Sound familiar? I truly used to dread all of the papers that came home at the end of the year. It was bittersweet, because I love looking through my kids' schoolwork and art, and yet I can't stand clutter and piles. What's a mom to do?
I came up with an easy way of storing and organizing my kids art and schoolwork that is fast, fun to look through, and easy to keep up with and store.
It's very similar to the method that I use to organize my ripped out magazine pages. It's very straightforward and simple, and yet has made such a difference in keeping my kids' papers and artwork at bay!
It's very similar to the method that I use to organize my ripped out magazine pages. It's very straightforward and simple, and yet has made such a difference in keeping my kids' papers and artwork at bay!
Supplies:
- Binder
- Tabbed Sheet Protectors
- Regular Sheet Protectors
- Magazine holder, storage box, or another holder to store artwork
Step 1- Collect & Store
First, you need a place to hold and store the papers. These papers might include artwork, school papers, awards, invitations, letters, ribbons, doodles, letters, etc.- anything that is important to you and your child will be stored here temporarily.
Here are a few examples of some things that I have kept over the years...
Self portraits made by my kiddos...
Cute little doodles...
A letter to Santa that my daughter wrote when she was starting to not believe...
Special awards that my kids have received...
Some of my daughter's first faces that she drew when she was three- the bottom right one is Charlie from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Love. See how I fit four small pictures onto one page?
Favorite pieces of art...
Diary Entries for important events, like the birth of our son...
To temporarily collect and store the art, I use metal magazine holders, and I have one labeled for each of my children, and one for my husband and I. As my children bring home work, we decide together if it's something that we should keep or throw away. We keep their best work, special awards, my homemade birthday party invitations, letters to Santa and the Easter Bunny (make copies so they're not suspicious), special cards or letters, etc.
Again, anything that is your child's best work or is meaningful to them and/or you. It's also nice to just keep a sample here and there of their work to see the progress they make throughout the year.
As the art and memorabilia come in throughout the year, be sure to date them (if there is no date on it already). I like to write the date and how old my child is, usually on the back of the paper so it's not taking away from the art or work.
Step 2- Label & Organize
Label your tabbed sheet protectors. I labeled mine like this for each child:
- Birth-Preschool (or EAK or Kindergarten)
- Preschool (or EAK)
- Kindergarten
- 1st Grade
- 2nd Grade
- 3rd Grade
- 4th Grade
- 5th Grade
Etc... My oldest is in 5th grade, so that's as far as my binder goes ;)
I used Avery Protect 'n Tab Tabbed Sheet Protectors to label each of the different sections. These tabbed sheet protectors are perfect because the tabs stick out past the other sheet protectors so that you can still see them when your binder is put together. I bought mine on Amazon, after searching high and low for something like them at all my nearby office supply stores.
These Avery labels are printable, but I just used my trusty label maker to make small labels that I stuck onto each tab- they fit perfectly!
I also used some Avery Martha Stewart sheet protectors I bought at Staples that have pockets that hold 4 photos. Although I keep separate scrapbooks, I like to add the 4 photos behind each divider, so we can remember what each child looked like when they made their art.
I also used some Avery Martha Stewart sheet protectors I bought at Staples that have pockets that hold 4 photos. Although I keep separate scrapbooks, I like to add the 4 photos behind each divider, so we can remember what each child looked like when they made their art.
Step 3- Add the Art & Papers
Place the artwork, school papers, awards, etc. into sheet protectors. This is a great time to edit the work that has been sitting in the magazine holder. Since you can't keep everything, decide if it really is worth keeping, and then either toss it or proceed. I typically fit one page into each side of the sheet protector, but if there is a stapled booklet that I want to keep, I'll just stick the whole thing inside.
Sometimes a favorite piece of artwork may be too big to fit into a sheet protector, like my son's Cat in the Hat picture. In that case, I will trim it down to fit, or I will cut it in half, and place one half on one side of the binder, and the other half right next to it, so you can still see the whole picture.
I like to keep special little notes and doodles that my kids write and draw, so when they are smaller, I just use an archival glue stick to adhere them to a piece of archival card stock. That way I can save on space and fit a few different things onto one page.
Keep up with it and enjoy it!
Once the binder is initially created, it is really easy (and neat) to keep up! Just slide the work right into the binder as it comes home, and you're good to go! My kids LOVE to look through their binders and reminisce about their art and work. It's a great way to point out to your kids how much they have grown and progressed.
I love this method because it is so easy to keep up and keeps all of the papers nice and neat and organized chronologically. And I love that I can still keep much of my kids' and my favorite work of theirs without feeling guilty because there are no messy piles!
So what do you think? Do you struggle with what/how much of your kids' work to keep, or how to keep it organized? Will you be giving this method a try? Leave me a comment and let me know!
And do you love to keep ideas, recipes, or inspiration pages that you rip out of a magazine? Check out how I keep my magazine pages nice and neat and organized.
I hope this helps you to get and stay organized! It sure has helped me :)
If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.
xo, Laura
