Reusing Children's Art

If you have young children you probably also have a lot of art. I know some parents have wonderful systems for rotational displaying and organized storage of their children’s masterpieces, but we’re certainly not one of those. It was a little easier when there was one child, and he really didn’t like art so there was very little of it. But now it takes over our house. And the last thing I want is to break their little hearts by seeing their work in the recycle bin.

So, here’s a few ideas I’ve picked up over the past few months to capture the special memory of their work while giving it a second life.

Capture the memory by taking a picture of your child with their art. Looking at these photos years later will bring back so many wonderful memories of that age.

Scan it! If you have a scanner, you can scan any flat work and download it to a CD or print a book of their art at the end of the year. There are many convenient services out there that scan, print and bind it all into a book

Make it a wrap. Paintings on large craft or art paper make beautiful wrapping paper for family and friend’s gifts. Grandparents cherish the paper sometimes just as much as the gift.

Personal touch. We’ve made postcards by cutting up art into strips or larger pieces just smaller than postcard stock. Glue the art to one side of the card and write your message on the other. These turn thank you notes into something personal from your child.

Take note. Simply cut up the art into pieces for note paper. We haven’t bought notepads in years! Our special note paper is used for shopping lists, to-do lists, notes in lunchboxes (which they love since it’s their work!), etc.

Art-on-the-go. Cut the larger art into smaller pieces, pack some markers, stickers or felt and glue, put them in a large plastic bag or bin and you’ve got a simple art bag that’s ready to go for dining out, church or long lines in the post office. We have a variety of these bags with different contents in each so that we can mix it up for the kids.

Shred it. When you’ve taken full advantage of the paper, rather than toss it into the recycling bin, put it through a shredder. The colorful bits of paper can be used to pack gifts, keep fragile baked goods safe in transit, or cut up smaller for party confetti.

By then, you might be ready to hit the recycling bin. But you can feel better about it.

Any other ideas? What do you do with art?

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Comments

[Ann Douglas]

Very creative and inspiring ideas.

I was directed to your blog by your very sensible comment on Crunchy Domestic Goddess' blog (re: Nestle situation). Glad I found you.