New Year’s Day Craft for Kids and Adults: Vision Boards
I love taking the flip of the calendar to get quiet and talk to myself and my family about our year ahead: What do we hope for? What are we excited about? What do we want more of this year?
That’s why making vision boards with kids has become one of my favorite New Year’s traditions. It’s creative, low-pressure, and opens the door to conversations about goals, feelings, and intentions. Plus, it’s fun to watch our dreams come true together!
Why Vision Boards Work for Kids
When kids flip through magazines or draw pictures of what they love, they’re practicing:
Naming what matters to them
Imagining the future with optimism
Expressing feelings visually instead of verbally
Understanding that dreams can be playful, small, and personal
There’s no “right” outcome.
What You’ll Need
You likely already have most of this at home:
Cardstock, poster board, or construction paper
Old magazines, catalogs, or printed images
Markers, crayons, or colored pencils
Scissors
Glue sticks
Stickers or washi tape (optional)
You can also invite kids to draw everything instead of cutting images.
How We Do It
We usually do this sometime on New Year’s Day (but we’ve also been known to bust it out in hotel rooms on vacation, using the activity brochures in the lobby!), often at the outside table with music playing quietly in the background. We start by asking a few gentle questions, never expecting full answers:
What do you want more of this year?
What makes you feel happy or calm?
Is there something new you want to try?
What do you want our family to do together more often?
Some kids go straight for pictures of animals or nature. Others choose words, colors, or symbols. Some boards are busy and loud; others are quiet and minimal. All of them are right. And the adults always, always join in, too.
Let Go of the Outcome
This part matters most.
The value isn’t in what the board looks like or whether it matches what actually happens in the year ahead.
If your child wants to glue ten pictures of dogs and nothing else, that’s their vision.
If they change their mind halfway through, that’s okay too.
What We Do With Them After
Sometimes we hang the boards in their bedrooms. Sometimes they live quietly in a drawer and resurface months later. Occasionally, one of them will point to something and say, “This came true!”
A Simple New Year’s Ritual
I love traditions that don’t require perfection or planning weeks in advance. Vision boards fall squarely into that category.
They remind kids (and us) that a lot of magic and mystery lies in the days ahead.
And that feels like a pretty good way to start a new year!