Honoring Kids’ Artwork: Part 2 – Create a Collection

In the last half of this series I’ll cover a few ways to establish a rotating gallery at home.  For today, lets address what to do with that hand turkey (and other seasonal art) once the holidays have come and gone.  First, take digital photos of the pieces and then throw them out.  Trust me, you’ll feel nothing but relief when that ever-growing pile of construction paper is gone.

Second, use the photos to create something stylish.  Option A is the quintessential coffee table book.  This may not be a revolutionary idea, but this example from Create-Celebrate-Explore is one of the best executions I’ve seen.  I love how it includes three dimensional pieces and short descriptions on each page.  Click through for option B, which happens to be my very favorite method of displaying kids’ art.

If you’ve got the wall space, I highly recommend creating a modern collage by shrinking your photos into small tiles.  I can’t wait for C and S to move beyond finger painting so I can do something similar to this version at a thousand words.  Aren’t the photos of the kids just perfect?  This whole composition is ready for its own spot at MoMA.

And for even more impact, check out this large-scale stunner from decor8.  Upon seeing it, I knew I had to figure out exactly how people were doing this.  Then lo and behold…

I stumbled upon this nifty little tutorial from HowDoesShe?  Finally, if you just don’t have the time (or the photo editing software) to make a collage yourself…

Simplycreatekids.com will happily do it for you.  All you have to do is take the photos and send them in.

Did you enjoy this post?  Stay tuned for part 3 of this 5 part series, coming soon.

See the rest of this series here:

Honoring Kids’ Artwork: Part 1 – Get Rid of It
Honoring Kids’ Artwork: Part 3 – Hang It Up 
Honoring Kids’ Artwork: Part 4 – Put It Behind Glass
Honoring Kids’ Artwork: Part 5 – Transform It