There are a couple of different approaches you can take to this project, depending on how seriously you want to take it.

You may just want to do something that will help your children focus on their family, friends and environment, without worrying too much about how long the materials will last or who will find them. Or you may want to put in a serious effort, and make something that will endure a good long time - and make sense to future generations.

If you want your capsule to last, you need to make it air and water tight. A simple solution would be to use a Tupperware box and seal it with packing tape; or you could use the kind of clothes storage box that allows you to remove the air by way of a special valve. These are available from Argos and probably many other places.

On the other hand, if durability is less of a concern, just about any box will do (though sealing it when it's finished will add an air of finality to the procedure - and stop your kids sneaking things back out of it.) Depending on what you want to put into it, you could also just use a photograph album - the kind with pockets will hold newspaper clippings, birth certificates, school reports and even small flat-ish objects, as well as photos.

What ever you choose, wrap it in paper and then plastic, and seal it.

What To Put In It:

What do you find fascinating in museums?

Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of thing you can put in: items that show our world as it is at the close of the Twentieth Century, and those that are personal to you and your family.

In the first category, you could include:

• Newspaper clippings
• Videos of TV shows (but beware, if you're serious about making something that will last a generation or two - formats for anything high tech change so rapidly that videos, computer disks, CD ROMs and so on may just be useless chunks of plastic in a few years.)
• Photographs
• Coins
• Pictures and information of animals that may soon be extinct
• A copy of a TV and entertainment guide
• The local and national paper of your choice
• Labels from tins and packets of food

The second category is far wider, and potentially, I think, more interesting:

• Last year's diary - especially if it's more of a journal.
• Photos of you and your family, with a written description of each member by each member
• Locks of hair
• Favourite recipes
• 'A Day in the Life' - where you, and other members of your family, describe a typical day
• A favourite book, or some book reviews - adults could choose a current book and their childhood favourite
• Something about your pets - your dog's lead, for instance, or your cat's favourite squeaky toy
• One of your children's toys (but not a favourite, unless you're prepared to deal with the consequences)
• School timetables and reports
• A map of the area - preferably a very large scale one that shows individual houses
• A copy of your rentbook, mortgage agreement or what have you
• A bank statement (financial records are invaluable to historians)
• Copies of birth and wedding certificates, and other documentary evidence of important stages of your life
• That one special object that sums up who you are... if you can figure out what it is.

Where To Put It:

• In the garden (dig a really deep hole - preferably not where you're going to be doing intensive gardening any time soon - and make sure the package is waterproof).
• In the attic or basement.
• If you live in a modern flat without an attic, basement or garden, you may have to ask a friend... in which case, maybe they can contribute to your time capsule, or make one of their own.