What To Do With Children's Artwork!

Do you have a budding artist in your midst?

Do you feel guilty at the thought of throwing away a masterpiece?

Well....... don't worry!

There are a few little tricks you can use to ensure that their work is celebrated, without it taking over the entire house!

So, let's talk about how to display pictures or sculptures in a way which shows you appreciation of them:

• Dedicate a space on the fridge or wall or shelf where all 'current artwork' is displayed.
• Gently explain that this is the space for all 'new' work and is can be replaced rather than added to when the next piece is finished - this prepares children that it isn't going to be there forever.

In my house we have a lovely large frame with the glass and back removed. I tied string to the back and added decorative pegs to create a washing line effect - here we hang 'achievements' such as full merit cards and certificates, these can be replaced easily. Any picture frame will work just as well, just make sure it is easy to remove the back, then change what's inside regularly.

This shows how much each piece is truly valued.

But what about when they produce 10 in one day!!!????

Ask them to choose their favourite, giving each picture some attention and talking about why they have chosen that particular one. The others can be carefully disposed of.

Alternatively, they can be cut up into pieces and a mosaic picture made with pieces of all them - this is also another fun and creative activity, as is making a scrapbook, what child doesn't love cutting and sticking?.... pass the pritt stick!

Another idea is to make the artwork into gifts - use drawings as wrapping paper or to make cards. You can even gift the actual artwork itself, in a frame - a nice idea for the grandparents.

What about the ones we want to keep forever?

Get your camera out! Take photos of your favourites and ensure they are saved somewhere safely such as cloud storage or a hard drive. They can stay here for viewing whenever you feel like it.

Do you have a digital picture frame? How about saving photo's of all their artwork onto a memory card and they can be displayed endlessly!? This also deals with the issue of lots of artwork produced in one go - you can photograph all of them!

Maybe even use your photo's of artwork to make a collage, and keep this as your screensaver on your devices. If you are very proud, you might even want to post them on social media, a great way to share with family and friends.

So, if you put some of these into practice, you can safely reduce the amount of paper and 'things' scattered around the kitchen, (and everywhere else!) while also feeling guilt free!