Thursday, August 02, 2007

Ask the organiser - 7 ideas to organise art projects


I received a question from someone who says.

I need help!!! How can I organize my 5 year old daughter's art projects?!?!

Start by teaching your child valuable organising skills from an early age that will stand them in good stead later in life. A two-year-old can do basic organising like throwing all their dolls into a basket (categorising).

It's important to realise that quantity does not equal quality! Sit with her, go through the projects and let her decide on her favourites. This helps the child to prioritise and learn.

A word of caution - make it easy for your child. There is no point in setting up a complicated system that will be difficult to use and maintain.

Actual organising of the projects

  1. Have a folder for each year of school. Your child can choose what she wants to keep and the rest can go.

  2. Scan the projects and burn to CD.

  3. Take a picture of your child with the projects.

  4. Use artwork to wrap gifts for family and friends. WIth children going to parties all the time, you'll be sure to get through all that extra artwork in no time.

  5. Fold into an envelope and post to distant relatives. They will love getting mail and your child will love the idea of sending a letter.

  6. Laminate favourites and use them as placemats.

  7. Have a treasure/ memory box. When the box is full, it's time to go through it and declutter.

Anybody else have some bright ideas?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, I do! I actually use an expandable accordion file for each kid. I use one that has 13 sections and each section is for each grade year. I will typically put my favorites in the folder and at the end of the school year, the kids and I go through and pick out the ones we don't want to keep and the ones that are our favorites, we tuck back inside. The kids love to see their old art work! Sometimes it's with a smile and other times it is with humility!

Jenny said...

No ideas, but I wish I had learned my organizing lessons better that my mom taught me when I was little.
I tagged you today!

Michelle Alley said...

I started an online blog for my girl's artwork. I just didn't want to throw anything away, and decided that if I scanned it, displayed the photo of the artwork, and talked about it - I could easily throw the artwork away, unless it was something I wanted to frame. It's worked wonders at getting everything in an organized spot. Soon, I'll make a blog book out of it so they can have all their photos. You can check it out on my sidebar link. Great ideas Marcia!

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