Storytelling paper works great for this. That way a younger child can also draw pictures in their journals. You can also just draw lines on blank sheets of paper.

We used a large sheet of blank paper as our cover and folded it book style to hold our storytelling sheets.

A few staples and our journal was made. Emma covered the staples with a strip of purple masking tape.

She was excited to make the cover extra special for summer.

Her first entry. I have a feeling this will be going into the special treasure box after summer. I plan to do this each summer and save them for her for years to come.