Thursday, September 4, 2008

Too Many Art Projects!!

Those of you who have little ones who love to make art projects - what do you do with all of them?
My girls make atleast one picture almost everyday. It can be as simple as a picture they colored or drew or it could be a collage with buttons, foam shapes, glitter, etc. I have a pile on my counter and I don't know what to do with them. I can't save every picture and my first instinct is to toss it all!
Kevin has joked before that he will have to be the one to save the girls "special" pictures and gifts because I am just not sentimental. I know I should save some of their pictures, but can't decide on which ones.

Any suggestions?

13 comments:

Nicole said...

Just blogged about something similar today! http://heresthediehl.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/tilt-canvas-storage-boxes/

I have a box downstairs for each holiday/season, and I keep a few special projects there. I also just have a few saved in their keepsake boxes, and I rotate their artwork in our playroom frames, too.

Krys said...

What if you let the girls pick their favorites?

Erin said...

I'd suggest having a limit and having a place to display them - each child having a tackless bulletin board or something. Whenever they make a new project, if they'd like to replace one of the old pictures, they may. If they would rather recycle it, they may do that, too. I'd say each girl gets to pick 5 or so pictures to keep for as long as they want, but they only get to keep 5. Or whatever number you choose.

heather said...

I'm horrible. I throw almost everything away. I kept some of my favorites from Savannah's last two years of preschool (like half a dozen things) and hung them in the playroom. Not framed or nice or anything; just slapped on the wall. I've been meaning to make a border around the playroom of a nice thick white wood with velcro or clips on it all the way around the room and then the kids can put their favorites up there and they're easy to switch out. As far as storing for ever... I have no idea. I have both the kids first fingerpaintings and that's about it. I did scan some and have put them on my blog or just have them on my computer.
Here's a link to an awesome idea I'm comtemplating from here on out...
http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/2008/08/childs-art-port.html

Dan and Amanda said...

I'm bad! I throw them away! I'll hang them up in the kitchen for a day or two and then in the trash they go. We have a file folder for both girls that we put one or two of our favorites in, but the rest are history!!!

Casey said...

I have a friend who suggested something to me one time. She buys those "expand-a-files" and gets one for each child per year. Then she puts her favorites in there over the course of the year and then stores the "expand-a-files" in a plastic storage bin in the closet/attic/etc. This way it contains them and keeps them organized by child and by year. Good luck....I'm such a believer in throwing things away so I've often wondered how I'll tackle this too!

Jody said...

I get rid of most of ours. I like to hold onto the ones that have hand prints or foot prints on them. I just got a picture from Seth that has a house by a lake in the mountains. We will have to keep that one.

Unknown said...

I didn't have any organized method of saving artwork when our kids were little, so I ended up w/ an odd assortment (very unequal amounts for each, I might add). I think I would try to take a day either at the beginning or end of every month and look through that month's accumulation, saving just 1or 2 pieces from each child. Put them in a more permanent box (see Nicole's blog today) for safekeeping. This way, you'll have something for every time of year for all the kids.

Don't obsess about doing it just right, and for heaven's sake, don't worry if everything in a certain month gets pitched! I think you've got the main idea that if you just have some kind of guideline or goal, it will help you feel more organized and will give you permission to get rid of most of it. (Also remember that you can take photos of some of the artwork. That takes less space than the actual piece.)

Erin K. said...

I don't have any advice on the art projects, but I wanted to leave a comment. Life has been crazy around here and I am just now catching up on my favorite blogs, and was excited to stop by yours today and see that you are expecting. Congratulations!! :-)

Peterson Party said...

Sometimes I turn them into other projects. Like, my daughter loves to paint, so once her painting is dried, I will cut it and make another project out of it. I agree, we just can't keep everything, but this way we make another use out of some of them.

Alison said...

Ryan comes home with a folder of at least a dozen items each week. Will doesn't have quite as many. I have kept the items that they have done with handprints and footprints just to see how they grow. I have also kept more of the projects that they have actually drawn or painted versus the ones that they have glued on. Matt thinks I throw everything away. However, when it comes to the art projects, he tosses them in the recycle bin as soon as they get home. I am the one who pulls them out and goes through them.

I liked the idea of turning them into other projects. Ryan is really into "cutting" and "building" airplanes and cars from what he has cut out. This is a great idea!

Heather S. said...

Thanks for all the great ideas!!! Now I just have to figure out what will work for us - it may be a combination of several!!! I'm actually excited about saving their work now!!

wolfflaw said...

Hey, Heather! This is Alison's friend, Christie, from college. I was on Alison's blog and saw the link to yours, so I popped in. I wanted to suggest another idea for the art projects. Take a digital photo of each of them and store them in a separate folder for each girl on the computer. Then, you could print them and make little photo albums for them maybe? I would only keep the most treasured in original form and recycle the rest. The only artwork of Addison's that we keep are ones with hand or foot prints on them. Good luck!