When Kye first started school I knew I had to decide how to handle all the artwork he’d be coming home with. Do I keep it all? Display it somewhere??? I put the question out on Facebook and got TONS of responses. Really, it’s an awesome think about Facebook. You ask a question and within minutes you are given lots and lots of answers. One idea that I loved was to take pictures of Kye with each piece of artwork. Then print off the pictures and put them into a photo album for him to have. That way we can “keep” each piece of artwork without cluttering up the house. I thought this was a great plan because it’s simple, shows Kye that I’m proud of him, and allows me not to feel guilt over throwing majority of the stuff away.
As Kye brings home his projects we put them into a pile then we’ll randomly go into the dining room and take pictures of him holding each thing up. I never force him to do it and always ask him if he wants to. I don’t want it to be something he dreads at all. After I get a picture of each thing, and compliment him on his great work, I go through the pile. I keep the cutest things. Or things that are special in someway then I sneakily throw the rest in the trash. He doesn’t know I throw them away as I don’t want to hurt his feelings but eventually I’ll probably let him pick out the ones to keep and the ones to toss.
My plan is to post these pictures in one long blog entry at the end of each “semester” of school. So there will be two of these posts a year…I know it’s a TON of pictures (81 to be exact) but I like the idea that he’ll not only have the photo album but that he will have them in the blog book (IF I ever do make them…) as well! Here are all the beautiful art projects Kye did in the Fall of 2011!
This is the first thing he made…from his very first day of school
The rest are just in random order, enjoy!
While I’m not a fan of displaying stuff all over my house (even our fridge is bare), I did want to find someway to do something creative with the things Kye (and future children) make. I want them to know how proud of them we are and I want them to feel pride in their work as well. I saw something similar to this on Pinterest and Zach said it was super easy to make! Then my sister-in-law, Chrissy, had the vinyl lettering done for us which was very sweet of her. We put this in the playroom and I change out the pictures as new ones come in. My plan is to go through the displayed pictures as I take them down and have some to keep and some to toss. I’ll make a tub for each child filled with all the the “keeps.”
I know it may sound hurtful that I will be throwing away probably 90% of the art my kids create. But what do you honestly do with all that stuff you keep??? I like to see some of the things I made when I was younger but it’s just a quick glance and maybe a comment or two then that’s it. I know I’ll keep plenty of things to allow for us to play the “remember when” game and enough for Kye to know that I was proud of the things he did. But there just isn’t any reason, in my viewpoint, to hold onto everything.
I LOVE the photo idea because, even once stuff ends up in the trash, it really does allow us to cherish each thing and keep it forever! Seeing Kye come home with a BIG grin on his face, eager to show me the things he made for me makes me so happy. I love how much pride he takes in his work and how much he enjoys sharing that with me. I hope that’s a phase he never outgrows 🙂
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First of all I must have a thing for buttons because the circle, inchworm and pizza slice were my favorites! (and I couldn't quite figure out the cheez-its but maybe that was a square lesson)But the point of my comment was this (and maybe you heard this on FB…) In a magazine I once read a reader suggestion of getting a sheet pizza box for each child once a year and storing the already narrowed down artwork in there. Really a sheet pizza box is probably even too big at this age since most of the projects are single sheets of paper so a smaller box would work too. I've always remembered that idea and thought it was worth sharing!Also, I love the gallery wall!
First of all I must have a thing for buttons because the circle, inchworm and pizza slice were my favorites! (and I couldn't quite figure out the cheez-its but maybe that was a square lesson)But the point of my comment was this (and maybe you heard this on FB…) In a magazine I once read a reader suggestion of getting a sheet pizza box for each child once a year and storing the already narrowed down artwork in there. Really a sheet pizza box is probably even too big at this age since most of the projects are single sheets of paper so a smaller box would work too. I've always remembered that idea and thought it was worth sharing!Also, I love the gallery wall!
love both ideas! i've seen the display idea on Pinterest, but hadn't thought of taking pictures. I'm going to pin one of your pictures to remember this idea! 🙂 Thanks!
I love this idea! I'm already running into this problem with Brianna's papers from Bible class and just other things we do at home (and she's not even in preschool yet!). I have thrown a ton of it away, and while I feel guilty for doing so, I just CAN'T keep most of it. What a great solution! The display for the playroom is adorable!
I don;t have anything on the front of my fridge either, but a few things on the side!! I loved the pictures of him with the elephant head, the lion face (haha) and all the ones with his tongue sticking out! The cracker project looked nasty!