Does Anyone Have Any Creative Ideas....

[cat]

...for what to do with all the crafts your preschooler brings home each day? I've got a huge stack of paintings, pictures, door hangers, decorative crafts that I don't know what to do with! Anyone have any ideas to share??

 

[janetupnorth]

Honestly, most "disappear" after awhile. My small house has too much to begin with! My daughter that is in kindergarten though does "letter sheets" every week - cuts out pictures and labels the pictures. The teacher is putting those into a binder.

I have a friend at work that made one of her daughter's bedroom walls into a "corkboard" to place all the items on.

Another idea, is if you want to "keep" the memories, take a picture of each one and make a scrapbook of that...

 

[TerraOB83]

my sons not in school yet but when he paints or makes anything he has his own bulletin in the family room that he puts them on and when that gets filled I frame some of them and hang them in his room
Terra

 

[BethCooks4U]

The smaller or flatter things can be put in a scrapbook. Maybe you could choose a day every month for your child to choose their favorite thing from that month to keep "forever' and to make room he can choose which of the remaining things comes down. You could keep the best and give them to the child when they become an adult.

I did that with my sons and finally gave them to them a couple years ago (they're late 20's and early 30's). They LOVED it! I also had pictures in there from their childhoods (extras that I didn't "need"). Every once in a while they will say they were looking through their box and it brings up a memory. The coolest thing is the took favorite pictures and made a framed collage for me (my copies are in boxes or albums not on the walls) and framed a couple others and gave them as gifts to others. What made the gifts they made extra special was that it was THEIR favorites. You see into their souls sometimes when they give from their hearts!

 

[pcleah]

I have a large "clothesline" (it is really just some brown twine hung with push pins) that stretches accross the top of a sliding glass door. I can easily hang up the TONS of artwork that comes home. I use clothes pins and its easy to change often.

 

[mom2leelee]

I heard one lady say on another board that she takes close up pictures of all her kids artwork and puts the pictures onto CD. I am another one who makes it 'dissapear' after a while. I will keep some of the stuff I really like but I just can't keep everything. We live in a super small house and there just isn't room. Plus I'm just not a keeper of anything.

 

[etteluap70PC]

most of our "art" goes on the fridge. When it gets full I take a picture, sometimes with my child standing next to it. Next papers and art go into a special box in the closet (kids never want to throw stuff away) I go thru now and then and throw stuff out when my DD is at school.

I then use the pictures for fill in pages in DD's scrapbook. I've preserved the memory without the clutter! She loves to look at her art!

 

[tlmcunning]

I have clear fishing line hanging up under the window in my dining room where I hang everything that comes home with clothes pins. Once the fishing line is filled up I then take a picture of all the artwork to put in my sons scrapbook. I usually keep all the art work for a month and at the end of the month he can pick one piece of artwork to keep in his special project box. This way I don't feel bad about throwing anything away and he has a picture of all of his artwork in his school scrapbook forever.

Tracy

 

[cat]

Thanks for the ideas! I have also heard of writing notes on the back and sending some to grandma and grandpa, BUT one grandma (my MIL) lives with us and my parents live close by as well, so we see them often as well! I don't have too much time for scrapbooking, but I like the idea of having him choose his favorites to save and give to him when he is older. I'm not great at throwing things away (I'm too sentimental) but the piles are overwhelming me! I only have 2 kids now, but plan on having one or two more, so I can see how much stuff we will accumulate!

 

[jchesley]

Along the lines of the idea of taking a picture for a scrapbook, you could scan (if you don't have a scanner take a pic) the art and create calanders through Shutterfly or Snapfish with them. I am planning on giving them out as Christmas gifts next year. They also have hardcover books on those websites, if you're not into scrapbooking.


Jess

 

[Cindycooks]

Well my girls are grown - but I have a big rubbermaid tote for each of them (the flat kind that slides under the bed) that I saved all their stuff I couldnt bear to part with in. When they were little I hung it everywhere. Cabinet doors, the fridge, down the hall....a friend of mine even has her kids artwork all in the kids bathroom, like wallpaper - its really cute! One of my daughters did a crayon picture of all of us and the cat when she was 3...and it has hearts all over it. That one I framed.

 

[GourmetGirl]

My mom saved all of my stuff that she liked. She had her favorite "art" piece of mine professionaly framed and hanging in the tv room. The rest of the stuff she brought to my college graduation and at our girl's luncheon (she had me invite my 6 closest girlfriends) she took out report cards, stories I had written, reports, poems, art, etc and passed it around to my girlfriends at lunch. It was embarassing and touching all at the same time. I love that she only made 1 scrapbook and 1 small-ish rubbermaid with my stuff, as now I won't have a ton to hang on to, but enough to remenisce(sp?).

 

[SilverCeladon]

It hangs around for a while and some of his masterpieces are on the mantel..the rest just disappear after a while. My son brings home items every Tuesday and Thursday so that adds up after a while. I only keep the very special ones.