Organizing my Child’s “Life on Paper”
March 27, 2012 § 4 Comments
It’s almost the end of the school year and I sit here staring at a giant pile of artwork from my daughter’s last year in preschool. What do I do with this mess?!? Er, I mean the beautiful masterpieces she creates on a daily basis…
I’ve actually developed a system that I think works like a charm!
For each child you have, go to the store and buy a bin that holds a large number of hanging file folders. Preferably, get the legal sized ones because artwork never seems to be 8.5×11. Then label the folders as follows:
– Pregnancy (Or adoption papers)
– School/Daycare Forms
– Receipts (for items you might want to return or have a warranty on)
– Vaccinations
– Doctor Visits
– A folder for each activity your child does (soccer, dance, etc.)
– And then a folder for every year until your child graduates from High School. This folder will mostly be for artwork, or as they get older, for really well done homework.
My mom also did an amazing thing that I would suggest to any parent. She kept a running Word document and every time a big event happened in my life or a significant illness or injury, she would add it to the document along with the date. That way I could look back on my life and see when everything happened— vacations, awards, broken arms and fun memories all documented for me to have for the rest of my life! If you can do this, make a file folder for that too.
Then, find a place in your house off the beaten path to store that box, and every time your child(ren) come home from school just chunk that big collection of artwork from the day (after carefully admiring each detail, mind you) into a growing pile. After a month (or year… whatever you can stand), go through the art and pick the few pieces that go in your bin to remember and maybe one or two to frame or display in your house. I have found if I wait for a big collection of artwork to go through, it is easier for me to pick out the few best pieces to keep.
While browsing the internet, I found a few fun ideas and blogs about how to display the exceptional art pieces:
Children’s Artwork Display Solutions
Ten Creative Ways to Display Children’s Art
Easily Change out your Child’s artwork with these frames
A Clock of Art by Dutch by Design
Have a book Made – By Artimus Art
Gallery Wall – Great blog post with classy ideas
Creative Organizational Solutions for Life 
This is awesome! While I don’t have a kid of my own yet (hubby and I have been trying) I’m certainly going to remember this. I especially like the idea of keeping a track of when ‘big’ things happened. I know when I came to fill out the medical part of my life assurance I had to ask my Mum (who doesn’t have a very good memory either) when all the ‘stuff’ happened to me.
Hanging art on a curtain rail is a brilliant idea too! Thanks so much for this article 🙂
I just found your site through StumbleUpon. I love your products – the designs are so pretty and so useful! I’m going to pin you guys on Pinterest so my friends can find you.
Great ideas – thank you for sharing
Sandra
Wonderful! Many thanks for the great ideas – particularly love the hinged frames. We just hung a wall of artwork of our young artists, too.