What to do with Kids Artwork
One of the top five questions I get when people want to declutter kid stuff is what to do with all of the kids artwork. I get it. My kids have been bringing home ‘art’ for almost eight years. My oldest first went to daycare at 15 months and even then, even then!, there would be some scratches of crayon on paper in his cubby for me to pick up. With three kids we are constantly inundated with dioramas and watercolours and random pieces of paper with ink stamps on it.
I’ll tell you how we deal with kids artwork at my house and give you many ideas for what to do with your kids artwork. Please note, as always, this is a personal choice. My system might seem brutal and heartbreaking to you. That’s okay. It works for me and my family so far. Find what works for you. I helped a friend of mine move a few years ago and she kept every piece of kids art work produced by her – at the time – five and seven year old. It was several boxes in her move. Wouldn’t work for me but works for her.
Most of the kids artwork in our house gets recycled.
We either recycle kids artwork into the recycle bin directly or use it as scratch paper or to create more arts or a craft. I’d say 75% of what comes in the door hits the recycle bin. We’re not total heathens: we always ask about what they’ve made and if something is particularly dear to them we display it for a while. Here’s how it works for us:
Recycle: most of the artwork by our younger two (currently ages 3 and 5) gets recycled. They bring home a lot of pieces from daycare and preschool. They usually draw or colour on loose paper or colouring books at home once a week, more on vacation. Our oldest child – age 8 – spends a lot of time on his drawings. We keep those around for a bit and then they are recycled.
Display: we use washi tape to put up a rotation of art work that comes in the door on the wall behind our dining table. I like to put up seasonal stuff that comes home like St. Patrick’s Day crafts, Easter art, etc. We have also displayed more solid pieces on a picture rail like the canvases my son made at an art camp a few summers ago.
Mementos: so far the kids artwork I have kept is in their farewell books from daycare or end of year books from the early years of school. You know the kind, right? Usually bound in yarn and has photos of your child. Our oldest did a nice self portrait a few years ago at school that I have saved. I’m unsure if these will be kept forever or if they’ll hit the recycle bin at some point when I’m decluttering.
Upcycling Kid’s Artwork
Another thing you can do with kid’s art is to upcycle them into art gifts. They can be a great start for a card or used as wrapping paper. The piece of art turned into a card is particularly good for grandparents. You could also frame art work that would be appreciated as a gift. They could also be used as a background or creative mat for a photo gift.
Saving kids art work digitally.
I have taken photos here and there of art the kids were particularly proud of or that I enjoyed. But I haven’t used an art archiving app because… I don’t think a lot of their art is worth keeping. I know I brought home a similar amount of crafts and art in my childhood and my mother kept very little of it. I don’t feel any disappointment in not having my first finger painting or even the sketchbook from grade eight art class.
There are many options for saving kids artwork digitally from just using your phone – easy! – to using an app. The Pioneer Woman has a round up of art archiving apps you can check out.
Also: you don’t need to feel like a monster for getting rid of most of your kid’s artwork. This Atlantic article is more advice and support for not hanging on to this stuff.
If you have young kids or a prolific artist in the family what do you do with all the art work that comes in to your home?
I have always loved children’s art, Long before I had a child of my own. When my little girl was two I gave her professional watercolors and paper and she did amaze me with her spontanous creations. I knew this phase in her development wouldn’t last so I collected as much of these watercolors as I could and framed some for myself and gifted to her godmother’s and grandmother’s a set. I even gave some to friends who asked for a piece.
I have her first drawings in plastic sleeves in a large binder, dated…I have only one child to keep up with and, at the time, I was a SAHM so I was able to do this. I just continue to add to the binder as the years have passed, it is easy to store.
Having to really cull art came with school. It would hang or be displayed in our home but eventually, with moves especially, recycled. Some pieces made in class were chosen for school art shows and I framed those pieces. Now that she is six, I keep what she tells me to keep, and that can easily be stored. Lucky for me she is a great curator of her own art.
I always encourage my mom friends, if they find themselves huge fans of their child’s work, to consider providing their children, if they can, with real, artist quality supplies. It allows for easy framing and I feel it gives everyone a boost in self-esteem and joy to abandon the manilla and crayon and instead go for the Strathmore canvas or mixed media papers, now and then, because it’s not acidic looks great, meant to last, and easy to store in a portfolio or binder.
My kids are 5, 4 and 2 and we have similar processes to yours, hang for a while and then use as wrapping paper or recycle. I keep a few treasured pieces. I remind myself that for the kids it’s the process of making the art that they enjoy and learn from not necessarily the end product.
We also hang the kids (8 and 5) art from clothes pins on a wire between two eyelet screws for 4-6 months before taking photos and then recycling. The wire display used to be in the kitchen, but we made my “office” into a workshop/craft room and now the wire hangs there. While I take photos of everything (which are stored in icloud), the kids have never asked to look back at them. We live in a two bedroom + workshop condo downtown Chicago.
I would love to see a photo of your washi tape framed art gallery! That’s such a great idea. I am always toying with different ideas for how to manage this stuff, and mostly just feel overwhelmed…
This is a great post, Rachel! Thanks for sharing! I feel like this is such a “modern” problem, as kids in generations past just didn’t have easy access to paper/paints/pencils/etc. I’m grateful that my kids are able to express their creativity easily, but the PAPER! And my dear children dedicate *all* of their artwork to me, which is incredibly sweet — but if I kept it all, I’d literally have boxes of the stuff. My older kids are 7 and 5, and my 3 year old is just starting to make “art.”
I recycle most of their art, scan pieces that are funny, and keep a few of the sweetest pieces. I have a triple clipboard where I display current pieces (they love to have their artwork put up!), and over time I discreetly filter through the pieces that are in the back.
My children each have an IKEA Tjena magazine organizer. They are allowed to keep whatever art they want that can fit in the box. Any art I find out of the box is fair game for the recycle bin (in other words, if it is actually special to them, they will put it away properly). When the boxes are getting untidy I will prompt them to pull everything out and go through it — usually every 4 to 6 months. Inevitably, they ditch about 70% of what was in there.
I love your suggestions for upcycling artwork, and would like to explore that more!
Cheers,
Shanno
I display on the fridge what they want displayed. Then, they have a choice: I can scan/take a photo of the art and then recycle it, or it goes directly into the recycling bin. What is scanned may be used in our yearly photo books (either as a photo or as a background). That’s it.
That’s a lovely idea to use scanned/photos of kid’s art as background or in a photo book. Thanks for sharing, Rachel
My kids are prolific artists…especially my oldest . She’s now 13 and spends 50% of her day drawing and creating. Over the years I have kept samples of her best work, and it’s fun to look back and see how her style has developed. Now that she’s older and in the routine of going through stuff, I leave it up to her. She’s pretty good about knowing what she wants to keep.
Jill, thank you for sharing from an older kid/artist perspective. It’s nice to hear, from this vantage of so much paper coming home with little kids, about the road a few years ahead. Cheers, Rachel
Our daughter is only 5, but my wife is an artist and so our daughter also spends a large amount of time creating. We too recycle most. For the past three years we’ve digitized a subset before tossing and had a book of her artwork printed at the end of the year. Being able to page through her progression is very special for her and her parents. I think the process of choosing which to digitized based on the plan to print a small book that we will actually look at also helps us keep it more minimal than if we were just scanning and dropping it into a folder on the computer.