Kid Art in a Small Space

Kid Art in a Small Space - Mae’s watercolour painting on the cover of the Recently Magazine I made of their art

I have finally taken my own advice and the advice of others and compiled photos of the kids’ artwork into a photo magazine. It wasn’t much effort and I’m so pleased with result. Sharing here in case you are drowning in drawings and art projects too!

The kids’ artwork has caused a bit of tension in our home as I am ruthless with recycling it after I have acknowledged and adequately shown interest in it. Trevor on the other hand is more attached to the kids’ art and I find it tucked in closets or hidden in boxes. I haven’t seen his office at work but I’ve heard it’s full of kids’ artwork that he rescued from the recycling bin!

I felt that I was losing the battle on the kids art. So something had to change and I decided to find a compromise.

Displaying Art

We don’t have many walls in our home but we have been hanging the more intricate artwork that the kids’ are especially proud of in their bedroom with washi tape. When Mae brings a new piece home from art class or Theo brings a piece from Kindergarten it goes up on the wall and the older pieces are recycled.

Photo Documentation of Kids’ Art

I have taken pictures of the kids’ art in the past but not with any purpose beyond documenting it or lifting a bit of guilt for how much I recycle. But I’ve lost track in the thousands of photos on my phone. So this time I was more intentional with documenting the art. I would paste each piece on the wall with washi tape and take a photo or two of the piece. Then I saved these photos in a specific “Art” folder in my phone. It was satisfying. I was able to declutter our small space and acknowledge the kids’ efforts at the same time.

Dealing with Kid Art in a Small Space: Theo’s Chameleon from a school project

A Magazine of Kid Art

I started telling the kids that I was making a book of their artwork. When they caught me recycling their drawing or painting I would remind them that I had already taken a picture of it for the book. This seemed to satisfy them. The promise of the book also got Trevor on board with recycling drawings and paintings that he had been hoarding in our small space (I still don’t know about his office ;) ).

It took a couple of months to fill the folder with the 50 photos needed to fill a Recently Magazine but I am thrilled with the result. It is now stacked with our other magazines on a shelf, barely taking up any space at all but is filled with beautiful and bright kid art that I can look at our share with the kids anytime. I hope this can be a new habit to continue to fill photo folders up until I have fifty photos and create a new magazine that captures their art at this moment in time.

I used Recently Magazine because I love them and It’s my photo printing company of choice. I love that I can do it all from my phone and I don’t have to spend time laying out the photos. I have a quarterly subscription and use it mostly for documenting trips. But you could accomplish the same idea using any number of photo printing companies like Artifact Uprising, Shutterfly, or Chat Books.

I know my decluttering to survive in our small space can be a bit cold or ruthless at times like with my constant recycling of kid artwork. My intentions are always to create a calm and inviting home that fosters creativity. I love that I now have a way in our space to display a bit of artwork in their room and as many art magazines as their little hands can make while still keeping our small space calm and decluttered.

Dealing with Kid Art in a Small Space: Theo’s art from school projects

A small stack of photo magazines with the Kid Art one on top (Shelf at our Entryway)