When your child starts kindergarten, you accumulate a lot of papers, and you simply must keep everything, so let’s talk about how to display children’s art.
I’m officially a kindergarten mom. I can’t talk about it very long because my eyes start to get blurry. Henry is totally loving it, by the way. And I’m the stereotype of a first-time kindergarten mom who is barely keeping it together going into week three.
Moving on.
With kindergarten comes lots of paper. No joke. My kid is coming home with a folder full of goodies every single day.
And I basically want to frame and display everything I see. How can I possibly choose between so much perfection? He is practically a prodigy genius child and I really should hold onto everything for his future official biography.
So, I realized that we needed more spots to display all the great art and worksheets and photos that are filling up folders and making me cry happy tears because he’s just growing up so stinkin’ fast. (HE WAS JUST BORN, FOR GOODNESS SAKES.)
While there are tons of awesome ideas for artwork displays on the Interwebs, I started with this super simple display in the mudroom. This won’t display tons of items at once, but I think it’s a clean and simple way to display artwork and photos without overtaking the house. It also means we’ve been changing it out a lot – which is just plain fun.
HOW TO DISPLAY CHILDREN’S ART
And it’s the first thing we see when we come home, so that’s a bonus.
This was actually a $0 project – because I had all the supplies on hand.
The sign was actually a purchased sign that I never loved. I painted over the main sign with white paint and re-stained the frame darker.
(If you don’t have a sign already, grab one in the unfinished wood section of the craft store – or make your own with scrap boards.)
Then, I hot glued on these copper clips that I bought last fall in the Dollar Spot at Target. They look great and hold a lot.
I just popped a few things into the clips for examples, but I’ve also taken to displaying the school lunch menu here for a last-minute check every day. And we’ve been swapping out the top art with Henry’s favorite piece every few days. We are rather proud of his hard work already.
I’m thinking I’m going to need some more spots for kids’ art, but I love that this feels at home in the existing space. It’s pretty in its own right. (And it will be great for seasonal decorating.)
Also? Did you spot those sunflowers? Those are our first crop of sunflowers from the garden. They are so cheerful.
How do you display your kids’ art?
And, unrelated: Will time please stop moving so fast?
MORE FUN WITH KIDS!
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Dana says
I have been displaying the artwork of my little one on the frig, but I also have a wall where i have put magnetic and chalk paint on that I can display more artwork. What I have also started is a scrapbox that is categorized by year for the art that I am saving.
Julia@Cuckoo4Design says
I just had a moment this week about time moving too fast this week when my son turned 15 and he asked me to pack all his lego away. It was as if a brick hit me and I noticed my son is in Highschool and not playing with lego anymore. I used to roll my eyes at my mom when she used to say “time passes way too fast. Love how you are displaying his art.
Lisa Hamel says
Oh, kindergarten art! My son wants to keep EVERYTHING he brings home, which is a lot back then. After many false starts, I found the solution I like best: I hung two large corkboards above his bed and let him hang up whatever he wanted. At the end of each month, I wrote the month and year on a chalkboard and took a picture of him holding it in front of the displays. After that, we took it all down together and decided what to recycle, move to longer-term display (a short clothesline on another wall), and what to store in his art box. If he ever had a really hard time letting go, I would take pictures of him with the items before they got recycled. Each month he started with a blank display space, which made it more fun to hang up!
He just started third grade now and, fortunately, this is much less of an issue. He brings home a lot less AND has a much easier time letting things go.
It’s hard to see them grow up, but age brings independence and so many new adventures. Henry will learn to READ and WRITE this year!!!
Donna says
Used a similar technique to the wire line. I’m just a little lazier 😀 We used push pins to hang clothesline in two rows from corner to corner of her bdrm wall and got cute clothes pins to hang the art. My daughter took it one step farther with the Grandkids and at the end of each month she displayed them on the back of her island with the month and the child and kept it for the album and would send one to the Grandmas. We loved it. Then she picked what she wanted to save. I asked for one of the kid’s paintings to be put on canvas for Mother’s Day. I love it. AND…cannot believe Henry is in Kdg! So glad he likes school! 😊
Rhonda ` says
Here’s an idea for you. Years ago I read this from a reader of a favorite magazine of mine. Collect all of your child’s papers in a box or plastic tote, etc. throughout the year. Then at the end of the year go thru and keep only the most precious to you and your child. Place them in that year’s book bag and hang in the attic for great fun many years later.
Kim Woodward says
That’s such a fun idea! Love it! Thanks for sharing.
daisy says
Wow! It does seem like you just became a mom not too long ago.
I totally understand the tears. Thankfully, we ended up homes schooling, so we saved a lot on Kleenex.
They say it gets easier, so hang in there.
Your sunflowers are so delightful! What a great way to welcome you home.
Kim Woodward says
Thanks, Daisy! He loves school so much that I’m holding it together!
FunnyGal Kat says
This is one of the organizational projects I’m most proud of in my house. Each of my kids have a wire “clothesline” on the wall above their beds to display their art. It was cheap and easy- I bought a roll of the wire used on the back of picture frames and some eye hooks and then used rings/clips meant to hold cafe curtains. Screwed in the eye hooks, stretched the wire between them, added the little rings with the clips on them and voila. My kids love it, and love changing their art out for different looks.
Kim Woodward says
Love this idea! Fun idea to keep it in their rooms!
Cassie Bustamante says
so cute and i love the photo paired with it…. like here’s the artist!
Kim Woodward says
I didn’t think of that! But you are right!
Heather says
I love the idea! Simple and functional. I have a PILE of art from G from Kindergarten and now his 1st grade art class has upped their game.
Kim Woodward says
I just read another post about artwork and they recommended an app to archive art. I’m thinking about doing this for some of the worksheets and such. It’s just so hard to choose what to keep!