100 Things 2 Do: How to Save Your Children's Artwork

(This article was written by Betsi - professional organizer and speaker, Amazing Aunt, entrepreneur and recognized humanitarian.)

The school year is almost complete. Are the collection of crafts, collectables and tchotchkes consuming your home? Perhaps they have been kept in a place of honour, corralled into a bin or scattered across the floor?

Throwing them away can be heartbreaking. Here are three easy ideas to keep your kids art work forever.

1. Make a scrapbook

Have your children pick their favourite paintings, pictures or art projects from this past school year.

You can make a new scrapbook for each child every year or keep all of their treasures in one book and label each year separately.

This is what we did:

Using an eco-friendly, plastic duo-tang, we put Josh’s name tag and school photo on the front.

The duo-tang itself has pockets in the front and back for larger items. We used plastic sheet protectors to keep each piece of artwork preserved.

This could be a "Make-it-together" project with your child; let them have input on what should be kept and in what order they'd like it displayed. I have seen some of the awe-inspiring work moms and dads have done with their own scrapbooks - use this time to play together and make this a memorable and magnificent project. Participating in the creation of this "Art Folio" will give kids a sense of pride and accomplishment and they will enjoy showing it off to friends and family.

2. Digital Scrapbook

Take a snapshot of art work and save it in on your computer, USB or create a CD to share with family and friends.

We laid over 100 pieces of Josh’s art work outside on a white sheet and took photos of each project.

Digital scrapbooks can hold much more than just your children’s school art...

Add pictures of their friends and special memories from their school days.

Be sure to include dates and names of friends and places; details of these moments can fade.

Include a "Favourites" page to remember who their friends were, what their favourite food was, what hobbies they enjoyed etc.

3. Make a movie

We do extremes in our family. We are an all or nothing type of crew. Documenting “a year in the life of” is a project grandma has taken on, the joy of an artsy retired woman!

To create our movie Josh and I used the images from our digital scrapbook. We copied them into the Windows 7 Media Player and divided them into months to witness his artistic development. A few of our favourite photos of the year were also added.