Are you overwhelmed with paper clutter?
Do you want to save precious works of art without having the clutter?
Here is our simple and easy way for even the busiest parent to document and organize their child’s school papers.
One of my favorite bloggers and friend, The Tired Girl recently posted about how the camera on her phone is her most used app….and I totally agree with her!
(Click here to read her post about how she uses her camera to document everything from what filter she needs for her vacuum to where she parked her car).
Since Lil B started preschool last year, I have been using my phone camera to document his school papers and artwork.
He comes home every day with papers which can quickly build up and lead to overwhelming paper clutter.
The teacher in me has a hard time just throwing away his papers.
So, last year I started taking a picture of all those cute pieces of art.
My camera phone automatically dates it and is synced to my computer.
I eventually plan to make a photo book of the saved artwork (but I haven’t gotten that far yet).
I do keep the exceptional pieces of work, like writing his name for the first time or his first self portrait. I store these special memories in a file box.
I love that I have one contained space that stores all his important and memorable papers. I also love that the box is all set for PreK -High School. It took about 20 minutes initially but is now set for all his school years. I was inspired by this post at I heart organizing.
It is a relief to avoid the paper clutter but still enjoy all his artwork.
Even Lil B enjoys scrolling through the photos and seeing his artwork saved.
Now, I just need to get that photo book put together!
How do you save your child’s artwork and/or school papers?
Thank you for this idea. I was thinking along the same lines for organizing my 8 year and 2 year old boys’ work when I came across this write up. I also hope to share it on my parenting page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ConsciousParentingApproach. I also think it would be a good idea to use an App to feature the most important work in a week/month/quarter of a year and label it. Perhaps that will be a great way to time the work as well…Inviting you to come stop by our page and say Hello! 🙂
Thank you for your comment. Feel free to share with a link back to my site. You can also check out our FB page, https://www.facebook.com/handmadekidsart. I love the app idea. Great idea!
Thank you again…checked out your FB page through my page, http://www.facebook.com/ConsciousParentingApproach – lovely ideas!
I filled a 3 ring binder with sheet protectors. Now, whenever my grandchildren give me any of their art I just slip it into an empty sheet protector. Not only can I enjoy having their pictures at my fingertips, but they also have a good time looking at their drawings the next time they come to visit.
That is a great suggestion! I love that you can pull it out at any time to view. Thank you for sharing!
I keep two file folders for each of my girls- one for artwork, one for school papers. They are really great about helping me decide which items to keep. I ask them which ones are important to them, and I file those, along with I few I love. The file folders are the kind that expand to hold three inches worth of paper.
Great tip using the two file folders! Thank you for sharing.
As a grandmother, I also take pictures of school work and save the more (to us) important pieces. As a teacher gift, my granddaughter and I made a book with those pictures documenting her progress and growth. We wanted to show the teacher how much we appreciated her and to visually demonstrate the effect teachers have on students. Her teacher loved it! Thanks for sharing. Now I have to work on my son’s things!?!