Every week, my toddler comes home from daycare with a new creative masterpiece. Another adorable handprint tree, footprint animal, or pom pom craft makes its way into our home… and every week most of it ends up in a large pile next to the staircase after he goes to bed.
Call me silly, but I just don’t have the heart to throw it away. To me, they are little snippets of a time in my son’s life that I will never get back. That little handprint won’t be so tiny a few years from now.
Yes, I love my child’s art, but I also don’t like a cluttered home. Physical clutter can contribute to increased stress and difficulty focusing. If you work from home, clutter can make it particularly difficult to concentrate on your work tasks.
The go-to place for most of our kids’ art projects is usually the fridge. But there’s only so much usable space on it, so what else can we do with them to avoid the creative clutter?
8 Things To Do With Your Child’s Art
Make a physical album or scrapbook
Most of us have moved to sharing and storing our photos digitally, but physical albums are making a comeback these days. They are a timeless, tangible keepsake that can be passed down through generations, and they feel more personal than an electronic album. They’re certainly not just for photos either – your child’s artwork can be stored there to make their own little art portfolio. Wouldn’t that make the cutest gift for the grandparents? The downside to making an album is that it does require some time and effort to put each piece in. Also, bulkier crafts and drawings may not fit well into a physical album.
Make a digital album
If you want to save and display your child’s artwork without keeping the originals, digital photo frames are a good alternative. They can usually hold a ton of photos or videos and can be mounted onto the wall to save countertop space. This might be a better option for those bulkier projects you can’t exactly put into a physical album. The downsides – you lose the tangible aspect of a traditional album, and digital frames can be expensive.
Use a kids art frame
Children’s art frames work like a traditional frame, but with a storage space behind the display that can hold 100 plus sheets of paper. Like a traditional frame, they can be either wall-mounted or placed on a flat surface. To use it, you simply open it up and put the latest project in while sliding the old one in the back. It’s a great way to store multiple pieces, but you will only be able to see the most recent one and it won’t hold the larger or bulkier ones very well. Children’s art frames might be a bit more suitable for baby and toddler art in the early years.
Give it to grandparents or other family members
Secondary to you, is there anybody who loves your child’s art more than their grandparents? Probably not. They love having little remnants of the grandkids around the house. That includes all the squiggly line drawings and holiday crafts they do while at daycare or school. Other family members – aunts, uncles, godparents – would also be happy to receive at least one work of art.
Recycle it
Now more than ever, it’s important to teach our kids about recycling and environmental awareness. When deciding what to do with some of their older or less favorite artwork, you can bring up recycling as an option. It’s a good opportunity to talk to your kids about what kinds of materials can be recycled, the types of things that can be made from recycled paper, and why recycling is beneficial for the environment.
Make an art wall
Dedicating a wall to your child’s creative endeavors is a popular way to display their art. All the walls near our staircases are covered with my son’s art projects. He loves talking about them and pointing out his favorites as we go up and down, and it lets him know that we are just as proud of his art as he is. But there’s only so much wall space. Also, if you prefer a more clean and uniform look in your home, a kids’ art wall might not work well with the aesthetic.
Turn it into a book or collage
Some companies offer a paid service where you send in photos or physical pieces of your child’s art and they edit and compile it into a cute little book or collage. There are some services out there that return some pretty high quality products, and they take away a lot of the work for you. Some examples of these services include Artkive, Scribble, and Inkify.
Ask your child if they want to keep it
You might be surprised to learn that your child might not even want to keep their latest art project. Older children can share which pieces are important to them and can be involved in the process of organizing their work, giving you the green light (or not) to toss it out.
Finding creative and different ways to display and keep our child’s art can help reduce clutter in the home, and allows us to hold on to those precious memories just a little bit longer.
