Childs Art Projects

Have you thought of getting a "art box" like a little gift box or a old hat box and let him paint it and make it a art project that way when he brings you a painting you can just put it in his "art box". That is what I did with my now 11 year old cousin when he was 5 and just starting school. That way he could have them when he is older.

Hi A.-
I have my children pick one to keep each Friday. We save all of the projects for dad to see and then they get to pick one to keep. I have a tupperware w/their names on it. All saved projects go there. If they can't decide... we hang them in the garage.
Hope it helps-They are only younge once it's great to see how quickly they change-H.

I dont think thats a silly question at all, I liked reading your responses, Its helpful for me on what to do with my sons projects, He's 11 and I have scrap papers where he scribbled when he was first holding a pen, It is so hard to throw his masterpieces away, I bought a little storage box like a file box, I call it my memory box, however I really like the idea of the portfolio, Why Didn't I think Of That! lol, But I do post his latest work on the fridge for a while, then put it in his memory box. OH, and somethings I like to put in actual photo frame and hang it as art work around the house, put it in a nice frame with a nice matting, It can look quite amazing, hang it in there room, your room, the bathroom, above the fire place, It can look real cool.

I have a 3 ring binder with my sons name and age on the side (I just get a new one every year) and inside I have those little plastic sheet protector things inside, that way I just slide the masterpieces into the protectors and I have an instant scrapbook. My son loves to show off his books. I only keep things that are really special and show off his progressing skills, and If say he brings home 12 christmas art projects, I pick my favorites and toss the rest. Its fun to look at how much he has advanced just in the last couple years.

A.- I bought a large portfolio for each of my children for their artwork. They have large clear pockets to slide things into. You can also laminate them first at just about any mailbox etc type store. Also, I try to either put the date and what they tell me the picture is somewhere on the back of the picture or use a little sticky note :)

I bought a large portfolio too. They aren't very expensive. I put the date on the back of my son's projects. I don't keep every single one, but I try to keep most of them.

I think a scrap book or a memory box is a great idea. My Mom kept all my art projects in a box and I still have it. its so fun sometimes to go back an look at what I made when i was a kid.

Do you have access to a scanner or copier? I chose several of my favorite pieces, the ones that showed my son's stages or the seasonal ones. I copied and shrunk them to a small size then made a couple scrapbook pages with several of his works of art on each page. Of course, you can paste your top faves right onto you page and keep it forever! Then you can sort through and toss the excess. My mother must have kept every page I ever did. Recently, she brought me some boxes full and thought I might enjoy having them. I didn't! That helped....My son might like to have a page or 2 someday, but I went in and tossed 2 boxes full! Have fun!

I bought a large rubbermaid tub and I make sure that everything is dated and then I put them in there. When I was little my mom did the same thing for me and my siblings and as I became a mom it was fun to look back at all that I had made and share it with my kids. The tub works well especially for things that arent on "paper" that might be alittle bulky for a folder. My son is in kindergarten now and we are on tub number 2 but you can store them in the garage or under the stairs. Hope this helps!

I have long pieces of string on my wall and I clip the latest art work onto the string using clothes pegs. When they get too full, you could put the ones you want to keep into folders like some of the other mums suggested. Z.

I would start a scrap book and whatever you can fit into it that would be the best way to save his pictures that he makes.

We have a few picture frames in the house where we have placed some of our kids art work. I also recommend that you maybe start a scrapbook of the ones that you both find you need to save. Plus when they get older its really fun to look back and see what they did. You can also use a photo box or anything like that, so you can safely store away all of your treasures.

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!

If you have access to a scanner, like a previous poster suggested, then you can scan them into the computer. Once that's done, you can send them to a photo website, like Shutterfly, for example, and make a photo book. They make these great photo books that are bound nicely for a great price. My stepdaughter (age 7) is very artsy (we do scrapbooks together) and we get a lot of stuff not just from school ,but at home as well.
Just as a side note, some of the art pieces may not scan well, so you just have to play with it or choose the most vibrant ones in order to do the photo books. The photo books are great, too, because you can send them to relatives for Christmas, birthdays, or any holiday.

Good luck!
B.

I can relate to your dilema! I have 4 children. When my oldest was younger I used to stick them in a drawer...which became full way to fast! Now I take the ones that are the most precious..with a handprint, or something they worked especially hard on, and add it to a scrapbook. If the page is really big I just crop the work

I loved reading the responses! Of course you can try to keep just the best ones or the ones that show progress or a new skill, but it is hard to throw things away that your kid made!

An idea I just heard of is to make Care Envelopes for their grandparents who live far away. You put in artwork, stories, (anything the kids make that you don't want to keep! They won't know they are getting your "second bests!"), and don't forget to add a few recent photos of the kids. Grandparents will LOVE getting these Care Packages every month (or whenever you do them, but once a month is a good schedule).

One mom I know frames her kids' artwork and displays it around the house. The kids are involved in choosing the mat and frame and even when to retire a certain piece and replace it with a new one. As they get older, the art gets better!

Since your child is young still, you could pin the artwork on a bulletin board and change them out each week. I like the idea of letting the child pick which ones to keep.

Hi A.. I totally know the dilema. What I do is I have a folder for each of my kids (I have 3) and put their work in there, then after a few months I go through and only keep certain ones. I also hand out some to the grandparents, and my boys' dad. I display some on the fridge, hang some in frames and there is a few that are jungle themed so I have them in the playroom. We are putting a jungle mural on the playroom wall so I'll be laminating the animals one and putting some sort of backing on it where they can stick it to the wall then restick it again else where, that way their art work also becomes an interactive game as well. I really like the idea of scanning it though as someone else said. That's a great idea for any books they make, etc.