I have two preschoolers who bring home lots of artwork and make their own creations at home. While their projects are my favorite, we've accumulated boxes of their paperwork that we don't look at or use. One afternoon, I spent a few hours photographing everything they did, downloading the photos to our computer, and uploading them to an online photo service to share with the grandparents. Next, I filed a few of my favorites in two cardboard magazine boxes, one for each child, and put the rest in the recycle bin. Now, at the end of each day, I gather all of their work and either hang it on the fridge or put it in the "art gallery" box. Once the box is filled, I photograph the work and go through the process above.
What I do with my children and I have a hoard all creative like Mum,I purchase those "Clipit" folders,where U can add plastic pages;then I help show my children how to create a kinda story folder with their art works,writing schoolwork,tell stories about what the meaning is. For larger Artworks;I Purchase large yet cheap Cardboard,needs to be rather strong,I then show them even the littlest one how to make a "Collage" of their works,or one peice of work,with their meaning.then I store these each in homade folio/s,not only I can show them off in an organised way,my children can choose which ones they wish to proudly show off,those that R older,I simply keep storred away in one of those large "under-bed" storage box 4 each child.Out of the way yet still accessible when your child/ren decide one of them is important to re-show or show.
This is a really great idea;can create a photograph collage from this, & yes saves on all that storage space as well. Thanks for this tip as I have a hoard of very creative children just like mum. :)
I scan artwork that will fit on my scanner and take pictures of the rest. Then I save on a disc, no paper! I do use some for cards and for the grannies! No room to keep it all, just took a few years to figure that out.
I think it's a pretty good idea to take pictures of some of the artwork. I know as a mom of 3 you feel guilty throwing stuff away. But my oldest is 11 and stuff sure does pile up! At the end of every week I sort through the papers now. I am going to buy a binder for each child and some page protectors for the ones I just can't part with. Another idea is to give/ mail some of the precious artwork to family. Let them also display the master pieces! Sometimes what my mom does is use the artwork as backrounds for her scrapbooking pages!
I think that's a great idea! It doesn't take up nearly as much space as it would actually having to find a place to store it all; but be sure to back up a copy of everything on cd, just in case your computer crashes. And, if you have an attic or basement, you can even keep the originals stored in boxes. (plastic, with secure lids). You gotta love the pre-school drawings. :)
I don't want to be a wet blanket, but you are likely still saving too much. Your kids are going to produce a ton of artwork over their school careers. I would display it at the time, save anything that is really special -- photograph one or two more, but don't have more than 5 or 6 things for a year -- and pitch the rest. I know you might find these things hard to part with now, but imagine how many photos you are going to have stored up by the time the kids are 18!! Who is going to look at it all!! Send some photos to Grandma, and delete the rest.
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