Where Do I Keep All My Kids Art?

Hi S.,I have a suggestion for you.I have a long hallway that leads to my childrens bedrooms,I painted the hall walls a nuetral color and then took all of their artwork that would fit in 8by10 frames,hot glued fun colored ribbon on the backs and hung them on the walls,from floor to ceiling.Then for some interest I found some very easy to apply colored polka-dots at target that are made for walls and randomly stuck then on the walls.I also decorated their bathroom the same way.You wouldnt believe the complements I've gotten.Its neat because you can change the artwork whenever you want it looks cute and no or little storage!!A little about me I'm an Interior Decorator and mommy to 4:)Hope this helps!!A. from Channahon.

I bought these classroom portfolio storage items that you can personalize for kids. I got them from Lakeshore Learning (as noted below), but if you google it, you will find other stores that have it too.

http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/search/results.jsp

We also hang some temporarily, save special holiday items in folders by season to bring out yearly, and send some to grandparents, etc.

I keep a 3 ring binder (for each child) with the clear page protected inserts that you buy at the office store. When we are done the kids are learning to insert the work themselves and we keep it on a shelf labeled (name) Art for all who come over to view.

S.,
I have alot of art from my kids that is very large (20x20). I bought some coated cardboard art portfolio carriers to keep it all in. I can't get more than one year of art in one, so I have 2 or 3 per child. But if you search on other sites, when you order more than 5 you get a discount. Here is an example of a site that offers them. I bought 8 and I think I paid $50 total for them, including shipping. http://www.misterart.com/store/view/001/group_id/1219/Sta...
This is not where I ordered them, I can't remember where I got them. But a google search on Dura Tote will find all sorts of sites.

I hope this helps!
D.

S.,

I really like the scanning idea or the taking pictures - that would save alot of space for me :)

We keep our stash under our basement stairs in plastic totes. each kid has their own, and i give them the choice when i have too much and i simply cannot keep it all. I tell them to pick what they want to go in their special keepsake box. We do the same with school projects, diarama's, posters, reports, school awards, etc. - it all goes in their 'keepsake' box.

When they are really young, it seems the art flows like water... so just keep in mind, that as they get older the art will slow down drastically.

One other piece of advice... whatever you do throw away... don't ever let them see!! I accidentally threw something away that was on the bottom of a stack of papers going into the garbage - my daughter saw it in the garbage and cried...convinced it was a sign that i didn't love her anymore. That particular drawing stayed on my fridge for at least another 6 months... and then i framed it!! She still remembers that some 5 years later...

p.s. you could also get one of those flat containers that slips under a bed... typically for storing sweaters and such.

I am a huge scrap booker and I lay my childrens art work on the floor stand on the chair and take a picture some of my friends hang it on the fridge and when its full takes a picture of the child by the fridge. Then the stuff I reall want to keep I just have in a folder. My daughter is 19 and I love looking at her preschool work!

Hi S.,

There is an article in this month's Family Fun Magazine that gives some ideas for storing your kids artwork. I also wrote an article for my website on storing and showcasing your child's artwork, if you are interested in reading it. Here is the link - http://www.chocolatecakeclub.com/shandstyokia.html.

I have a 5-year-old who is a prolific artist. She produces artwork by the pound, so I am always looking for ways to week through it. It's hard because her stuff is amazing for her age. Good luck!

S.

I've found that each year I take two pieces of my two boys best artwork and have it framed along with a label with their name and the age/grade they are in. You can then hang them along your staircase and over time you have a nice array of their handiwork.

I scan in, or take pictures of everything my boys bring home from school, that way I have a whole disk of the year's work. We do hang some things for a while too =)

I haven't purchased this yet but am planning on it - it is a Keepsake Portfolio from a company called "Toys to Grow On". It is $19.99. It has 8 pockets to store by year. Their web address is www.ttgo.com.

Hi my name is S. and I am an artist. I keep my kids art in carrying portfolio cases and keep them under the bed. You can purchase different sizes and can usually find them in an art store or on line. they hold quite a lot of flat work. My girls are now 19 & 22 and do the same thing themselves to store. Hope this is helpful.

I've done pictures, I have under the bed boxes (2-3). I went through the boxes recently and took more pictures. For our favorites we have a wooden board that says "Life's Greatest Treasures with three clips on it that hangs by our kitchen table.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Lifes-Greatest-Treasures-Childrens-ar...

I saw this at a friend's home, she had hung artwork on the stairway to the basement. I have done the same thing.

Love the portfolio ideas as well.

Good luck. (art starting to slow down a bit with my 6 year old first grader, but paperwork increases).

If I had room, I'd love to buy a great old map table or blueprint table for large drawings. Here's a fun version of one: http://www.sokoldesign.com/products/tables/flat_file_coff...

Or this: http://cgi.ebay.com/5-drawer-flat-file-cabinet-coffee-tab...

Hello. My 2 boys are school age (6 and 7) and they bring home lots of stuff. I tell them to pick thier favorites and hang them on thier bedrooms walls! They are so excited to hang thier own artwork in thier room! Of course things like spelling tests, etc that they do well on get hung on the fridge till the next good one comes in. Although I am fortunate that my son does exceptionally well in spelling and math so his 100% usually change weekly. Most of the time my son throws out the previous weeks to make room for his new one. However they each have a storage bin also for other stuff they want to keep. As another poster noted though-do NOT let them see you throw away anything. However-out of sight=out of mind in most cases. Beware the first few years of school they bring home LOTS of artwork!! Best wishes!

T.
~mom to 4, 2 boys (ages 6 and 7) and 2 girls (ages 21 months and almost 3). My kids are wonderful and very helpful. My youngest was born very sick and never supposed to survive. She was born with CDH, post ECMO, chronic lung disease from the CDH, severe weight gain issues, severe seizure disorder, etc. Despite her issues she is extremely happy and does everything the dr's said she never would-she runs, yells, plays, annoys her siblings, etc-life is good!

Take a close up picture of the artwork then scrapbook them into grade level pages or catagories.

I have puchased a large rolling suitcase for each one of my kids. Their baby book, school pictures, best of papers, journals, artwork samples for each year of school along with photos of the rest, in the outside pocket of the case is a certfied copy of their birth certificate, and actual photos of a small version of their family tree. If I think the art is ready for the wall of fame(okay thre is one in every room of the house), it gets matted and framed. The case will go with them when they make a major life change like move out after college or get married.
That way my life can go on with less clutter and alot of their memories will remain intact.

Just as an idea keep only those that will fit in a clear sheet that you can put in notebooks. Or you can get a large art folio that folds--not bulky but will take up space. Just a couple of ideas.

Hi S.,

If the art is 8x11 paper size, you could always put it in a 3 ring binder. We were at my grandmothers often growing up & we always colored & made paint by numbers at her house. My grandmother has been gone since 1994. This past fall, her brother finally moved out of the apartment they shared. She still had mine & my brothers artwork - 3 binders worth & a few paint by numbers. She dated all of our work too. For larger projects, what about those space bags that are good for clothes? They come in different sizes. Good luck!

~F.

Being a former kindergarten teacher, I have many ideas. One that I like best and am using now for my 3 year old's art work is a large accordion style folder that has file tabs for labeling. It is approximately 2 feet by 2 feet so it's easy to store. I've been labeling the tabs by age. It's a hard covered folder, too. I really like it! You can find one at lakeshorelearning.com (one of my favorite educational stores). It's called "Keepsake Portfolio". Hope this helps.

I am a little late in responding to this - but I have three children 8, 12 & 14 and struggled for years with where to keep all the things that I would like to save. I can up with the idea of getting a binder for each child for each year that they are in school and using plastic page protectors to keep the art work in. I also keep tests that they did especially well on in school or certificates that they receive from teachers throughout the school year. The kids love to pull out the binders and look through all the art work and school work that they did over the years.

Hope this idea is of some use to you!

L. (FTWM)

Hi,
I framed some of my grand-son's best work! Looks somewhat like Picasso, but you can always interchange them seasonally!
Have fun-J.

I started a scrap book for all our daughters achievements throught out her life. When she graduates, this will be one of her presents.

C. R

Dear S.,

I laminate some of the art things that are really special to me. I love it my son comes home and we laminate it together, then I can hang it up a while then put it in one of the square totes that are kind of flat, it fits perfectly under the bed. Because my son is in preschool he comes home with art items every day. So he decided to take some over to grandma's and grandpa's. He also has a small tote in his room to save some of the ones he likes. The rest after a week they have to be recycled.
B.

What I did was get a scrapbook that you can add pages to. Then when we do an art project we just slid it in to the plastic sleeve. Another way is I took a plain picture box and a hat box and decorated them and I store things of hers in there (I save everything of my daughter's. I mean everything- I'm a pack rat when it comes to her stuff).

I have 5 children all grown and managed to reduce their art and mementos to one or two Rubbermaid tubs, 2X2.5 each, which I keep in the basement. By the time they move out, you will have so many other of their things, and each year as you add to it you can weed out, to keep it manageable. When they move out they are not as interested as you will be to have these things, so save the stuff that means something to you as well as to them.

set up a small display in a corner of a room with twine, clothes pins, and maybe a flashlight above it to illuminate their art like a real gallery. let them know that when it is full, it is up to them to decide which piece gets taken down before a new one goes up. if u still want to keep them, then create a scrapbook for their art. a book on a shelf takes up a lot less space, and allows them the opportunity to go back and see what they have done and how they have progressed. and, the book shows that the art has meaning to u a lot better than shoving everything into a box in the closet.

Try www.ShareMyKidsArt.com - I love this website! It's free and lets you store and organize your children's art. The thing I like it about the most is it has these little buttons so that you can email or upload to your facebook wall pieces of art; this is really nice for us because we live in California and my parents live in Hawaii and my wife's parents live in NY. If one of our children create something we want to share with the grandparents, we simple press a button.

The only thing is you need to scan or photograph the art, which seems like a hassle but it's actually fairly easy. Good luck!

What I did was use a large size Xmas gift box and I stored the art, report cards, school notices and etc. in the box. Some of the art work that was too large for the box I put up in his room and each month I'd change it or every so often I would change it and the art taken down was put into one of those big art folders that I bought at the art store and tucked away in the closet. He is in college now and we smile as we look back at the stories,report cards, and etc. Even his class pictures are in the folder. it holds a lot. I'm sure you'll find this to be a good solution. I did.

Dear S.,
My two kids are grown now, but I have grandchildren who frequently present us with a gift of a drawing or a painting. I do the same thing you do; 'weed out!' But some of the 'artwork' just catches my eye, so I frame it and put it in a little art gallery of their very own! I have fun with the frames I choose...sometimes I will spraypaint the frame to match one of the colors in the picture, or I have the grandchild who drew/painted/colored the picture 'design' their OWN frame with paints, noodles, tiny pebbles, etc. There is a clear spray overcoat that can be sprayed over the frame once it is completed, to protect the 'masterpiece!' (You can find this spray at a hobby store). Also, if the picture is, say, 5X7 size, you can put it in an 8X10 frame and surround it with a matt! The kids can even decorate the matt to compliment the picture they drew! I date and put the grandchilds name and age on each and every piece, and when it comes time to replace the 'artwork' with a new piece, I place the 'old' piece in a scrapbook. Not the kind of scrapbook that just has open pages in it, but the kind of scrapbook you can buy at hobby stores, etc., like Hobby Lobby, Archivers, etc. The pages are acid and lignin free, which helps preserve the piece being saved, and each page has a page cover to protect it, too! Refills of the pages and page covers are readily available where the scrapbooks are sold.

Have fun with this! We do! L.

I work for a wonderful company called Once Upon a Family and we have great items for storing things like art work.
What I'm thinking of for you is called artwork portfolio.
The website is www.onceuponafamily.com

D.

Hello, S.. If you want to keep the actual paper and everything, like I do for specific pieces, then I make a folder for each year my daughter's in school. It gets so hard to throw out your child's art, but at the pace they make art my house would be completely full of her work! So I select a few pieces and put them in the file. Another thing you can do is get a picture box or storage container and just put them in there. It's large enough that it can hold several pieces you select each year. And, finally, if you want to really keep the art "clutter" out but still keep as much as you possibly can, scan the work into the computer and save on a USB or something. You can save all her art by doing this and still select a few original items to keep in a file or in the memory box.

Now that my kids are older, 12 and 10, I just discovered what I am going to do with all the boxes of art projects. I am going to scan the pictures or take digital pictures of the larger projects. I am going to create photobooks of each child's artwork. These can be created at costco, walgreens, shutterfly, etc. Some of them I won't throw out. I can't wait to see the kids faces, when they see the photo books.

How about those space-bags. We got several at Bed Bath and Beyond. They are pricey, but they really minimize thing. You could keep the flat things in there. It may not make things flatter, but at least keep the air, water, bugs and dirt away to keep them safe. I think it would work? I think I'll give it a try. The box under my bed is full and getting dusty under there!

I like the totes and the idea of scanning. I also like to keep several cheap dollar store picture frames around so that I can hang them up. I usually hang them in the kids rooms. It always makes them so proud!

R U crafty? I had 12 kids to find places for what I did was use the adjustable shelfs that way I could make them whatever size i needed sometimes I turned them into cubicles.I also found a nice corner hutch that I used just for the most fragile pieces now that it is full I have put a piece of Plexiglas on the front to protect and preserve. For all there paper project I have scrap books I went to the local craft store and bought the size I wanted & put it together myself so no holes had to be made in anything yet I have them all. memories are wonderful
GOOD LUCK

Could you put them in a binder of some sort or possibly take photographs of the art pics and place the photos in an album. I have four kids and do not keep all of their art. I pick and choose and take lots of pics of their art projects. We place art projects on their bedroom and hall way doors to display and then rotate them out. The ones I do not keep get their picture taken. It can be hard to decide what to keep at times. But we do not have enough room for it all. Good luck with your decision.