Organizing children's artwork is a great way to preserve these memories for years to come.
Art is an important creative outlet for children. While your child might not be the next Picasso, that doesn't make his artwork any less valuable to you. Preserving your child's artwork will be a treat for you and your child as he grows. Instead of just stashing your child's artwork away in boxes where they might be ruined or forgotten, try developing an organization system to keep your child's artwork in a tidy and easy-to-reference order.
Portfolio
Artists use portfolios to demonstrate their skills to potential clients. Make your child feel like a true artist by creating a portfolio to contain their artwork. Large artist's portfolios can be purchased at many art or office supply stores. Each page will have a plastic pocket to slip the piece of artwork into. It is a good idea to label each piece of art with the date, age and name of your child. Once you have filled a portfolio, label the front of the book with the name of the artist and the dates of work contained in the book. For example, "Jimmy Smith, 2005-2010." If you have multiple children, create individual portfolios for each.
Scrapbook
A scrapbook is a personal and sentimental way to organize your child's artwork. Instead of organizing your scrapbook like a portfolio, you can separate your scrapbooks by theme. For example, you can have a scrapbook that displays holiday-themed art, school projects or family pictures. Arrange your child's artwork on the page and add further interest to the page by adding decorative details. For example, you can add buttons, stickers and even pictures of your child creating the art within the pages. If possible, have you or your child describe the art featured and the inspiration behind it. These scrapbooks can be preserved for generations.
File Cabinet
File cabinets are useful in business and for storing important family documents. You can apply their organization system to your child's artwork. Separate your child's artwork into categories. For example, some categories would be sports, school, holiday, family and friends-themed projects. If possible, arrange each piece of art in order of date. Place each grouping of artwork into a different folder labeled with the category title. If you would prefer, you could also organize the artwork strictly by age of the child as opposed to category of the art. If you have multiple children, give a separate drawer or section to each child to keep each child's work preserved and organized. Instead of a filing system, you may choose instead to organize the art into flat file boxes.
