Do you have a little creative genius in your life who loves to build sculptures out of LEGOS or the household recycling, enjoys painting murals on large sheets of paper, builds clay models or is prolific with drawings? If so, you might wonder how you are going to store all that artwork!

Do you have it piled in drawers, stuffed into closets, or stacking up in the basement?

You want to encourage and support your kids in their self-expression and you also want them to know you value their creations. At the same time, you might have limited space and keeping everything can be challenging.

Here are a few ideas that might help:

1. Create a space in your home to display the art. Perhaps it is a blank wall to hang all the artwork or a special table for their sculptures. After their favorite pieces have been on display for a few weeks,take a photo of the artwork! Better yet, if your kid is old enough, help them take the photo. Together you can make an album that holds photos of their best creations. Then decide together what to do with the artwork. Maybe they would enjoy disassembling that sculpture, recycling that drawing or smashing the clay model.


2. Have an art show every few months. Invite close friends and relatives to come over and “buy” the artwork, exchange it for something, or let them pick and choose a few favorites. This will solve your storage problem and give the grandparents or your kid’s best friends a chance to enjoy their creativity.


3. Teach your children the value of sharing their artwork with others. Visit a lonely senior in a retirement home and decorate their walls with cheerful sketches, mail a favorite painting to a relative you don’t see often or enter that special sculpture in a kid art contest.


4. Consider buying or making a storage system that will protect the favorites of your child’s collection. Schoolfolio makes storage solutions for kid’s artwork, report cards and other important papers. They are sturdy, archival quality and have a handle so you can transport it to and from school. You can also buy inexpensive storage bins and decorate and label them yourself.

As a parent of a teenager, I wish now I had kept more of his early drawings. Having a way to store and preserve your very favorite creations will bring back so many memories later. And remember, your child might have a very different idea about what they want to keep, so be sure to ask them.

What do you do with your child's artwork? Leave a comment and let us know how you handle it!