What do you do with your kids' school/artwork?

[babybrain77]

DS is 2.5 and we are already accumulating piles and piles of his works of art from school.

How do you decide what to keep and what to toss? How do you store it? Desperately searching for top tips!

School? You mean nursery?

Personally, I take photos of the stuff I want to remember (as in, a drawing every few months) and everything goes in the recycling.

We have a huge pinboard to display it for a time and then it goes into a big plastic box, so each child has their really good artwork, projects etc stored away.

DD has also just pointed out to me some big artwork theyve each done displayed on the wall not just the pinboard.

@thewhatsit yes sorry - he's in pre-school. So it's mostly just painting at the moment, but they put all of the bits they have done in a big folder and give it to us every half term.

I keep it up on the wall\fringe. Then rotate new stuff. I try to throw things away when I can but just keep sentimental bits such as first time writing name etc.

My kids don’t like getting rid of stuff so sometimes we leave it in a box in the cupboard and I get rid of then once the kids have forgotten or moved on

A photo art gallery is the way to go. Photograph and then bin every month. Or have a ‘Picture of the week’
For most children, the joy is in the making and showing rather than keeping forever.
Otherwise you’ll be swamped!

Take photos.
Keep a couple of the best, write the date on them!
Select some as birthday/Christmas gifts for grandparents
Put them in the bin when child is asleep or out of the house. You do not want them to find their stuff in the bin!

Lay them all out on the table or floor and take a pic of all of them together then dump. We keep a few favourites and that's it.

A large A3 zip pouch for each year. The best things go on the fridge then into the pouch and the rest gets recycled. End of the year the pouch goes into a box in the loft.

We had the most up-to-date on display and then put it away. At that age DD wasn’t into anything recognisable so we kept things like Mother’s Day card and Christmas ornaments/Christmas cards only.

DD is 14 now and I think we have something from most years plus a couple of bits and pieces who actually made it into the living room cabinets. The majority is in her memory box but I think it’s mainly big events or special occasions. You will be drowning otherwise.

I am in the 'take a pic and then dump unceremoniously in the recycling' camp. I make a photo book every year and include the pics of the best bits so I have physical copies to look at.

I have four adult children and kept loads of their artwork and craftwork in individual boxes for years. I also included school reports, certificates for sports/ achievements, some photos, cards they made for each other and anything sentimental. A lot of art has a texture to it so that's why I prefer having the originals instead of photographing everything as you can lose the quality. We are a very arty creative family though so I really value their work.

Eventually I made each an A3/A2 (depending on who studied art or design at GCSE/A level/Degree) book of their best work. The books are so lovely to look at now and are in chronological order from their first attempts at writing to exam/degree level work. You can see their development, you can see what they are really into at certain ages, and you can see their individual strengths. I look forward to them having children one day and showing the books to the grand children.

Tesco do a big A3 art book on the kids stationary/arts and crafts section, I put them on the fridge until half term and then put the best bits and hand made cards into the book and recycle the rest.

I’ve been scanning it for years, have lots of lovely files of the stuff.

I put any nicer looking ones up on the fridge and then might put it away in a box in the loft. Most get recycled though!

You have to be ruthless !
Don’t be like me, keeping loads of stuff, which is now in boxes in the loft. I really need to clear it out, but there’s just so much of it.

If I love something I keep it but usually it’s just like 10 pages of orange paint so I put one up and discreetly bin the rest

Normal bits were kept for a few days then went out with the recycling.

Extra good pieces were named and dated on the back and displayed on the kitchen door. When door was full, oldest bits removed and placed in a special box.

Don't keep everything - that way madness lies.

I put them up on the fridge for a while and then the special ones get put in a folder like this www.amazon.co.uk/Display-Book-Pockets-Presentation-Project/dp/B07K83K1LK/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&psc=1&crid=3DJPTT31BO0UV&keywords=a4+display+book&sprefix=a4+dis&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyWlhGUjhLMzA2RjFTJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDYwNzYyMjIxUUQwQTlXOEs5VCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwOTQ3MTUzMVhKQVpDWTlHTFc1QSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX3Bob25lX3NlYXJjaF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1633851383&sr=8-1-spons

School age children now. They each have one of these for each year. They put special cards and drawings in their memory boxes every so often. Rest get recycled or binned.

Sorry, not sure why that link is so long.

I have folders for each child for each school year, a4 ring bound clear pocket folders from W h smith and just fold up bigger things, obviously just buy another if it gets filled up. I label the front. The kids love flicking through them and it's nice to see how their drawing at progressed!