To throw away all the crap?

[RumbleMum]

DS1 (5.5) has got into crafty stuff in a big way. Which is great, except I now have a houseful of absolute shit I don't know what to do with. Model trains made out of recycling. Bugs made out of plastic spoons and pipe cleaners. Lighthouses made out of Pringles tubes. And something made out of pottery that strongly resembles an erect penis, complete with blue testicles.

DS maintains it's all vital and must be kept, but I'm sure one day I'll be found dead under an avalanche of craft shit, clutching a pin-encrusted voodoo doll of Mr Maker in one hand.

At the moment I keep things that I think DS will ask for again in a kind of 'holding pen' and if he doesn't mention it for six months, I throw it out. But he has a sixth sense and seems to ask for the missing object two days after I've got rid of it. So WTF does everyone do with this kind of stuff?

And before I get flamed for being a mean mother, I do keep a small selection of items as keepsakes. I just don't need a whole houseful.

[AgentZigzag]

Blimey, no need to keep it for 6 months! Just start syphoning them off one at a time, if he asks where something is just say you're not sure and keep repeating.

[chocolatepudandchocolatesauce]

I put it straight in the bin. My dd knows this now. I explain i will keep the best bits but if we keep it all we wont get in the house! She would like to store it all in her room but luckily doesnt push it when i say no! I sometimes feel like putting the whole craft box straight in the bin to save me constantly picking up little bits of paper once she has snippetty snip snipped at it all and turned the house into a confetti factory! It keeps her entertained though.
Shove it all in the bin now.

[chocolatepudandchocolatesauce]

When i say i put it straight in the bin, this is the stuff that comes home in her book bag (the entire contents of the sticking corner). Stuff made at home lingers on the dining table until she isnt looking. Also, put it in the outside bin. My dd has been known to retrieve things otherwise!!!

[SpeckleDust]

Keep the best ones for a few weeks, not months. Take a photo of anything DS particularly likes then bin it.

[Secretescape]

Take photos - I think there is even an app specifically for this.

[RJnomore1]

I keep a box for both children for the best or favourite things and photo the rest. Don't announce any things in the bin though just quietly "archive" it

[RumbleMum]

Taking photos is a genius idea! I can't believe I didn't think of that.

Stuff from the book bag does usually go straight in the bin, but anything involving more effort is usually presented to me as 'a really special present I made for you, Mummy'. I think they have special 'inducing parental guilt' classes at school.

chocolatepud I have also been caught out by using the kitchen bin instead of the outside one. Schoolboy error, in retrospect.

[CharleyDavidson]

Aaaawwww.... the saddest thing I ever saw was the crushed look on a friend's son's face when he came out of nursery cluthing his newest creation and she made him put it in the bin on the playground as she wasn't allowing it in her car, letalone her house. Bless him.

That said.... I feel your pain OP. I filter out the best, have a shelf on a cupboard for the best of it and careful filter out the worst. Some of it naturally falls apart and that is lamented (in front of DD) and then it's thrown away.

[AuldYow]

We have a small designated area on the hall table for such creations of beauty. The DCs have to decide which ones get put there for all to see, they stay for a week then get binned replaced by something else. Initially it was very over crowded but now we do only have about 3 things currently on display.

[RumbleMum]

I think I need a designated area too. Good idea. Preferably somewhere that's not the hall, as DS's Pottery Penis is currently an object of huge pride, and there are only so many times I can explain to guests that it's not what it looks like.

I somehow imagined everyone else had a capacious showcase cabinet for their children's creations and I was a failing mother. This has made me feel much better.

[luciole15]

As PPs have said, take photos then surreptitiously disassemble and re-donate to school crafting resources.

[elegantlygrey1]

It's surprising what the mice got when ds was at this stage. They dragged all sorts away.

We don't have mice.

[TheSpottedZebra]

Do you work, or have a partner, or relatives that do?
As sometimes, bits of craft - often the really big ones, go into work to live on a desk. Because they're so special.

No, they do, really.

[chocolatepudandchocolatesauce]

I love the idea thay daddy (and me once i've finished maternity leave) have taken it to display at work. I am definately doing this with some of the "middle ground" creations.
School have also closed the sticking area for a week or so. Think they saw look look of horror delight when another car sized creation was dragged out of the classroom (we walk home, usually like kites, with this stuff catching the wind and steadily wripping to shreds).Dont get me wrong, some of her stuff is definately worth keeping and we frame the best pictures (we dont replace them so have a nice display of how her drawing has progressed), but im definately more of a fan of the flat art as opposed to sculpture art :)

[Ifailed]

if its all over the house, collect it up and put it in his room. When he can't get in, hopefully he'll decide what has to go.

[ProfYaffle]

Yy to photos. Also, transfer to a cupboard somewhere (out of sight, out of mind) then chuck once they've forgotten it exists.

[megletthesecond]

Take photos, let it hang around for a couple of days then bin (apart from the absolute favourites). DD has a creative bug and I need to keep an eye on what's building up.

[RumbleMum]

I love the idea of things going to DH's work (I work at home, unfortunately) and also the mice getting them. You lot are evil geniuses.