displaying art/school work

[Mom4Him]

What are some ways that you display the art/school work that your children make? In our family, I have 3 or 4 of our children doing the same projects/papers/etc from LHTH (& also have MANY extra pictures they make all on their own). Our refrigerator can only display so much (& it seems anything I put on it- falls off very esaily)...but they are soooo very proud of the work they do & love to show it off. I am just uncertain of how to display it all in a nice looking way. If anyone has ideas and/or pictures to share, I would appreciate it!
Thanks!

[jenntracy]

i am curious too. i sorta have an area in the kitchen and try to take the old ones down at least every two weeks to make room for the new. it is very hard and then i have t decide what to keep and where. Honestly, you can't keep EVERY painting, drawing, or craft they make. it is so hard to decide sometimes, isn't?

[basesloaded]

I do have my kids sit on the floor or at a table covered with their projects so I can put the pic of what they have don in their scrapbook. That helps a little with not keeping everything

[mamayi]

I hang a 10 foot long ribbon along the wall with a push pin on each end (so no nail holes!)
Then the children use clothes pins to hang their "masterpieces"!
Each child has their own ribbon. When they run out of space they have to decide what to take down so the new piece can go up.
I also take pictures of their "art museum" as we call it every once in a while.

I also keep a large mailing envelope at the ready so that things can be mailed to grandparents!

Love to hear what other people do too!

Andrea

[sharonb]

Ours is similar to Andrea's. I have a long "clothesline" strung up along the wall in the kitchen by the table. We call it the "artwork line". We use clothespins to hang up their creations. When it gets full, I pull everything off and take what I want to save for me (I have a folder for each child in my cedar chest), and then I ask the children if they want to save any of what's left (they have their own "treasure drawers" in their rooms). If they want to throw away anything, that's fine too.

[Samuel'sMommy]

I also have a string on the wall with clips so that he can hang his artwork, papers, etc for Daddy to see. It works great and he loves to put his work up there. We don't have a ton of wall space but he can usually get about 6-8 papers up before we have to take them down to make room for more.

[Tansy]

We have a tiny house so only one or 2 pages go on the fridge. I punch holes in the paper before we start. it goes on the fridge for a little while thenit goes in her binder... and projects like herbs glued on go in sleeves then in binder. this way when Aunti comes to visit DD2 goes running for her Project book and shares it all. Tho I like the Ideas here I may steal mamayi's.

[GinainMD]

I have tried several of the ideas already posted at various times and have found you can never have too many options when you have a creative child. In addition to what has already been mentioned, I allow each of my children to display artwork etc. on the inside of their bedroom door. Also we put cork up in one dd room and bought those fabric covered boards, the ones with ribbons criss crossing, for each dds room. Always on the look out for some new ideas as I have 1 dd who is especially reluctant to part with any of h er "creations". I also like to "retire" some work to a binder but there is a 1 binder per child per school year rule. Photos are great for the projects you can't save. We had a paper mache volcano on a cookie sheet in our kitchen for a couple weeks before I finally took photos of it and then tossed it .

[jenntracy]

The volcano thin sound like somthing i would do. Leave it up for seeral weeks before being able to take it done even though it probably had to be oved around or is just left in the way. i hate having ot decide when to get rid of stuff

[sharonb]

I forgot about the photo option. I have taken photos of a few projects that would be hard to store. That is so much easier. I also take photos of larger paintings that I really like and then I put the photos in my scrapbook (and then put the originals in the cedar chest).

[Mom4Him]

Thanks everyone for your ideas!! Now, I have to put them into action!
I really like the ribbon/string idea with clips- & the photo ideas!! I liked your extra ideas too, Gina- for we also have creative little "artists" at our house- who can easily sit down & make 10 pictures each in a short time-span. We're working on making 1 or 2 really nice picture(s)!
Have a great Sunday praising our Lord!
Jessica

[MomtoJGJE]

We do the string thing with clothes pins too.... I have a string criss-crossing over a wall so there is more space to hang stuff... Well, right now it's just one line, but when the baby gets bigger it'll go back to criss crossing...

I only keep stuff that's for the child actually being recorded for school... I take pictures of everything else.

If you are asking about long term keeping too, you could always take pictures and put them online at a photo hosting site and make a collage book out of them. It would be smaller than a binder and not as messy.... easier to put on a shelf.

[rainbowacreshs]

With Kasey doing paintings with the poetry in CTC, I purchased a scrapbook that has sleeve type inserts. The book is proving to be a lovely coffetable/center piece. The art work stays protected and can be showcased without having to dig through the ole file folders. She's currently working on detailing the Hanging Gardens piece, which when she is done I think I am going to mat and frame.

[basesloaded]

Oh, I love the scrapbook idea! Thanks for sharing so now I can be on the look out for next year What kind of paper did you use? And I am also wondering what size scrapbook you chose ?

[ncmomof5]

Thank you, Jasmine for that idea. I have been trying to figure out what to do with all of their beautiful CTC paintings (I have 2 dc doing it). I don't want to throw any away, and I want to have a place where they can be admired - safely . Putting them in a scrapbook is such a wonderful idea. Why didn't I think of that? I don't know, but I'm glad you did. Thanks for sharing.

Also, I am planning to do like you mentioned and frame a few of their favorites - maybe even give them as gifts to their grandparents.