Organizing: Kids’ Art

What to do with all the art the kids bring home from school? You want to give that hard work and creativity the respect it deserves but there’s only so much wall space. I found a large, cheap frame at a local antique shop, removed the original art (a hunting scene that I hope wasn’t worth millions), and hung the empty frame on the wall over the kids’ art cabinet. A more exacting sort of person might have repainted it, but I think the whole gold and shiny thing makes it special.

So now the kids select their favorite pieces, I tape them onto the wall inside the frame, and we enjoy the artwork until some new projects are ready to take a turn. The kids are happy because their work is being honored and I’m happy because it’s not taking over the house.

Full disclosure: I don’t keep every piece of schoolwork or artwork that comes home. I used to save every single scribble, but I realized after a few years that kids bring home a lot of stuff, especially in the preschool and kindergarten years. Lily alone draws 10 pictures a day. So I recycle a lot of it, give some away, and store the rest in bins labeled for each kid. These bins are also a great place to store report cards, awards, and other mementos. When they fill up, we sit down together and weed out some things (easier to do after a few years have gone by) to make room for more.