I'm overwhelmed with art projects! What do I keep?

[Sabriel]

Seriously, the fridge looks like it's a collage gone wild. How do you other caregivers decide what to save and what to dump, and how do you do it without offending the artist? Can you tell I'm a newbie at school? She just hit kindergarten.
Sabriel

[Pithlet]

Good question.

I'm not to that point yet, because my oldest is 3. But, I'm very sentimental, and hate the thought of discarding precious artwork. I haven't even donated or thrown out a single piece of baby clothing, yet. I'm sure some resourceful DU parents will come up with some solutions.

[WestHoustonDem]

1. My humble suggestion

Is two-part. Ask her to pick her 3 or 4 favorites and see if she wants make a special box to save them. I learned my little artist had favorites and didn't care to keep everthing when she was that age.

[SoCalDem]

2. Get some shallow boxes with lids..label year by year

have the kids help you sort which they really like.. Store them in a safe place.. When your kids are grwon, give them the saved treasures.. They will LOVE it..

Ours did :)

[blondeatlast]

5. That's a nice idea; I'll try it! nt

[SoCalDem]

7. Another thing I do for "new babies".. I buy an extra newspaper

on the day they are born, and put it in the bottom of the cedar chest or on a closet shelf, and when they turn 18, fold it and wrap it up and it's a cool gift..

Our son was amazed at the car classifieds....another son was blown away with the clothes ads...

I practically wept at the grocery ads and house for sale ads..:)

[amandae]

9. That's what we did too ...

We bought a medium sized rubbermaid bin and put her work in there. We labeled it with her name and grade and at some point in the future I'll go through it and make a large scrapbook for each grade. I know it's stuff she'd like to keep and maybe show her own kids one day ...

:hi:

[jdots]

3. We just lived with the clutter

It is better to have a refridgerator covered in drawings than a wall
covered with crayons....the kids start editing thier work soon,but don't let them loose those imaginations.

[blondeatlast]

4. I finally just asked my son what HE wanted to give to Grandma, save, etc.

It works wonders, and he gets to display his favorite stuff.

If they are old enough, I HIGHLY recommend this tactic to save your sanity. Wait till they reach school age!

I'm swamped with his homework, so we've gone the same route with that.

Real sanity saver!

[wildeyed]

6. We strung a wire across a wall and then added clips.

It is a constantly evolving display and it keeps the fridge from getting too cluttered.

[Sabriel]

8. I like that!

I'll try that, although the supply will build up and will eventually have to be weeded. Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions.
Sabriel

[sherrem]

10. This is what I do

I bought each of my kids a large photo album, and put their favorite drawings in a clear 3 ring binder sleeve. I suppose it would work with a plain old 3 ring binder too, but the photo albums look better on the shelf.

:)

[L84TEA]

11. I couldn't take it anymore

I finally kept my faves in their scrapbook and ditched the rest.
They each have a spot of the fridge for 2 things. Thats it... but sometimes when something catches my eye I put it in my scrapbook.

MY FAVES ARE their self portraits!! Those look so great in frames!!
Which brings me too... They each have a 8x10 frame in their rooms that they can change their drawings in. :)

[lizzieforkerry]

12. Before I drop my son off at school

I ask him who we are going to mail his pictures to from that day. If he comes home with something really great I ask to keep it, but the other stuff we put in an envelope and mail to grandma, uncles, cousins. He gets a big kick out of putting stuff in the mailbox and most people call to talk to him and thank him for the pictures. He loves going to their houses and seeing it diplayed. Just be prepered to get some back from young cousins. My sister-in-law has caught on and returns the "favor" every once in while.

[doni_georgia]

13. Scrap books!

I have been saving my kids artwork in boxes (each kid has a box) since each of mine were in preschool. Well, needless to save, eventually you end up with too many boxes. I bought some large scrap books and the kids are chosing which drawings and such to put in scrap books, along with things they have written, pictures, etc. If you have enough artwork, you could even do scrapbooks for grandparents for Christmas presents. My oldest (10 yrs old) is working on one for my mom. It has drawings, photos, poems she has written, etc.

[fortyfeetunder]

14. Scan, take digital pictures

I have saved some of the gems on digital or scanned. But we are slowly weeding through the paper....