Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Storing Children's Artwork

Unless you're lucky enough to live in a home with unlimited storage space (I'm not), figuring out what to do with all the artwork your children create can become a real problem. I keep a few special pieces each year but what about all the rest? It's fun to see how they progress as they grow, but really, how many scribbles or pictures of houses do you really need for that...

Enter the digital camera.


I take digital photographs of all my kids' drawings and projects (and boy do they bring home a LOT of them). Once they're stored digitally, the originals quietly disappear. The kids love seeing their work pop up on the computer's screen saver, and I love getting rid of the clutter! A word to the wise though, always make sure that the artwork you're not saving "disappears" when no one is watching. Otherwise, that fingerpainting they haven't even thought about in 6 months suddenly becomes a treasure they can't live without.

Storing artwork digitally - it works for me. Check out Rocks In My Dryer to see what works for everyone else.

13 comments:

Mrs. O said...

I like this idea. We have art by the boatload.

My friend lets her kids keep their art all year and then takes a photo of them surrounded by. They can choose three of their favorite pieces for mementos.

Jo said...

Great idea. Stuff I love goes on the dresser and the rest in big boxes in their wardrobes, but the boxes are all-but full.

la bellina mammina said...

HI - came by from Scribbit...love this idea. I will keep the ones which I really like and the rest to be stored digitally!! And I absolutely loooove your kitchen too - so spacious!

Robin said...

Thanks mammina, we just redid it about 18 months ago. It was HIDEOUS before!

Anonymous said...

This is a wonderful idea. Tks!

deedee said...

This is a good idea!

Mel said...

What a great idea! I must admit ti just having a clear out (my children can porduce 20plus items a week plus what they do at school) so I do throw away all but the ones I think are special - bu taking a photo of them is a fab idea!

Lady G~ said...

Great idea! I'll have to pass this along to my fellow homeschooling moms. :o)

Eimi said...

hahaha that is awesome!!! Very smart... you still get the memories... you slowly get rid of the stuff. =)

The Estrogen Files said...

Great idea. I never know what to do with the pictures they make for me. I will have to try it!

Unknown said...

Great idea!

I have a box each child in the attick... but it can't keep up with the amount of art my girls make.

Anonymous said...

Service to preserve children's artwork
We have found away to "Curate the Clutter"

Check out the ART:archives(tm), www.theartarchives.com. The ART:archives preserves your childrens' artwork and designs a digital solution to showcase, store and archive these precious treasures.

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Anonymous said...

SouvenarteBooks makes gorgeous books of children's art -- from 20 pages to 100 pages and they are all custom designed. They are so beautiful, they come with a bookstand for you to display them! They scan and photograph all your work, and of course, you can order your images on a CD so you can use those pictures for cars, mugs or calendars... go to their website, www.souvenartebooks.com to see some the beautiful work they do!