How to Organize Kid Art

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Last updated on April 8th, 2022 at 09:41 pm

One of the first client projects I worked on was paring down nearly 12 boxes of kid art and school work. This client had kept every piece of paper her kids touched, among other things. At our very first session, she asked me what I’ll do when my daughter starts creating and collecting artwork. I wasn’t really sure.

A couple of weeks and 10 billion princess watercolor paintings later, I had to make a decision on where I stand with kid art. My daughter insists on carrying her pictures around, sticking them on the fridge, pinning them to the office bulletin board, and taping them to walls. 

After witnessing my husband sit in a chair and crush some of her beloved paintings, I needed to decide if I was going to let them pile up or start throwing them away. 

Here’s how I decided what I’m going to do with kid art and schoolwork and three ideas for keeping it pared down and organized.

Deciding why you’ll keep kid art and schoolwork.

I signed Juliana up for an art class and she really enjoyed the process. And while I know that seeing her creations on display and showing them to her family makes her proud and happy, but most of the fun came during the creative process.

Out of the 12 art classes we took, we’ve only kept one original creation. I let her choose which one she wanted to keep, and the one she chose was the one she made when her grandmother took her to class.

It was the memory of creating it that helped her decide to keep it.

So that’s what you should consider as your kid art and school work pile up. Ask yourself:

• Am I keeping these creations as a reminder of this time in my child’s life? Is this for me to be able to remember?
• Do I plan on giving these creations to my kid when she grows up? Will it be a blessing or a burden?

Once you know your purpose for keeping these items, it’ll be easier to know what you should hang on to.

How to organize kid art.

Once you’ve decided what you’re going to keep, you need to know how to store it! I do a mixture of all three of these things.

Keep a file box labeled with each year or grade.

This is fairly straightforward. Get a file box and label it with their name. Add files for every year/grade and add art and schoolwork to it. By 12th grade, your kid will have an organized box of memories.

Scan your child’s art into a book. 

If you’re totally okay with not having the original art piece, you can create a book. I love this for really big creations that take up a lot of space. You can create a book entirely dedicated to art (which might make a cute coffee table book) or add it to a family yearbook.

I like to take pictures of Juliana holding her art. These photos say it all for me – her pride in her work, the happiness she had in making it, and the time we spent together.

Keep a box of limited size for your favorite creations. 

Sort through the box once it’s full and choose only the very best or most memorable to keep in a memory box or photo book.

Use some as gifts.

We’ve mailed pictures to friends and family across the country as birthday cards and thinking of you notes. Making that little effort brought a lot of happiness to those we sent them to. I’ve received text messages and phone calls from relatives telling me how receiving those little creations completely made their day. 

I don’t bombard people with things we don’t want. We’re genuinely thinking of others and want them to know we’re thinking of them.

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Before you start organizing your kid art and schoolwork, know why you’re keeping them. Once you know, you can use one of these organizing ideas so you don’t get overrun by paper. Don’t let it become a burden 12 years later!