Storing Child's Artwork?

I am excited that I have a solid intelligent answer to this, in this never ending guessing game of motherhood, this is something I feel I have mastered. I went to Michaels or Staples and bought cardboard art portfolios. I have one for every year, she's now in third grade. I have had such a hard time throwing anything out it has been really helpful to save it all as it comes in, and then I have been able to go back through and get rid of the stuff I had no business saving in the first place, But the system is neat and organized with out any real effort.
I hope this helps.

I scan the artwork. Then you can have books printed of the work. THe great stuff I keep, and the really awesome stuff gets framed.

You can take digital pics of each one, and if you decide, upload them to a site like Picassa or Shutterfly and get picture books or calenders made (along with pics of your child at this age, of course - just a thought). They make nice gifts for grandparents too.

I have a few things of my daughters that I have framed (very colorful painting, anything with her hand prints or foot prints), and things that I think I worth saving I will save in a folder. If it's something with just a few scribbles or a couple of little things glued on it, I will toss it after a while (but not let her know!).

A.:

The ones that are awesome get hung up on the wall. The ones that weren't so awesome? They get put in a box for the end of the year. I take pictures of all of them so we have them.

Then at the end of the year, we go through the box and throw out the ones that they agree aren't that good.

I have a bankers box with his name on it and labled DO NOT DESTROY. I have kept not only his artwork but his writing, awards, letters from classmates, report cards, yearbooks, a disk of pics taken from school, fieldtrips etc... Any all e-mail correspond with teachers. He's in the 4th grade and the regular square size bankers box is over 3/4 full. I expect less will come home as he gets older. so think maybe 3 boxes total. You stack them straight, heaviest on bottom, they will last a long time. Will fit on a closet shelf up high, or in a dry storage area. If you have a moist climate or move alot i recommend the small rubbermaid storage tubs with the lids that close firmly.

I have a scrapbooking storage thing with slats in it. Like an accordian folder type of thing but it's big. I keep what I like and at the end of the year I put it all in a plastic bin in the attic.

I keep EVERYTHING! My son started preschool when he was 2 and he's in K now. This is what I've done...

I have a binder for each year. I put 12 page protectors in them, one for each month. Whenever my kid comes home w/anything, I 3 hole punch anything that will fit in the binder (I've also included his schoolwork). Anything small or loose, that lays flat or I can fold (like the paper plate art) I put in that month's page protector. Anything else too large or bulky I put in an oversized bin w/a lid. Since I date everything, I don't feel I have to keep anything in the large bin separated.

I take a picture of only the nice artwork or drawings he's done or he has a special story about. I also date everything that comes home. I have a table near the door that has the binder, the 3 hole punch and a pen on it and the clear bin right under it. I go through his schoolbag as soon as we get home and immediately date everything and then throw it in the binder, page protector or bin.

I have 4 large binders for each year and I only have 1 bin, which is getting full, but not bad for after 4 years, so it actually doesn't take up alot of storage space. Its nice to have everything organized on a daily basis and has made it easy for us to look back on each year. All we do is pull out any binder and see how far he has come.

gl! Enjoy all that art!

I take digital photos of everything. I keep 1 or 2 from each year (my boys are 6 and 8), but I have digital photos of every piece of artwork (works well for the sculptures and 3D things, too, that take up so much room) since preschool.

I store a lot of things in the XL ziploc bags, 1 per year in a box or plastic tub. I also tried the pizza box and that worked pretty well too.

I have heard people scan it then make photo books of all the artwork. I think thats a great idea, but having the actual piece is nice too.

Oh lord. Yes, I am such a hoarder when it comes to my sons art. I have kept most of his drawings from when he started to draw. He is almost 8, so I have quite a collection. I started taking pictures of them, as it saved up space, and now have them in an album. My son loves to take it out and look at what he drew . I know it will be with him for a long time. I am glad I did that too.

Make one folder with plastic pouches, this will hold the best couple of the month. The rest goes in recycling after you've taken a digital photo. Keep that in an art file on your computer, you can even make an professional looking book out of it.

Keep a couple cute ones and frame them to decorate your child's room. Everything else just take a picture of and toss. Trust me as you are trying to figure out to do with the 5 millionth picture from preschool you'll be over it all.

I havea few versions. Rubbermaid boxes for the smaller pages (I had bankers boxes but after the basment flooded twice from storms, I went to plastic as I had so much art and school things of hers, I had to move it to the crawl space from an upstairs closet), then LARGE pizza boxes for the bigger thngs (my hubby delivered pizzas PT when our DD was a tot for the extra income, and he brought home clean boxes for me). Those are labeled and worked great for the larger things.

Once my daughter got to about 6th grade, she got a portfolio...less expensive ones early on and now a nice one. But she is an artist. About 6th grade is when the talent REALLY emerged, that why we got the portfoilios (from Michaels at first then an Art store, and we bought additional pages and just stuffed it full).

For me, I am really glad I saved alot of things...not all of it by a longshot, but quite a bit. Now we can truly see the emergence of her art and style!

Good luck finding a system that works for you!

The best of the best go on my walls. The others go either in a cardboard box or a plastic bin.

I saw this on Trading Spaces years ago (remember that show?! LOL):

One of the designers took pictures of the kids artwork, and then printed them onto iron-on transfer paper, and ironed them onto pillow cases.

I have a medium sized see-through tupperware box that fits under the bed.

Take photos of everything, & keep originals of the favorites in a backpack for each year.