What do you do with all the art and doodles that come home from school every day.

Nicole - posted on 12/10/2008

These are all great ideas. My daughter is already quite the artist and she hasn't even started school yet. I've been saving the favorites and secretly tossing the others. I also scan and post to a folder on my facebook site in order to share with distant family. Thanks for all of the ideas, I'm going to try doing the Shutterfly thing and making a book for her to keep each year.

Ashley - posted on 12/10/2008

I either scan or take a digital photo of it. This year I made an album at Shutterfly and sometimes I make a scrapbook page with small digital images of a lot of the work on it. Hope this helps!

Chris - posted on 12/08/2008

I take digital photos of EVERY piece of artwork that comes home -- even those that you can tell they weren't really "into" doing. Then after the school year is over, I take all the digital photos from the year and have them put into a photo book on Snapfish or Shutterfly or a similar photo processing site. My son then has a printed book full of his own work! He loves it, and it fits on a bookshelf and takes up NO space at all compared to all those individual pieces of artwork. I keep the best/favorite ones, some are framed, some are stored in a box, but then I still have record of all the other ones so I don't feel bad about tossing them!

Beth - posted on 12/05/2008

Aaahhh!! a digital frame! What a great idea. Don't have one but do have another reason to want one! :-)

Rebecca - posted on 12/05/2008

I like to laminiate the really good ones and keep them in a box, each marked for each child and keep them for when they get older. I have also heard some people frame them and use them as home decor on the house walls. Saw a home the other day that did that and it looked very nice.

MaryAnne - posted on 12/05/2008

Lots of great ideas here! I think I like the photo book!

another idea of mine is this..if you have a digital camera and a digital frame, you can take pics of all the artwork and store them on a flash drive. place the flash drive in your digital frame and presto! an art work slideshow!

I take pictures of everything and then throw it away. I have three boys ages 6, 5 & 3. there is not enough storage for all of their creations.

i do keep my favs. and store them in a bin that i have for each child. once that bin is full though, i don't know what i will do!!!

Beth - posted on 12/03/2008

Ahhh... thank you for all the great advice. I'm thinking my first step is to get a box for each kid and then decide over the summer how to best cull the herd and preserve the pieces I just gotta keep. Sounds so common sense, but I was blinded to reason by the sheer volume from my prolific local artist. Thanks again! Very helpful.

Beth - posted on 12/03/2008

Oooh! I know this one! Oprah just did a show on managing clutter. The designer took pics of the artwork, created a shutterfly book with it, and then it all got tossed!

Frankly, as the future daughter-in-law, I would not want a box of childhood art surfacing in my house, but I could totally deal with neat and tidy shutterfly books!

Good luck!

http://bethstamps.blogspot.com/

Lois - posted on 12/03/2008

I keep everything in a box throughout the school year. I have one box per child with their name on it. Then, in the summertime, I go through it (often with their help) and cull what I want to keep for the scrapbook and what gets tossed. By the summer, they are usually not as attached to things... and if they are still attached, I know it's worth saving. I try to keep something from the beginning, middle and end of the school year to show their progress through the year... a writing sample, drawing/craft, etc.

Lisa - posted on 12/03/2008

My 4 year old brings about 5 artwork projects home a week! I was going to buy Christmas cards the other day and I decided to "share" his artwork! I am writing a little note...Hi, Merry Christmas, hope you have a great year, here is some of my son's work this year hope you enjoy as much as we do!...put a picture of my kids (I also have a 7 month old) and mail it away! I am only paying for envelopes that way! My son has gotten to decide which ones to keep and which ones to give to family!

Veronica - posted on 12/03/2008

I use the Keepsake Display from my amazing company Creative Memories. Because the display is magnetic, you can change the pictures constantly. It has a great little area for clipping little pieces they want shown off and the ones you aren't displaying get tucked away inside the display as a another showcase (left side) or storage (right side) until you decide to change over! You can see it under Inspired Surroundings on my website. www.mycmsite.com/sites/veronicalarcher



Sarah's idea of scanning pictures and making a book is just as great! Our Digital Scrapbooks would be awesome for that and you can make many copies to treasure!



When the school year is over, and more things came home, I would sit down with my boys and ask which from the last year are special to them, and which can we throw out. It was their decision and most were tossed. If they say why it was special, you could journal that on the back of the artwork (great for when you put it into a scrapbook) so you don't forget!





Celebrate your memories!

Dyana - posted on 12/03/2008

I only save things with fingerprints, handprints, etc. I laminate and store them with the holiday decorations and then put them out at the appropriate holiday. The others I stash for a couple of days - to be sure that no one is going to "need" them and then they go directly to the outside garbage. I don't want to take the chance of being found out!

Debra - posted on 12/03/2008

My kids are grown now and I wished I had kept more. As I have started to scrap their school years I have made pages which have pockets to store that kind of thing in (and all those certificates and school reports I have treated the same way) I have also incorporated some of their art stuff and certificates into scrapbook pages along with photos

Sarah - posted on 12/02/2008

I also have a file box for each of my children's favorite pieces of art. I have heard of people scanning the artwork or award, then uploading them to walmart or costco, or where ever and making a yearly book. I think I will try that in 2009.

Correne - posted on 12/02/2008

Hi ther, I found it easy to just get a box file and put all the artwork in there, I let them pick the "best" once and then I put it in an album for them. My boys are going on 5 and 3. That worked for me... Hope that helps