by Carren Joye
With all your kids' artwork, crafts, models and science projects, you will quickly run out of room to display and store everything. Time to get creative before your refrigerator gets covered!
Create a gallery for your artists. String clothesline or yarn along a wall of the family room or hallway and use clothespins to hang the pictures. Alternatively, purchase inexpensive frames and hang up your favorites. As you rotate out the old ones, date and save a representative sample in a storage box or folder, and discard the others.
If you find it difficult to throw anything away, find something creative to do with the leftover masterpieces. Here are some ideas:
Laminate them to make placemats or bookmarks. Your kids will like seeing their artwork under their plates or between the pages of a book.
Recycle them as book covers, gift wrap and cards. Each one of our children gets to select a picture to include in birthday cards and gifts that we mail to relatives.
Color-copy the artwork for other projects. One family in our homeschool group uses them in a calendar for the grandparents.
Transfer the art onto something else. Many printing businesses have facilities for decorating mouse pads, coffee mugs and other items that can be given as gifts.
Scan the artwork and store them on CDs. Later you can always print them, email them to friends or make cards out of them.
For a science project or three-dimensional model, display it for a while, then take a picture of it. Include your child in the photo, too. Then label the photo and place it in a portfolio, scrapbook or family photo album. With a photographic record, you no longer have to store the original, so you can discard it to make room for new constructions.
Carren W. Joye is the author of Homeschooling More Than One Child: A Practical Guide for Families (ISBN 0-595-34259-0), Alabama State History Curriculum for grades K-9, and A Stay-at-Home Mom's Complete Guide to Playgroups (ISBN 0-595-14684-8). A homeschooling mom of four children, she has founded a local homeschool support group, a homeschool co-op, a homeschool covering, and four preschool playgroups. For more information on her books and state history curriculum, visit her web site at www.carrenjoye.com
With all your kids' artwork, crafts, models and science projects, you will quickly run out of room to display and store everything. Time to get creative before your refrigerator gets covered!
Create a gallery for your artists. String clothesline or yarn along a wall of the family room or hallway and use clothespins to hang the pictures. Alternatively, purchase inexpensive frames and hang up your favorites. As you rotate out the old ones, date and save a representative sample in a storage box or folder, and discard the others.
If you find it difficult to throw anything away, find something creative to do with the leftover masterpieces. Here are some ideas:
Laminate them to make placemats or bookmarks. Your kids will like seeing their artwork under their plates or between the pages of a book.
Recycle them as book covers, gift wrap and cards. Each one of our children gets to select a picture to include in birthday cards and gifts that we mail to relatives.
Color-copy the artwork for other projects. One family in our homeschool group uses them in a calendar for the grandparents.
Transfer the art onto something else. Many printing businesses have facilities for decorating mouse pads, coffee mugs and other items that can be given as gifts.
Scan the artwork and store them on CDs. Later you can always print them, email them to friends or make cards out of them.
For a science project or three-dimensional model, display it for a while, then take a picture of it. Include your child in the photo, too. Then label the photo and place it in a portfolio, scrapbook or family photo album. With a photographic record, you no longer have to store the original, so you can discard it to make room for new constructions.
Carren W. Joye is the author of Homeschooling More Than One Child: A Practical Guide for Families (ISBN 0-595-34259-0), Alabama State History Curriculum for grades K-9, and A Stay-at-Home Mom's Complete Guide to Playgroups (ISBN 0-595-14684-8). A homeschooling mom of four children, she has founded a local homeschool support group, a homeschool co-op, a homeschool covering, and four preschool playgroups. For more information on her books and state history curriculum, visit her web site at www.carrenjoye.com
