Keeping Kid’s Artwork

Schools Out For Summer!

Everyone can sense that school is almost out and summer is just around the corner. It’s exciting for everyone until parents start noticing all the school work and artwork that has piled up throughout the year. The intention was to display them or preserve them. Maybe you haven’t even had a chance to look through them to find out if any are worth saving. Don’t panic and don’t beat yourself up. Life is hectic and chaotic – it’s ok! Follow the tips below and you’ll get it all in order.

Curate & Edit…Then Edit Again

Start by reviewing all the artwork and school papers from this year. If you have more than one child, do your best to separate everything by child. Think of your child’s work as a representation of their personality or a particular skill they mastered. Did they ace a test they worked hard to study for? Does their finger painting actually look pretty cool? Do you or your child have a strong positive memory attached to the art work? If the answer to those questions is yes then put them aside for keeping. Try to keep a few different pieces of art or school work that represent this time in their life. Remember this is just one year so try not to keep a lot. If it helps to limit yourself to a set number of pieces then do that. Once you’ve gone through them all – do it again. Curate and edit your choices. You may find after looking at every piece that it’s easier to let more go during this round of review.

Display & Rotation Plan

Let’s talk about the reason we keep our kid’s art and school work – we want to display and honor it. We want to show our kids we are proud of their work. In order to do that we need a display and rotation plan. There are so many creative ways to display art and school work. You could get lost for hours on Pinterest looking through them all. Many of the ideas require crafting or supplies which is great because they look so pretty and cute but we’re not aiming for ‘Pinterest Perfect’. Let’s get them up and displayed as quickly and simply as possible. Pick an option that requires the least amount of work but will still look purposeful in your home.

Now here is the most important part of this plan – ROTATION! Just like a museum. Rotate out the art. Figure out a plan that works for you and your schedule. Change out the art and school work weekly, monthly, on a holiday, or when you’re about to have guests over. Whatever you decide, stick to the schedule and set reminders. Tie the action of changing the displays with a habit that is already well established. Also, make sure everyone in the family is on board with the plan so they can participate and you can manage expectations.

Storage Options

So you’ve reviewed the art and school work, you’ve displayed great pieces, now you’ve chosen some to keep and preserve as memorabilia. Here are a few tips to think about when keeping an item and also some products that can help.

1.) Write their name, age, grade and date on the art or school work.
2.) Avoid keeping glitter covered items (unless laminated) – they make a big mess.
3.) 3-D items can be hard to store and tend to fall apart. Take a picture of your child holding the item so you can see how old they were when they created the project or art.
4.) Think about what your child might say as an adult receiving this collection. Are they going to be excited about a spelling quiz or painting?

Products That Might Help

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