As a mother of 3 artistic children, I end up with quite a stack of artwork. There is always something unique about every piece, they've learned to draw something new, or they've taken a little extra time coloring it. I find it hard to get rid of their precious artwork, so I end up saving all of it (for the most part). Considering I have minimal space to store things, this poses a problem. It either ends up piling up on my desk, overflowing my "To File" folder, or cluttering my refrigerator.
I've noticed that the only time I do a hard core toss session is when I'm piled up to the max. I fear that I'm throwing away something precious that I can't get back. With 2010 just beginning, and a new set of goals, I've purposed to come up with a better way of managing my children's artwork and getting rid of some of this clutter.
In honor of the backwards edition of Works For Me Wednesday--I turn to you. How do you decide what artwork to keep, and what to toss? How do you store the ones you keep?
27 comments:
One of my readers had sent in a tip to me (she is a homeschooling mom of 4) to use pizza boxes. You can sort by child, sort by event or category. Then it will be easier to go through them. They are very easy to stack and don't take up that much space. They can even be put under the bed. Just sharing. :-)
I keep all of Evan's work in a storage bin until the end of the school year. Then I go through things. I'll toss most daily work (keeping important stuff like writing his name), and then the projects I divide into - 1) keep w/school year 2) keep 2/ seasonal (think Christmas Artwork that I could frame as decorations next year) and then 3) trash.
It's always hard though!!
I bought an art portfolio at the crafts store. You can also make one by folding a piece of poster board in half and either staple or tape the ends. Then your child can decorate the outside.
My girls come home from pre-k with about 5 projects each, each day. My closet is over-run with art! I sort them into grocery bags by child and when that gets full I figure out what stays and what can be thrown. I keep anything that has hand/finger prints and that they've written words on or is particularly creative. If I feel I need to pair down even more, I just take photos of it. I find that a lot of the bigger things they make like bells out of foam cups, they like to play with and eventually it's wrecked to the point of needing to be tossed. I've learned to take photos of those things right away. I love the idea of a pre-school art album. Just photos of them beaming and holding a favorite art project. I still have yet to figure out where to store it all permanently.
I take pictures of stuff that is cute and we want to remember but it's time for it to be thrown away. We have a box that my son can choose was is important to him, but when that is full we have to clean out and get rid of something. We also have an art table with a crate and file bin that sort of tries to manage his creative energy. With a 4 year old "everything" is special right now!
One of the writers at The Homeschool Classroom had several different ideas: http://www.hsclassroom.net/2009/12/organizing-and-displaying-childrens-artwork/
I throw away some things -- especially when they are just like many other pieces. One of my kids is very prolific with her art. ;) But, I do try to keep hold of things that are representative of things that they were doing at that stage.
Oh, my this is timely! I was just thinking of starting a portfolio for the special pieces but the rest? I like the photo idea!
I also use the pizza box storage system. I use one box per kid per year. I have them stacked up in my scrapbooking room, so if I want to include them in a scrapbook they're handy. Good luck!
Zack brings home 3-5 every day! I keep all the seasonal ones and the ones that are REALLY important. The important ones go in a file in our file cabinet and the seasonal goes in the seasonal boxes downstairs.
The rest of his art, I wait until he's in bed because he won't understand now but will later... And I take pictures. I'm going to make a scrapbook of his art.
emilykate84@yahoo.com
I started a while back to go through their backpack each day and look at the school work. Keep the artwork that isn't just filling in the lines, then I pick out the stories they write. I put those in a folder with each child's name in order of date so I can see later how they progressed through school. The rest I put in the recycling. I thought the kids would be upset with the recycling part, but they are glad that I keep the good stuff! I try to only touch it all once. (Sometimes it doesn't work :) ) I like the photo idea too, I have done that for some but not a whole lot, good ideas!
I don't know if you have family that lives far away but one of the things we did when my kids were smaller was to mail Grandma and Grandpa some of the artwork. They enjoyed getting things from the kids and the kids enjoyed seeing it displayed on their refrigerator when we would visit.
Another idea is to take a picture of your child holding their masterpiece and then make an album of those pictures- much easier to store than the actual artwork.
We finally managed to come up with a system that works. I had/have my daughter purge it herself. This way, she doesn't feel that I am throwing away her treasured pieces, and she's learning an important skill. Even the first time, she did a much better job than I expected. She threw away almost exactly what I would have tossed, and kept almost exactly what I would have kept. The specific list of questions I gave her to work through are in this post: Helping Children Purge Artwork. (I went through it with her for the first stack, and after that she did it on her own. She brought me the stack of "throwaways" so I could double-check it before tossing.)
I agree with Rachel R. Also, you could possibly take pictures of the ones to store on your computer optionally as well. :D
I tend to purge as the artwork comes home. My daughter is only in kinder and doesn't seem to notice if it disappears after a few days. I save the unique things (holiday, something that showcases her thoughts and writing, etc.). She had a lot of big artwork projects taped to her closet door and it was easier than I thought to convince her that it was time to take them down. The things she had hung up weren't necessarily things I would have saved.
I hung a string on the wall to display "current" artwork, using clothespins to secure the artwork on the string. When the string gets full, I remove the artwork and file it. If the artwork shows the child's development (ie handwriting, tracing of hands, etc), I either save it (if it is small enough to fit in a binder or folder) or take a picture of it and save the photo in my computer files. Other pieces can be used as gifts to family members or as wrapping paper for presents to family members.
I only keep really substantial things, like hardback books they create and handprint stuff. With the other things, I take a photo of them holding it. Then I keep the photo and trash the item (gulp!) I have also kept everything in a bucket until the end of the school year and had them stand in the middle of them, strewn all around them, and taken a photo.
we have a wall in the dining room that is their family art wall...I display things that come home on that wall....it's pretty neat, the kids are proud of it, and guests always comment on it. After I've displayed things, I decide what I want to keep, and get rid of the others. I also keep things like the first spelling test, etc.
I use it all in my scrapbooking.
I let them pick out their best works. Scan it, and use as desktop wallpaper or rotating screen saver.
Otherwise, I'd DROWN in papers!
1) Buy 3 'boot sized' containers from The Container Store and label each with a child's name
2) Place containers somewhere easy to access (ahem... this step has tripped me up because if I can't get to the boxes, then stuff piles up again)
3) Every week go through and only keep the stuff that has significant value: sentimental drawing (maybe drew brother for the first time or whatever), shows significant improvement and a new technique, is really gorgeous.
I promise your children won't want every single thing they ever drew, but the meaningful ones will still have meaning.
HTH!
I have an expandable file folder. I have one for each girl. I have labeled the tabs inside "certificates, lunch reciepts, newsletters, misc...then one tab for each month. I sort through the stuff they bring home keeping the projects and some of the classwork then file them in the correct month. At the end of the year I plan on doing a purge. The file folder keeps it out of site and it is easy to access...they are in baskets under a sofa table.
We have binders with clear protector sheets that i add my daughters art work to and put these on my bookshelf. sometimes we scrapbook "our" favorites together.
Stopping by from WFMW!
The absolute best idea I have ever seen was to scan or take photos of everything and turn it into a book! There are SO many awesome companies out there for creating books {I usually use MyPublisher}, Blurb, Shutterfly, etc... and I am sure that givng a child a book of their own art would trump pitching all of it. Added bonus? Being able to give copies to the grandparents!
I plan on making a book of Mikaela's artwork and photography through snapfish or another online photography place. A lot of times, you can get their photobooks for a discount. This provides a great archiving option and this way I can buy copies for the aunts and grandparents for holidays such as grandparents day or Christmas.
I keep a large box at the top of each child's closet. During the year, everything goes in. Over the summer, my kids go through the box and decide the items that THEY want to keep in the box. I am usually surprised by their choices but none the less, works very well.
I don't keep much of my daughter's artwork (she's almost 3), but I try to take a photo of most things she creates. I plan to make a photo album of her artwork for her to look back on when she's older.
I like the idea of taking a photograph of special pieces and making a photobook or photo album.
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