I’m sure I’m not the only parent that struggles with the amount of artwork coming home from school, being created at home, and being brought home from church and everywhere else.
You either pile the art on the mountain of other school papers, or you might try to sneak the “not so awesome pieces” in the trash (don’t act like you haven’t done this!)
If you are drowning in your child’s artwork, the first thing to do is set up an “artwork layover”. I have a cute set of cardboard drawers (from Walmart) that sit on a table in our living room.
The top drawer is for my older daughter, the bottom drawer is for my younger daughter. As the girls bring artwork home, almost every piece gets put in here. It’s quick and easy and the clutter is contained. Once these drawers start to fill up, here are a few strategies to try:
#1 Get your kid(s) involved.
Have an art party and bring out all the artwork that has collected over the past several months (or whole school year!) Have your kids choose their 20-30 favorite pieces, and then store those away. My girls LOVED doing this. Even my 2 year old enjoyed looking back at all the artwork she has done.
#2 Create a gallery wall.
Grab some cheap frames and display their favorite pieces in your living room or in the kids’ rooms. You can even hang a piece of string with a couple of command hooks and use clothes pins to display the art that way.
This is what my youngest uses in her room. It’s just a pegboard and we hang her artwork on metal hooks!
#3 Set up a permanent artwork storage system.
I have started using these clear stackable scrapbook boxes for my girls. I have a box for each school year and fill it with their favorite art pieces, report cards, school photos, etc. Label the boxes by year and one day your kids can go back and see all their memories.
These are 12in x 12in which allow enough room for those over sized art pieces.
