A Simple Way to Store and Preserve Children’s Art
Anne-Marie agreed with me about getting rid of stuff, but wonders what to do with her children’s artwork. I’ve wondered the same thing for awhile. And in typical perfectionist fashion, I’ve done more pondering than doing.
My children’s artwork is stashed in the desk drawer, file box, or craft closet.
I planned to store current items in my desk, add a few photographs from the year, and put them all together in scrapbooks for posterity. It’s a good idea and a good plan, but it has yet to be implemented.
For me scrapbooking becomes all about the paper and color and layout. My craft time vanishes. I look at my accomplishment, one vibrant page with three photos displayed. Hundreds of images are left in the box.
The following tutorial inspired me with its simplicity at last year’s Heart of the Matter’s Online Conference. Kelli Crowe shows how a binder, page protectors, and stickers can be used to quickly store and preserve the memories of a school year.
I can do that! Anne-Marie, you can too.
How do you store your children’s artwork?
This is great! I really like how easy it is to put the collection together, and the suggestion to just keep the material that resonates with the audience – yourself.
I’ve got piles of material from the kids’ public school days, and a printable digital record on blogs from homeschooling. Scrapbook binders would be a wonderful way to keep these memories accessible!
Sandra,
I appreciate the tip to keep only what you like too. The piles can become overwhelming.
There are places that will turn your blog into a book. I’ll share the links when I find them. A printed book would take up even less room than a binder.
I look at the Sandhill Cranes which have been flying over front room for over a year and sometimes ponder this, too. Where can I put them? The kids love them but I didn’t intend them to become a permanent part of our decor.
I think that is one advantage of being a classroom teacher. You can make cool projects, display them for a time then send them home for the parents to figure out what to do with them.
So, any tips for large 3-D things?
Yes! I can do that! I started to do something very similar for my boy’s cub scout stuff. I wanted them to be able to look back over all that they have done, accomplished, sort-of learned, etc. So far, I am keeping up…which can be the hardest part.
Dana: For larger projects & 3-D items, I struggled with that too. Take pictures! My daughters recently made ponies…life-size. I hung them on their bedroom wall & took pictures. They will have to come down some day, but the memories will be on a page in the scrapbook.
I hope you don;t mind. I had to create a post about this myself to answer your “what do I do with this stuff” question. Maybe it will help in some way.
http://www.thecreativehomeschool.com/2009/03/art-preservation-made-easy-and-fun/
Great ideas!! I need help in this category for sure. For now, I just have file folders…
Dana,
My only idea is the one Anne-Marie shared. Take pictures and then wait until you can remove them without any tears. I really want a display shelf for my children’s projects, but books find a way to any empty space.
Anna-Marie,
Thanks for sharing your great ideas. We should see how many blog posts we can get out of this question. :)
Jennifer,
All I have is file folders too, but we have to start somewhere. ;)
Renae, I need to learn to scrapbook everything like this. I used to scrapbook. Did you catch the past tense? I did a lot of creative things, paper cuttings, etc. The pages were cute! But, it was time consuming and made a mess. So, I have been married over 7-years and my wedding scrapbook isn’t done. The photos of our last 7-years, no they’re not done either!
Thanks for sharing!
Does Marcello know you’ve taken his art work to post in your blog?
Julie,
I agree. For now, it’s all about simple and fast. Capture the memories as they fly by and then make them cute later. ;)
C.A. Febbo,
As a blogger I am aware of copyright infringement and try to be careful, so I appreciate your concern.
The image is used according to the terms of service at Allposters.com. (SeeUse of Certain Other Services )
I picked my favorites and stuffed them into a plastic box. I pitched the rest (very painful). That was all I had time to do. Today, I still have several plastic boxes full of art projects, and my kids are 16, 17, 24 and 25. “I pity the fool” who ever tries to make me throw out those precious tangible memories ;)