Fun and Creative Ways to Showcase Your Little Artist's Latest Talents

If you are like most proud parents on the planet, you are well aware of and love every one of your children's art projects. Well, there are a few that are stretching the imagination at love, but most of us appreciate the creativity and excitement in sharing the masterpiece.

I have given birth to five little creatures that know how to use a crayon and markers. A couple of these have turned their colorful imaginations into creations that actually resemble something, while the others have gone for the more abstract form of art. No matter our interpretation, our kids have used one of the most basic forms of self expression by creating artwork. My favorite pieces are the holiday crafts that the kids come home from school with. The cute little matching Pilgrim and Indian couples, the various ornaments including the paper lanterns and light-bulb Santa's at Christmastime, to snowflakes, hearts glued to doilies covered with 10 layers of glitter, shamrocks, Easter eggs-the list is endless. But the Holiday art is by far my favorite!

I know a woman who had 7 children beginning in 1967 and has saved much of her children's artwork. She still brings out a chosen few to decorate her home with at each Holiday. Now the grandkids can see their own parents' artwork from "way back when".

As you are aware, we cannot save all these little gems of talent. I have tried several different ways to appreciate, save and preserve my kids' projects. I have been given the thumbs up on some ideas and been given a very crusty look by the artist on others. I have spoken to friends and family who have given me their favorite ideas too. So read on and try a few ways to show off the art that is so important to our children's self esteem.

PLACEMAT TABLE ART
Slide your child's favorite art project of the week into a clear plastic document sleeve. Tape the edges shut to keep crumbs or spills from seeping in. Let your child change the artwork each Friday afternoon when he has brought home the final piece for the week. This can be a special way to bring up a topic of conversation at dinner time that is all about the artist.

GO DIGITAL
Find a clean space on your counter top, kitchen table, bed or floor. Place art on the surface and take a photo using your digital camera. These can then be uploaded to your computer where you can Photoshop them. Here the options are endless. You can create a new folder with a creative name that you and your child decide on. You can create a slideshow of the art that your child can view and show off to visitors anytime. You can burn all the photos onto a disk and make a fun label describing your artist.

MAKE A MINI ALBUM
Another portable way to showcase artwork and craft projects is to take the photos you have put on your computer (above) and have them printed at your local print shop. Let your child put the photos in the album and decorate the cover. This is a great thing to take to sleepovers and to Grandma's house to show off a little.

PROFESSIONAL QUALITY BOUND ARTBOOKS
These can be a little bit pricey, but are beautiful books that are customized with your child's original work. You choose the art you want included in the book, mail it in to the publishing company and in approximately 3 weeks you will receive your child's bound coffee table style book.

DOLLAR STORE FRAMES FOR PRICELESS ART
A very inexpensive and fun way to show off art projects is to purchase wooden frames at your local dollar store. You can change out the artwork every month.

MOM'S LOVE FOLDER
My very favorite way to save my kid's precious works is my Love Folder. It is just a cute folder with pockets in it that I bought when shopping for school supplies. It has my title on the front in big letters with the year. Whenever the kids make a picture or write a note that is just for me, it goes into my Love Folder. They always love it when something that they give me gets chosen to go into this folder because they know it is one of my favorites.

Whatever way you choose to display your kids' talents is up to you, but it is very important that you do it somehow! They put their hearts into it and it is our job to give their talent the credit it deserves without piling our counters to the ceiling!

Seed Newsvine

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