What Do You Do with All the Art Work??

I scanned all of my daughter's art work from the last year and downloaded it to snapfish to create a hardcover book of all of her work. It came out better then expected!

how about putting the favorites on display, and getting an inexpensive portfolio to store the rest? Over time you could go through the portfolio and keep the favorites.

When the cork board is filled with her beautiful art, have her stand in front of it and take a picture with her art. Then have her help you take it down and show real excitement that she will get to fill it up again with her art. Buy her a special photo album for all the pictures of her and her artwork.

A friend told me about this one.....take pictures of EVERY PIECE....go to I believe it is snapfish.com and create a book...they run approx $20 and you can customize...graphics, backrounds, text, layout...they are fabulous!!!! we are working on 1 book per school year he is now in 2nd grade and we are working on 1st year of preschool so I am only 4 yrs behing....but the "clutter" of all those handprints and food colored flower filters are slowly disappearing........as welll this works GREAT if your kid is like mine and is mildly autistic & showing early symptoms of OCD behaviors of hoarding...he can tell you EXACTLY when and where he got everyone of his over 300 books and 100+ stuffed animals......we have started the pix and "Memory Books" for all of these items too.......we get the book and the items get donated to shelters where the kids can truly use them.

Good question Doreon,
For each of my grown children, I have what we call a "Posterity Box" filled with their momentoes from their growing up years...We displayed items and sometimes framed one or 2 then re-framed another when it was more current but the others went into a scrape book or a box...When I had time , over the years, I would weed- out the lesser works in favor of the more complete and meaningful ones without mentioning 'the disposal'...Often times a child's art work can be turned into a greeting mailed to relatives or even add a thank you note for gifts received...In years to come those drawings will be treasures or garbage for them to throw out after a final look back in time...Hugs & smiles, MOM J

we make note cards by cutting the paintings, and on the bigger, thinner easel paper, we use it as wrapping paper...

I love the idea of scanning it, but I never get around to it.

My favorite thing for lots of stuff is accordion files. I use them for receipts, school documents, etc. Everything goes in it's respective month and then, at the end of the year, it gets labeled and stuck in bankers boxes in the basement. Easy peasy.

You can put them up and put the old ones in a scrapbook. Or (not sure on the size you have) you can get a binder and those clear sheets and put them in there an turn them into a book.

You might even be able to make them into a quilt.

My kids love to draw, but especially one of my girls. They do hang their stuff on the walls and of course on the fridge. I have also taken photos of favorites so they can have their own book of art work. One thing I did have and will be looking into buying again for my daughter (she illustrates her own books) is an art portfolio like students use so she can have it all together. The one rule I have made though is that she has to go through the stuff when it gets full and we take pictures so we can get rid of some. But she will have a bound book of the pictures so it helps with the compromise.

I keep all their work (art or school stuff) in a big box (after it's been displayed). At the end of every school year I sort and toss. It's a lot easier to choose your favorites when time has passed, and you can compare the artwork and choose a variety. You can also see a progression of improvement with age.

In our basement are boxes labeled with each child and the year.

hi doreon, that is a good question. i also came across that problem when my daughter started pre-school. i found in this magazine that i get called Toys To Grow On. inhttp://www.toystogrowon.com/sku649P. i got this and it is a lifesaver. you don't have to save EVERYTHING, but just the special stuff. and then eventually you can store it in a rubbermaid container and then later in life they can actually see it and feel it. they will get a kick out of it! i still feel that way when my mom shows me things i did as a young girl.
what i am doing as my daughter gets older is i take my label maker and label the year on the tabs of the artwork.
i hope it works out for you... maybe you can put it on santa's christmas list. just a thought... good luck!
C.

I agree with Shannon A. It may seem mean but just throw the things away when she isnt around. I do it with my two kids. I do keep the ones that have any storytelling and a few others that I think are special. If you cant bring yourself to do this then I would suggest getting a three ring binder. Best of luck!

I have had some of my son's art work framed and it is displayed throughout our home.They are now 15 and 17 years old. Since she is just in preschool you will collect lots of art so in the beginning you may want to get some of the unexpensive poster like frames so you can switch the pieces around. But for those special pieces you just really love frame them up and dipslay them.

While I agree that she probably does need to learn to purge some of it, I have this for my kids:http://www.amazon.com/Alex-Toys-Art-Expandable-File/dp/B0...

I got mine at Learning Express

So I'm not sure why you are discussing this with her....just put them in the trash when she's asleep. Bury them so she won't find them in the morning. She won't even think about it....unless of course she can count and knows exactly what every picture looks like and asks you. My daughter thinks she has to save every piece of artwork and every bit of school work she's ever done. I keep some and throw the rest out when she's not around. I bury them so she can't see them. She even wants to save every piece of plastic, string, ribbon or pretty parcel for projects...I had to explain that we have no place to store it all and she finally relented on that one. We save some, but if the box is full....no more.

I have seen a lot of good ideas through the years... here are a few from the top of my head:

Digital photo them and store them online- paperless. Use them as desktop background (in rotation) and email to friends and family. You can upload them to something like shutterfly.com and have a book bound with them also.

Hang a line, like a clothesline, and clip them to it with clothespins for display.

IKEA has cheap hanging frames that hang 3 at a time. They are flimsy, made of cord and clear plastic so kids can change them out.

Recycle them into other art. Use them to wrap presents, collage them onto things like cardboard boxes for storing toys, fold them into cards, envelopes, cut them up for valentines. Cut out shapes from them for sorting, glue to cardboard and punch holes and practice "sewing" with yarn. Fold them into origami, use lighter or watercolor paintings for stationary or for practicing writing or even grocery lists. Cut them into hearts and string them on twine or yarn for a Valentine's Day garland for the mantel or stair rail ( you could do any shape and have a collection for various seasons/holidays- leaves and pumpkins, stars, Christmas trees, etc etc etc.)

Hope this helps!
M.

Try www.ShareMyKidsArt.com - I love this website! It's free and lets you store and organize your children's art. The thing I like it about the most is it has these little buttons so that you can email or upload to your facebook wall pieces of art; this is really nice for us because we live in California and my parents live in Hawaii and my wife's parents live in NY. If one of our children create something we want to share with the grandparents, we simple press a button.

The only thing is you need to scan or photograph the art, which seems like a hassle but it's actually fairly easy. Good luck!

Taking pictures and making a CD of her artwork is a great idea. My last job, when I was a nanny, I would have the two girls go through their artwork when their folders would get full. We made piles, one to keep, one to give away, one to throw away and one to people they loved. It taught them that we can't keep everything and how to get rid of stuff. Another thing to do is to video tape her with her artwork. Have her tell you what the picture is, explain how she got the idea and what she really likes. That way when she is older, even a few months older, it will be almost like having it in her hands.

Good luck!

I saved some of their artwork but having 3 children I found it saved space to take photos of most of the pieces for a scrapbook.