How the scrapbook works
On the colouring and painting page there is a 📒 Scrapbook button beside Save. One tap keeps the picture — no grown-up needed, no file to name. Open this page and the pictures are waiting, newest first, each with the day it was made. Tap a picture to see it big; from there you can print it or remove it. The book keeps the newest sixty pictures, which is about a term's worth of painting.
Why keeping pictures matters
A child who sees their work kept learns that it has value. Early-years classrooms put every child's pictures on the wall for exactly this reason: it is not decoration, it is a message. Looking back through old pictures also lets children see their own progress — the scribble from March next to the house from June — in a way no score can show them. Ask "tell me about this one" rather than "what is it?"; the first invites a story, the second can only be answered right or wrong.
Print one a week
Pick a favourite together on Sunday, print it, and let your child choose where it goes. A picture on the fridge is looked at thirty times a day; a picture in a phone is looked at never. Dated prints in a folder become a record you will be glad of in ten years.
Private, on this device only
Children's pictures are personal, so they stay with you. The scrapbook is stored in this browser's own storage on this device: nothing is uploaded, there is no account, no gallery that others can see, and no way for us to look at the pictures. The cost of that privacy is that the book does not follow you to another phone, and clearing the browser's data for this site clears the book. To keep a picture for ever, use the 💾 Save button on the painting page (it asks a grown-up first) or print it.
Brothers and sisters on one device
Two children sharing a phone share a scrapbook. Most families find that is a feature. If you would rather keep them apart, give each child their own browser profile; each profile has its own scrapbook, marbles and settings.
More things to make
Painting on a screen is a start, not a substitute. The things to do at home page has twenty-four crafts with real paint, paper and glue, the printables include twelve colouring outlines for crayons, and rangoli and colour mixing are here for a rainy afternoon. The pictures that matter most will always be the ones with real paint on them.
Now do it for real
When the screen goes off, do something with your hands. Try 💨 Air can push — an easy science experiment for ages 3-6, with every step read aloud in your language. You will need a balloon, a straw and tape, a long string; nothing that needs a trip to a shop.
There are 56 more on the things to do at home page, and free printable worksheets if you would rather have something on paper. Ten minutes on a screen and twenty minutes off it is a good shape for a day at this age.
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