of these planned!) This first group focuses primarily on Hispanic heritage because I was thinking of my own family and all of you MommyMaestra readers. The first books are (in alphabetical order):

• My Cuban Heritage Journal
• My Mexican Heritage Journal
• My Puerto Rican Heritage Journal
• My Spanish Heritage Journal
• My Guatemalan Heritage Journal
• and My French Heritage Journal

And because families are so complex and diverse, I've also created My Multicultural Heritage Journal that provides a space for children to explore their multicultural backgrounds. 

I've been working on these almost nonstop since January. If you follow me on TpT, you may have already seen them and ordered your copies. They've already been selling even though I haven't promoted them. 

So let's talk about what's inside! Each book contains a page at the front where your kids can record their name and write down the year in which they start the journal. 

image from the My Mexican Heritage Journal

The next two pages include a map of the country so that your child can color in where in that country their family has lived, as well as space for writing down any explanations or explaining in greater detail the who, where, when, why, or even how their family lived in that country. NOTE: The Multicultural Heritage Journal has a world map so that kids can color in the countries in which their family/ancestors have lived.

The next page contains writing prompts where your child can record his or her own story and history. And there is space for drawing your family's crest coat of arms, if you know what it is. FYI, there are lots of online sites that can show your family's coat of arms. Just make sure that you monitor your child's time online and don't let them use a site that asks for all sorts of personal information. They only have to enter their last name. Or you can Google your last name and add "Coat of Arms" at the end.

Or, if you prefer, you can have your child design and draw your family's coat of arms! (Fun, no?) This might be preferable for families with mixed ancestry. Kids can look up different coats of arms from their family heritage and then choose elements to create their own. 

And of course, no heritage journal is complete without a place to draw your family tree! Right after you do so, you can even draw or post snapshots of the family members listed in the family tree with space for captions.

image from the My Puerto Rican Heritage Journal

image from My Cuban Heritage Journal

image from My Multicultural Heritage Journal

Then the main part of the journal is filled with journaling pages. Kids can write their family stories here. And because I wanted to be sure and emphasize the heritage aspect, there are 17 journaling pages with small cultural images and fun facts about the country scattered throughout the book. (The Multicultural Heritage Journal just has images of items and places found in countries across the world.)

image from the My Spanish Heritage Journal

There are even a few pages for recording family interviews. Sketch pages and more photo pages are also scattered throughout the journal. Don't be afraid to really think outside the box. Scrapbook these pages! Add text and dimension to your journal. :)

image from My Spanish Heritage Journal

And it all ends with a section in the very back for writing down favorite family recipes. 

So what do you think? Isn't it awesome?

These books will eventually be translated into Spanish for my Spanish-seeking readers. And the next round of books will focus on non-Spanish speaking heritages, such as French, British, German, and others. If you are looking for something in particular, please don't hesitate to reach out to me and put in a request.

If you want to just print the pages on your own, you can download the pdf files from my store on TpT.  That file contains a cover page, so you could put everything in a binder. And it would make scrapbooking some of the interior sketch pages easier. These files will soon be available in my MommyMaestra online shop, too.

Educators! This would make a fantastic project to turn in at the end of the school year, or to complete over summer break. But, of course, it could be completed in a much shorter time frame, too.

You know that I am all about raising children who are proud of their heritage and family's history. That's partially because I read a study by researchers at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill a few years ago that showed how "Latino adolescents in the U.S. who maintain ties to their culture of origin are more likely to develop healthy behaviors than their peers who do not. Latino adolescents with a strong awareness of their family’s culture reported higher self-esteem, fewer social problems and less hopelessness, aggression and substance abuse."

This, then, is my gift to our children: a tool for researching, recording, and treasuring our family stories.

Abrazo to you all!

Here are the links to the books on Amazon: