Ideas for childhood artwork

Many parents are inundated with all the artwork their children do. If you’re like me you can’t just throw it away! Here are some great ideas for how you can preserve that work and spread the joy!

Take a photo each month of your child with the art projects for the month. Save the photos in a small album. Discard most of the projects.

Using a sturdy box or storage tub, choose which items to save and which items to purge. Have your child help with this; keeping only what fits in the container.

What to do with the purged art items:

Have your child mail samples to relatives, like grandparents, god parents.

Take some of the artwork to a convalescent hospital for the patrons to enjoy.
Especially nice if you call ahead and ask if you can decorate a small bulletin board on put something on each person’s door.

Use flat drawings for very personalized gift wrap.

Use flat projects for book covers

Make flat projects into placemats. Either have them laminated or use two sheets of contact paper to sandwich the art between.

Frame several projects for use in a child’s bedroom, empty hallway. Especially pretty with paintings, but black and white pictures look nice grouped together.

Use several art projects as a backing for a bulletin board.

If there are some parts of the drawing the child wants to keep, carefully cut around the item, cover with lamination film or clear contact paper and attach magnets to the back. Instant personalized refrigerator magnets. They could also create their own artwork scrapbook with the fussy-cut pieces!

Make mats to mount photos of your child on top of. Choose a piece of art. Cut to fit in your frame. Using double stick tape or glue, attach child’s photo on top of the art, centered in the frame. Makes an “instant” mat for the picture.

New quilting techniques make it possible to scan the artwork THEN print it onto fabric! You could make a memory quilt out of the artwork and give it to your child when they’ve grown up!

Scan the artwork into your computer THEN reprint it onto cardstock for your children to send out. This is especially nice if they create seasonal artwork (Christmas, Easter, Hanukah, Kwanza and such).

Kathy Felton is a stay-at-home mom of 3 and a member of Frugal Families. For more money saving ideas, please visit us at Frugal-Families.