How To Preserve Your Child’s Crafting Creativity

Children are imaginative, which explains why arts and crafts usually come naturally to them. Indeed, their drawings and craftwork may not look like the work of a professional. However, what matters most is the ability to express their imaginative minds. According to statistics, students who engage in art and music classes do a little better than those who don’t. If that is the case, parents have a lot on their hands to encourage their young ones to be creative and preserve the creations of these little geniuses. The discussion here focuses on some creative ways to do this.

Digitize it

If you are worried about the clutter in the home, digitization would be the best option for you and the kids. Children grow up so fast, and in no time, those pieces of crafts would become clutter you would have no option but to discard. Fortunately, digitization can solve this problem and still preserve those memories you intend to keep for your kids, and an excellent way to keep records of their budding creativity. More importantly, it is a great way to compare their past and current crafts to detect any progress in their creative abilities. One advantage of digitizing your kids’ crafts is it is easier to share with friends and family. The options are countless. You can scan, print, or make photocopies of a drawing. 

However, digitizing these pieces can take up a lot of space on your computer. If the storage you have is limited, you can try certain apps. You will find many apps and software purposely designed for kids’ crafts. A few examples are Keepy and Artkive. Keepy is designed to help parents and guardians preserve their children’s mementos, including videos, pictures, and school projects. The exciting thing about the app is the ability to record audio files alongside anything you upload. Artkive is similar, except it allows you to work on a fully customizable book. This means all your kids’ crafts can be designed into a book and presented as a gift when they get older.

Frame the art or craft

Those beautiful photo frames you see in shops are not only for family pictures. You will find some specially designed artwork and pieces of craft. While this option seems easier at a glance, it may become a challenge when your child’s art paper is wider than the pre-made photo frame and wouldn’t fit. This is why it would be best to opt for professional framing.

Sometimes, this may cost more than the simple pre-made frame. However, because professional framing would preserve your children’s artwork longer, it may be better to go with it. If you can afford children’s wall art, why don’t you make it more special by getting it? At the end of it all, memory is what matters most. And you can create an art wall in the home that will be a reminder of your kids’ creativity and a conversation starter for visitors, so keep this in mind. 

Cut out and use as a focal image for a toy box

Cutting out will be easy and convenient for repurposing if you’re dealing with paper artwork. All you need to do is to cut out the shape of whatever your child drew and stick it on your child’s toy box or container. This can be precious memorabilia they would always be glad to see. If your children are old enough, they can help cut out and apply the paper glue. You will have to closely supervise them as they cut the paper or apply the glue. You can also turn the smaller pieces into stickers for a scrapbook.

Create placemats for the dinner table or craft area

Another way to preserve your kids’ craft is to create placemats from them. This would involve laminating the artwork. If your child drew on a simple A4 sheet, laminating it in that state would make the outcome floppy. This is why it is recommended to stick the A4 sheet onto construction paper. It is sturdy and provides adequate support when the artwork is laminated. Otherwise, the best option would be to encourage your child to draw directly onto the construction paper. They will most likely be pleased with this alternative because those sheets are already colored. 

You can get your kids more interested by asking them to choose their preferred hue. You may also want to learn more about laminating hacks. For example, leaving about one to three inches of plastic around the edges is advisable. This will prevent the paper within from curling and going out of shape. Again, if the artwork was made with watercolors, you may want to ensure that it is well-dried before laminating. Because the process involves heat, you will want to avoid running the colors all over the plastic. If the artwork is well laminated, it can last long. Placemats are suitable for the dinner table where you and the kids get to see them all the time. They can also be used for your children’s craft area, so feel free to consider this. 

Make a gallery wall from your kids’ crafts and art

Have you ever wondered what to do with that bland wall in your hall, kitchen, or hallway? They can be converted into gallery walls to proudly showcase your children’s creativity. A children’s gallery wall is not always about paper painting. It can be a colorful garland made from cardboard paper, designed cork tiles, etc. The point is that anything that can go up on the gallery wall is more than welcome. The thing with gallery walls is that they are not restricted to only one area of the house. You can plan to create small gallery walls throughout the house – the living room, bedrooms, study, kitchen, etc. Wherever you find it convenient to create a gallery wall for your children’s craft is left to your discretion.

Turn art into a photo album or memory book

This may look like a scrapbook, but creating an album from your kids’ artwork is the main idea. You will find already made albums designed for this very purpose. You also have the option to personalize these photo albums further with stickers or glitter. Your young ones will be overly thrilled to work with all that glitter, which will be a good sensory activity. Before your memory book or photo album lives up to its name, you must first cut out the drawings. You would need a generous amount of paper glue to stick them onto the pages in the album. While at it, just make sure no glue around the album’s edges can stick the entire book shut. To stop this from happening, you will need a blow dryer to dry the pages before closing the album finally, so keep this in mind.

Use the traditional storage method

For parents and guardians who may not know how to apply some creativity to the preservation options, this can work. A good old plastic storage container can do the trick. It should also be weather-tight if you want to maintain the quality of your children’s art for years. This special container must be moisture-proof and have a tight lid to keep insects out. If you have to keep it in the basement or loft, it would be advisable to take extra precautions. Keeping a container like this in a water-damaged basement or loft may not keep its contents in good condition for long, so feel free to consider this.