Try these easy ways to tackle the stacks! Here are our best tips for kids artwork storage that keep the process quick and manageable. Photo by Andrea Martelle
Updated April 2022
Anyone else swimming in a pile of kids art?
Yep, me too. My dining room table is currently filled with a stack of kids artwork waiting to be sorted and stored.
The challenge of inviting art into your home is that your kids will likely begin to create A LOT of art. Today we’re going to cover what to do with it and how we can take back our dining room tables.
The first step is to organize your kids artwork.
This task is most manageable if it’s happening on an ongoing basis. (See 3 BEST Tips to Maintain a Kids Art Space). But we recommend that you do a big sort through your kids’ art at least once a year.
The end of each calendar year might be a good time to sort through and decide what art to keep and move on to the next phase with. These 4 steps will guide you through how to tackle the stacks of kids art.
Now that you narrowed down what artwork you’d like to keep, it’s time to move on to how to store it. Here are 6 easy solutions to quickly find a new home for all that art!
Kids Artwork Storage
1. Art Portfolios
There are so many choices when it comes to art portfolios, but our team especially likes that this option is see through, making it easier to recall what’s inside. Other options, like this wallet portfolio will also provide a slim storage option.
2. Plastic bins with lids
These plastic bins make an easy storage option that will slip under your bed or in a closet and not take up a lot of space. You might have one box per child and label it by year or include a few years in one, depending on how much artwork you choose to keep.
3. Archival art boxes
These art boxes are acid free which make them safe for long term storage of your kids paper art.
4. Filing cabinet or accordian folder
If you want to get super organized, you could designate this by child, month and year like this sturdy, but small storage solution. And right now, you can get 10% off any purchase over $50 from My Organized Life Box using the code ARTFUL10!
5. Kids Artwork Storage in a Drawer
Do you have a credenza, hutch or similar piece of furniture that could become a dedicated art storage drawer? This option comes with the understanding that space is limited and the art you choose to keep will continually be reevaluated over time.
6. Digital Storage + Art Book
There are lots of great options for creating kids art books if you’re not tied to keeping the real life version.
Our social media coordinator, Anna, creates books of her kids’ artwork each year. She tucks favorite projects into an art portfolio during the school year, then empties out the folders to take photos in one sweep each spring.
Those photos go into a digital album, and then it’s easy to print books from any service you like. (Anna uses Google Photo). The whole process only takes about 30 minutes, and she ends up with a couple of slim volumes that are easy to store on a bookshelf and the kids enjoy looking at year after year.
One you have a photo book, there’s no need to keep stacks of paper around unless it’s something you or your child are very attached to. Reducing paper can really help reduce the stress surrounding art in your home, and help you feel prepared to make more!
If you’d like to offload the whole process, companies like Plum Print or ArtKive are alternative art book options. You ship off your artwork in a box and they create a digital book for you.
More Kids Artwork Storage & Kids Art Display Ideas
- 4 Steps to Organize Kids Artwork & Tackle the Stacks
- 6 Easy Ways to Display Kids Art
- 13 Ways to Reuse Children’s Art
- Storing Children’s Art
- 21 Ways to Display Kids Artwork
- 3 BEST Tips to Maintain a Kids’ Art Space
- 6 Unexpected Designer-Approved Ways to Save and Display Kids’ Art
- Our Favorite Way to Frame Kids’ Artwork
Pin It For Later
