Hi Moms & Caregivers,
I have a daughter who will be completing preschool soon and over the last two years have collected a mountain of her school art-work/projects etc...
My question is, what is the best method to preserve/store/present this material (some of it is 3D and some is oversized)and more importantly, how do I sift through all the items to keep only a few key pieces?.
Preferably, I would like to do something very simple- not terribly crafty- does that only leave a keepsake box!!!. I know I have many years of more school artwork ahead of me!.
Thanks
I used plastic storage containers and had one for each child. At first I kept everything but really after a while I ended up going through everything and saving only the best things or things that were different.
Take photos of each thing and then make a scrap book of all of the photos...you can hang onto a few key pieces, and maybe if they are small enough, even include the originals in the scrapbook.
I wish I'd have done this with my kids' stuff.
Take digital pic if them & create a book of her art work. If any if them canbe framed or matted to be put on display in her room.
I saved my favorites in between the pages of my photo albums. He is almost 16 now and he laughs at me when he sees the edges of his artwork sticking out. I plan on doing the same thing when my 2 little ones start school.
It sounds like you have been given some great ideas. One other idea is to bring the really special ones (I know how do you choose) to Staples and have them laminated they will last forever. I really love the idea of taking photos of them and making a keepsake scrapbook.
some good ideas here, ive been wondering myself as my own mountain builds.... another idea thats on my own to do list - they have picture frames that are deep like a shadow box and the front glass is like a door, you can layer a few in there and change them up often and easily, and some 3d stuff will work too.
Online photo services like snapfish had a good idea which is to take photos of all the artwork and create a photobook. They're hard cover books and very professional. I did one with photos not artwork and am happy with the quality, speed, price. Worth looking into for preservation of art as well.
A mom at my girls' school took an adjustable, plastic spined biner and filled it with slip in page protectors. She then placed the artwork in the sleeves.
I am keeping things that are really different or things that have handprint/footprints on them.
Here's a slight variation on the photobook idea: My twin 2 years olds make a project every day (!) and my son comes home with preschool projects about twice a week, so we are buried. I use the two huge cupboard doors in my mud room that conceal my water system (floor to ceiling) to display the kids' things. The tape is right there on a ledge that is also big enough to support some of the 3D projects. When the display wall is full I take a picture and then quiety dump (I mean recycle) most of the projects. Anything really worth saving goes in a pizza box (new) with each child's name - and even those get sorted everyonce in a while. So - do you have a wall of fame? One photo per month is much more logical than one per day. Plus, it's nice to see all of the Valentines projects together and then all of the St Pat's crafts. Oh how they grow! Good luck!
Dear Benny,
I photograph their work and print it out...that way, they can display it in their rooms.
Komal
Hi Benny. Someone I worked with taught me a way to diplay some of thte pictures. She hung them on the insides of her kitchen cabinets. This wasy the kids knew you saw thtem all the time, and you could have them help you pick the ones to go up that way you know what ones are special to your child. It's like an art show. My daughter used to love this. As for the rest of it good luck!!! :)
HI, I photograph all of my sons art work and when his school year is over I will place them in an online photo book.
I don't have the issue yet but have found moms who photograph the art and keep the keepsake album or hang a wall mural. Then you don't have a space or pick and choose issue, but you get to keep them all (in pictures).
I would suggest a digital camera and a scanner! Shoot snapshots or scan the flat stuff, and save just a few originals that are really special.
My first child is now eight. I filtered out a bit of her artwork every weekend, but I really kept so much of it for four years(!) and just went through it all again a few weeks ago. It was a lot easier to toss stuff now than it was then. Also, a lot of that stuff fades or falls apart because the inks, glues, etc. have to be safe for little kids. It was really easy to pitch a lot of it after letting it sit.
I have two more children now--both in preK--and it is much easier to toss stuff now since I know what will be coming up!
Hi Benny
For the paper items you can scan them into your computer and then save them in a file so you will always be able to view them. For the larger items, take a digital photo of them (with your daughter holding it perhaps) and store them on your computer or on a memory card. Physcially keep a few of the most precious ones. Get an artist's portfolio or large pizza box to store them under your bed. Frame some pictures and display them as art, hang some on a corkboard in your daughter's bedroom, laminate some for placemats.
Good luck!
Hi Benny. I found artwork frames in the Home Improvements catalogue that you can store around 50 8.5x11 pages and I believe the frame maintains the integrity of the paper itself. You can switch which one is displayed and hang it on the wall. As for the larger pieces, I am not sure. Here's a link for the frame
http://www.improvementscatalog.com/product/art-dynamic-frame-children-s-artwork.do
Hi Benny,
Take digital pictures of all her wonderful treasures, put it on a CD and make a slide show out of it. You have it for years and can share with family on the internet. Lots of options but you don't end up with all that stuff. Keep a few
actual treasured pieces but the rest can be "recycled".
It is sooo hard to part with any of it but as you are aware of you have many more years to add to the collection. A CD of each year is easy to store and look at at any time!
Makes great gifts to family too!!! Good Luck
I don't scrapbook but for some reason I had a scrapbook so I used it to put my daughters artwork in. I did not do anything fancy I just slid the papers in the "pockets" and this way the are protected by the plastic and they are all in one place. The scrapbook I have is a perfect fit for the artwork she has. It all seems to fit no matter what the size.
She looks at it all the time and there's no way she can do damage to it if she's just flipping through.