Creating a Simple Time Capsule with Kids – FREE Download

Over the many years I have been a nanny, I love coming up with project ideas, exciting activities, and fun adventures for the kids and I to do together. I want to make a lasting impact on their lives and have them remember their time with me with fondness and gratitude for the intentional planning I did for them.

For the last year or so I have wanted to make a time capsule with my nanny family. We have made so many memories together throughout some of the busiest seasons and I thought this would be so much fun to stay connected in the years to come. We finally made it happen this past week and I couldn’t be more excited!

To start with, I found these time capsule templates on Canva that I edited a little to personalize for the children and their family. I also brought some stationary papers for the older two to use to write notes to their future selves.

If you are interested, download these time capsule pages for FREE by clicking on the images above!

I included the two versions I made – one for older children and one for younger children!

Updated 2026 – Now customize the years you would like to have this time capsule!

The kids filled out these pages with their name, favorite things, future goals, and little things like that. The older children wrote notes to their future selves and I am sure we will all have a good laugh when it comes time to read them together!

They each child collected anything that was special to them now that they didn’t mind hiding away for a few years! One brought a lego brick and a medal they had been awarded. Another put in a flip book he had made. And the littlest shared a cute picture she had painted. It was very fun to see what they wanted to include.

I wanted the children to have something special from me when we open this in a few years, so I wrote a personal note to each child with some words of encouragement, a favorite memory or two, and lots of love. These notes I put into separate envelopes and sealed so they didn’t read them yet! I included an envelope of pictures of the children and I that I had printed.

We folded everyone’s paper and put it into a plastic bag before putting it into this actual metal time capsule I bought. I know I didn’t have to get anything this extreme, but I wanted the big kids to be excited about it and I really want it to last with all the papers inside if we do end up burying it later. For now, after we took some pictures together we tucked it safely under their porch steps.

This was just what we did and it was quite simple and a lot of fun. Other ideas for time capsules would be to use a wooden treasure box or even just a shoe box that children can decorate and then hide inside their house somewhere so they will forget about it. Also, this time capsule we made for three years but you can make it be only one or two or even try to wait five years!

I am so looking forward to when we open this special memory capsule and go through our notes and papers. I’m most excited about watching these children grow up and reach the goals they have written down and to see how God blesses their family and me in the years to come. It is comforting to know that He has us all safe in his hands.

I hope this blesses you and gave you good ideas! Share below if you have ever done a time capsule and if you did what are some things you put inside?