No parent has ever said that they wished their child brought home more art projects from school. And the struggle on how to contain and control it is real because outside of saving a few sentimental pieces—what do you do with all of it? The name of the game is to try and set-up systems for your little budding Picasso now so you can manage the flow and they can be part of the process. If this sounds all too familiar, read on for a few tips on how to handle it all.  

Create a Space: Set aside a landing zone/display area for art to live. This can be a string with some clips that hold up the pieces, a shelf in a closet or in the den or even a bulletin board but give them a dedicated space to put it all once it comes into the house. This will help you set boundaries on how much comes in and what can stay because once that space is full or the clips are all used decisions about what stays and what goes need to be made. 

Make the Hard Decisions: Decisions can be hard—for you and your kids—so we recommend taking a photo of the sculpture, drawing or painting with your child to help them let go of the physical piece. The process of taking the photo can help with the separation and it gives you something visual to review should you want to look at it later.  

Capturing the Memories: If you want to preserve the art in the long term, consider making a book with your own photos or using the original art itself through a service like PlumPrints or ArtKive. These commemorative books are a fun way to remember that ages and stages of childhood. 

Keep the Keepers: Label the pieces that you decide to keep with the year it was created and place it in a large portfolio like this one for paper art or plastic bin for larger, sculptural pieces. Depending on the volume of art that you decide to archive, you can dedicate a portfolio to just one year or a group of years as follows: Pre-K, K – 4, 5-8, 9-12. But make sure that you do label the individual pieces because it will be a lot more fun to look back if you know what year it was created.  Here are a couple of portfolio storage options: 

• Drawing Portfolio 
• Protective Art Case
• Portfolio Case 

Annie Draddy Michelle Manske

Tinybeans Voices Contributor

Michelle Manske and Annie Draddy are organizers and co-founder of Henry & Higby, a professional organizing company in New York City. They spend their time helping individuals and families feel better about their homes and hopefully experience a little peace in their place through the process of getting organized.