Every parent knows the pile. Drawings on the fridge, drawings in the backpack, drawings under the bed. You can't keep them all, but throwing them away feels wrong. Here are twelve ideas to keep the best ones, in ways that take up little or no space.
Keep them digitally
- Photo archive: photograph every drawing (here's how to do it well) and keep an album per year.
- Digital frame: load the photos into a digital photo frame and let the gallery rotate.
- Animated character: turn a favorite drawing into a character from an animated film and a short movie of it. That's what ScribbleAlive does, and kids love seeing their creation move.
Keep a few on paper
- A rotating gallery wall: one frame or clipboard per child, and the newest masterpiece replaces the old one.
- A yearly box: keep only what fits in one box per school year.
- A "best of" binder: let your child choose their ten favorites each year.
Turn them into something new
- Photo book: print a yearly book of their art, with a line from your child about each picture.
- Calendar: twelve drawings, one per month, a classic gift for grandparents.
- Plush toy: several companies sew a stuffed toy from a child's drawing. It takes a few weeks and costs more, but it's a cuddly one-of-a-kind keepsake.
- Wrapping paper or cards: print scanned drawings on paper or greeting cards.
- Phone wallpaper: the character version of a drawing makes a great wallpaper for a parent's or grandparent's phone.
Let it go, kindly
Before recycling a drawing, take a photo of your child holding it. You keep the memory and the proud face, and the paper can go.