"Look mom!" my toddler shouts proudly, and rolls out yet another XL-sized painting. “Wow how beautiful!” I shout just as enthusiastically. With shining eyes she tells what she has worked on with so much passion. “This is Santa Claus….and this is Christmasboooom…and this is…um…a steeeer…and this is the moon.” I am very proud of my (when-she-wants-it) artistic daughter. But all those schoolwork just keeps piling up! Where the hell do I leave them!
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You probably recognize the 'problem', all those school assignments lying around the house. This was her third creation this week. My designer radiator in the kitchen has been swallowed up by drawn, painted, tinkered, folded and cut paper, riveted with two dozen magnets.
There comes a time when any addition proves impossible. Then I move to the closet. But that space is also limited. And then it comes down to… making choices. Which schoolwork can stay and which ones go hard and relentlessly into the bin? By now I've gotten easier when it comes to between-nose-and-lip drawings that may be way below them. But even then my closet is overflowing with paper trophies and non-folding artworks.
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What to do with the most beautiful can't-find-the-heart-to-throw-away-creative excesses?
Frame some of the most beautiful drawings and hang them in your child's bedroom as decoration. Or in your own bedroom, that is of course also possible. Replace the drawing regularly with new ones.
Make a nice collage of different schoolwork of your children and hang it somewhere centrally. Change periodically in this case as well. For example, you can also select and frame the most beautiful works after each year.
This is my best tip ever! Take a photo of the work and make a beautiful photo album. In this way, the most beautiful school projects remain immortalized and you can possibly throw away the original copies (note point 6!). Efficient and space-saving! Of course you can also designate a box as a definitive storage box for your children in which you keep the most beautiful drawings.
The last point came to me spontaneously recently after being confronted for the first time with my preschooler's pile of work after she had completed group 1. Add to this the countless photos that were taken at school and neatly put in a blog. It gives such a nice overall picture of the school year! I decided to bundle the works and the photos in a photo book. I took a photo of all the works and I made a selection of the blog photos.
Well, I'm really bad at making photo albums. No time, varied with no sense. The job must therefore be completed as quickly as possible to prevent loss of concentration. At most photo book sites you can - for lazy people like me - choose a theme where the pages are already decorated for you. Super handy of course!
You choose a theme that matches what you are looking for in terms of appearance and you can get started. Make a selection of all the photos of the school assignments you have made (of course they don't all have to be in the photo book, but you can 😉 ). It is best if you have them in chronological order, but this is of course not necessary. After placing the photos in the photo album, you can often change the size of the photos and place text and/or frames. Or add nice images.
Bet that your toddler, preschooler or teenager will really enjoy holding his or her own photo book with all your own creations in it? It is a feast of recognition. The photo book is a memorable gift full of memories, for myself, but especially for my child!
