Kids will be kids, and one of the best things about childhood is exercising that creative imagination. While we’re constantly in awe of our children’s amazing creations, the paintings, drawings, and sketches do tend to pile up at an insanely fast pace.
Now that TODAY is the end of another school year, you might have missed this particular aspect of “spring cleaning” – namely, the refrigerator and its assorted covering of artwork. How about we corral all that creativity produced over the past 9 months?!?!
Rather than rent out a storage unit or kick off a search for a new house with room for a full-on art gallery, here are six ideas for managing that burgeoning collection, take back your kitchen, while also preserving those cherished works and memories.
- Take digital pictures of the kids’ creations, reduce the images to about 3″ square, and print them onto Shrinky Dinks plastic sheets. After you bake these down, you have the makings for Christmas ornaments.
- Use digital images of artworks to make custom placemats on CafePress.
- Bind art into photobooks using ChatBooks… Instant birthday, Mother’s Day, or grandparent gifts!
- Paint a wall in your child’s room with magnetic paint and allow them to use magnets and create their own “gallery.” That way they decide what stays and what goes. (Or, hang a clothesline and pins!)
BONUS: Host an “Art Walk” – Encourage other moms in your child’s class, or neighborhood, to either paint their children’s walls, or buy a very inexpensive hollow core door and paint that, with magnetic paint. Hold “Art Walk” Day where all children display their art in their rooms or on their doors and walk from home to home admiring each other’s work and creativity.
- Encourage your child to “curate” and share some of their works with the senior citizens at Frisco Senior Center.
- Go completely digital with these four apps to preserve all artworks indefinitely:
Art My Kid Made
Kids make a lot of art, and parents feel terrible about throwing it all away because we want to preserve our children’s memories forever. Using one, or several, of these ideas just might keep your kitchen under control… At least until September!
