Organizing kids artwork is a BIG challenge for most of my clients. Recently I had a client ask me to organize her son’s artwork and come up with a system that would be easy for him to enjoy and preserve the pieces for years to come.
She dropped off a box full of their favorite pieces from preschool along with these nice art portfolios from The Container Store. She told me that I didn’t need to use them if I had a better storage option but after doing some research online I decided that they were perfect. I like them because they are just they are just the right size for larger pieces and they are user friendly for small hands.
She gave me the school calendar that outlined the curriculum making it easy to sort the pieces chronologically. I began by sorting the artwork into 12 little piles on the floor of my office, one for each month of the year.
They studied butterflies in the spring, so cute!
She gave me three portfolios to use so I decided to try to separate the art and file it by season. Fall and winter in one, spring in another, and summer in another. It worked out perfect!
My client did a great job dating the back of the artwork and jotting down a quick title. For all of the pieces with a title I put a label on the corner of the page for reference.
In the end she had three neat and organized portfolios to take home instead of a box full, a big improvement! Her son couldn’t wait to have the chance to look through the pages!
This is what my client had to say about the complete project compared to her past attempts at getting the artwork organized…
“I think this method has worked really well: I collect, label, and date the art, and then hand it to you for organizing and putting in the folders. I’ve tried a lot of different ways to organize kids art: I’ve made my own binders, I’ve made a (basic) scrapbook, I’ve just boxed it all with the hope of sorting it later, and then this, and this is by far the best option. Way less stressful for me and it actually gets done. “
So cool! If you have a large box full of your child’s artwork I would highly recommend using this process and the portfolios from The Container Store. For more artwork organizing tips check out this great kids artwork post from Kids Week and this fun phone app called Artkive.
Melinda says
Great idea! My daughter's in the first grade this year, but I have 2 years of her art and school work I just couldn't bear to toss out! They're currently sitting in a box, but would love to have them filed in away where she can have access to them and look at them! BTW, I've been wanting a label maker, any suggestions?
Amanda Kuzak says
Hey Melinda! I have a Dymo label maker that I bought at Target and I love it. It was $25 and fits most types of label tape.
Jennifer says
I love those! My son is only 15 months old, so I have yet to have more than a handful of artwork from him, but I know I'll be returning to this post soon as a reference for how to store all of our favorite pieces of art!
Crystelle says
You are my inspiration! (as well as that of my kids….. Gotta get this done…..
debbie :: little artist says
thats a great system! I love that you could see their progression by organising it by date.
for those really special pieces of art please take a look at http://www.littleartist.co.nz!
Dana says
I just started using this awesome app called Canvsly to organize my kids artwork…it’s so much more easier to stay organized and clutter free now!