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 ends up in a large pile next to the staircase.
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 know is going to fly by. His handprint won’t be so tiny a few years from now!
But here’s the thing – I also don’t like a cluttered home. It’s hard to control when you have kids, but 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.
So what else can we do with all these art projects apart from plastering them on the fridge? I mean, there’s only so much space on it.
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 feel more personal than an electronic album. They’re certainly not just for photos either – your child’s artwork can be proudly saved and displayed there, too. Have them pick out their favorite pieces and put them in an album (or scrapbook) to make their own little art portfolio. If you have a lot of art, you can get several albums and organize them by year. The downside is that it does require some time and effort, and you still need somewhere to store them. Also, bulkier crafts and drawings with big stuck-on pieces may not fit well into a physical album.
Make a digital album
If you want to save the memory of your child’s artwork but not necessarily the originals, digital photo albums are a good alternative. They are pretty easy to organize once they’re set up, 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 tradeoff is that you lose the tangible aspect of the piece, and you won’t be able to navigate through the pictures as freely as you can with a physical album.
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 your child’s drawings and paintings. Like a traditional frame, they can be either wall-mounted or placed on a flat surface. 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, of course, it won’t hold the bulkier ones well. They are relatively inexpensive and might be a bit more suitable for babies and toddlers 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 their grandkids around the house, and would likely be happy to receive at least some of their work.
Recycle it
Now more than ever, it’s important to teach our kids about recycling and environmental awareness. This is a good opportunity to talk to them 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 classic 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 the stairs. But compared to albums or recycling, this option is limited by space. We only have so much actual wall space, so we tend to reserve it for our favorites and the more elaborate pieces. Also, if you prefer a more clean and uniform look to your home, it might not work with your interior decor.
Turn it into a book or collage
Many 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 companies out there that produce some pretty high quality products, and it takes away a lot of the work for you if this isn’t a project you want to take on. Some examples of these services include Artkive, Scribble, and Inkify.
Ask your child if they want to keep it
Older children can share which pieces are important to them and can be involved in the process of organizing their work. You might be surprised to learn that they might not even want to keep their latest project, giving you the green light to toss it out.
We can’t keep every piece of our child’s art, and some of it must eventually find its way to the trash. That’s okay. There’s huge variation in the artworks that kids produce, so a combination of different options might work best with the ones we do end up holding on to. There are many ways to save, store, and display their art in a way that limits clutter and – most importantly – shows how proud we are of their creative efforts.
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