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What do you do with your kids artwork they bring home from school?

When my son was in preschool he was always bringing these treasers home that he made at school. They laid around the house and either got pitched in the trash (I always feel bad about that but I hate clutter) or I started to put them into a binder.
This year he is in kindergarten and I decided we need to keep these treasers in an organized way. We created this really cute binder with each month of the school year called out and we will be filling this binder up all year long. You can see our creative treasure at www.kidapproved.blogspot.com. Anyway this brings me to my question, what do you do with all of your kids art projects and special papers that they bring home from school?

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Permalink Reply by Erin on August 29, 2008 at 1:41am

I save them for a while and then I photograph them before I toss them. Some of my daughter's artwork from preschool was life size so there was no way to keep it intact forever! The special cards I keep in stored in plastic bins so they are ready for the scrapbook I will never, ever have the time to make :))

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Permalink Reply by Stacey on August 29, 2008 at 10:31pm

I've got a drawer I stuff them in. Each boy has a drawer. At the end of the year we go through them & we choose what to keep. I'm not sure what I am going to ultimately do with the keepers. Right now they are in a folder & have been photographed but I want to do something with them

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Permalink Reply by Pamela M. Kramer on August 29, 2008 at 10:45pm

I have a storage tub. :)

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Permalink Reply by Tena on August 30, 2008 at 2:58am

I frame some of it, the rest goes into a tupperware bin that I put their name on the lid, year and grade. I keep it all, homework, classwork, artwork, report cards, you name it, I have it! Might be a lot, but I can't get myself to throw it away. I hope to one day get them in binders per child, per year... this is a goal I have on the back burner. Damn that extra hour or two a day I can't seem to find

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Permalink Reply by Allison on August 30, 2008 at 3:15am

I have plastic containers in DD's closet with all her artwork that I feel I had to save. I used to save EVERYTHING, but I find I quickly run out of room. Plus with living in a shoebox I need to pick and choose what I save!

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Permalink Reply by Ali on August 30, 2008 at 3:01pm

I've got a box full of all his Kindergarten stuff. I fully intended to go through it this summer and organize it but here it is, first grade has already started and I'm starting a new box. I need to get organized!

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Permalink Reply by Mutha Mae on August 30, 2008 at 3:28pm

We do the same thing with a binder. It was her teacher's idea. I'm not creative like that. It's like a mini scrapbook and it's fun to watch her handwriting progress. Oh and her drawings! It's such a prized possession!!

Mae

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth on August 30, 2008 at 9:06pm

Let me apologize in advance for this shameless plug, but I just wrote an article on this for my site! What a coincidence. Anyway here's the link: How to Organize Your Child's Artwork.

With three little ones, I wrote the article in part to help me figure out how to save all of those wonderfully delightful 'clay sculptures' and 'glitter glue gems' my daughters brought home. I just couldn't bring myself to throw anything out, so I devised a plan. Hope it helps!

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Permalink Reply by lonestar818 on September 1, 2008 at 3:14pm

I have a binder for each boy for each school year, and I also have a large plastic bin in the closet where I keep some of the artwork that won't fit into a binder. I still have to be careful about how much I keep or it gets to be too much even with the binder / box. Like someone else said, I have pictures of some of the things I couldn't keep.

Oh, another thing I did with a stack of artwork that I didn't have room for, rather than throw it away I sent it to my parents. They LOVED it, my dad framed most of it, lol. Then when we go to visit the boys get all excited to see their artwork framed on the walls at Grandma's house :)

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Permalink Reply by Dallas Lawyer Mom on September 3, 2008 at 10:56am

Golly you guys are conscientious moms. I hardly keep anything! But what I do keep is in a plastic portfolio (I think that's what it's called) that I bought at an art store. They are big, flat, come in different sizes, and they're easy to store along the side of a closet wall.

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Permalink Reply by Pink and Green Mama on September 3, 2008 at 5:09pm

I am an artist and both of my daughters seem to be as well. Needless to say our house is stuffed to the gills with artwork. My oldest daughter has a paper box (a plastic underbed storage box) under her bed where she is allowed to save any piece of paper she wants (art work, invitations, newspaper circulars, catalogs, etc) When the box is too full to shut she has to go through it and sort out the recycles and the keeps. I also strung a wire around the upper perimeter of our playroom (was a formal dining room but who needs one, I needed a playroom near my kitchen a lot more than that!) from Ikea and use small curtain clips to attach artwork around it. As a scrapbooker, I take photos of my favorite pieces and publish digital scrapbooks as coffee table books.

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Permalink Reply by Sandy on September 4, 2008 at 12:30am

I got the following idea when I was driving past some unknown person's house. Their garage door was opened and inside on the wall of the garage was pasted or taped all of their children's artwork. I thought it was a fabulous idea and have done it ever since. Not only does it make those plain white walls a little more interesting but it's much bigger than the refrigerator front!

Sandy
www.diviinegrapeviine.blogspot.com