Jane has been creating all kinds of artistic things since she was two. Only very recently has Walt developed any interest in art. Together, the two of them could easily go through a ream of paper in a week if I’d let them. Remember, I said we were going green(er). Slowly but surely I have convinced them that they have to color on both sides of a sheet of paper before moving on to the next one! Small victories.
We have some fantastic built-ins next to the kitchen table that contain the kids’ day-to-day art supplies. I keep the occasionally used (code: DANGEROUS) items like paint and play-doh in the pantry. They are welcome to get the markers, crayons, coloring books, and paper out whenever they’d like. Before implementing our new system, I would have piles of the kids’ artistic creations covering the kitchen counter throughout the day. I was tired of asking the kids which ones they wanted to keep and which ones they wanted to throw away (now, recycle). 9 times out of 10, they answered that they wanted to keep the drawing in question. Then, the question became, “Where am I going to put these?”
The pile of papers kept getting shuffled around until Philip or I would toss most of them. The TEARS when a drawing was found in the trash can are with us forever. Jane and Walt are like elephants. They never forget.
So, I decided we needed a new system.
I employed 2 binders full of plastic page protectors (pink for Jane, blue for Walt) and a plastic 3-drawer 12″x12″ scrapbooking container that I found on clearance. Yay for sales!
I told Jane and Walt that they each get one drawer. (The top one and surface are for my office/stationery supplies.) When they are finished drawing/painting their creation, they need to decide if they’d like to keep it or recycle it. If they choose to recycle it, it goes in the garage bin. (This almost never happens.) If they would like to keep it, it goes in their designated drawer. (I chose the 12″x12″ drawer size since, as you can see, their pictures are all different sizes, and the larger drawer helps to contain them.) Once their drawer is full and can’t store another creation, we go through their drawings together, choosing which ones are going to go in their special binders.
The binders are my makeshift scrapbooks I’m using to store the kids’ memorabilia. We add only the kids’ very favorite pictures to them and recycle the rest. When they realize how many drawings they have accumulated, it’s easier for them to part with some.
I snapped a few pictures from the kids’ binders. I’m a fancy blogger, so I laid them out on top of the washer and dryer. Keepin’ it real.
A random page from Jane’s binder: On the left, we have a note home from the preschool sub about Jane saying Walt punched her in the stomach. On the right, we have Jane’s rendition of The Little Mermaid.
A random page from Walt’s binder: On the left is a typical drawing. He’s all about writing “W,” his name, and little guys (or monsters) with various numbers of eyes. On the right is one of his invitations from his 4th birthday party.
The binders are releasing me from the guilt of never finishing the kids’ baby books. It’s been a fun way to archive all of their mementos and creations in a way that we can actually maintain. As an added bonus, it’s giving all of their creations a “home” instead of the kitchen counter. I’m so glad I reclaimed the kitchen counters!
How do you archive your kids’ creations? Any tips to share?
