kids' masterpieces, what do you parents do with them?

If your child does 3-d work set up a place like the coffee table or the kitchen table where she can proudly display it for a little while and then let her know that yes you love her work and that is why it is displayed but saddly you can't keep it all and let her throw it out to help you.

how funny, we have this same problem with our 6yr old daughter, she loves to draw and color, she would sit there for hours coloring and drawing if I let her, she loves making cards, and pictures etc (saves us a ton during holidays and birthdays :) ) unfortunately, at one point it has gotten to be too much and so we nicely sat her down and explained to her that while we love her art, and her drawings, and really appreciate the way she wants to show her appreciation and love for us, we simply do not have the room to keep all of them, and while everyone of them are very special to us, and we she is an excellent artist, we simply cannot keep all of them, and so we left it to her, we gave her the choice of either limiting what she made for us, or at the end of the month helping us choose which were the best to keep and the others to go, what helped was us piling everything she made into a pile so she could see just how much there was, she chose to do both, she now limits what she makes for us so mommy and daddy can keep the special gifts, but she also helps at the end to decide what was more meaningful for her to give to us and the rest again unfortunately get thrown away. we have however kept some of her best work pictures, and framed them, they hang up in her room. :)

I usually hang the newer ones on the fridge, with all of the other creations I put them in a big plastic box with a lid and save them all, let her see you put them in there for safe keeping and she will go along with the idea. Once in awhile go through the box when she is not home and throw a few away. I have also sent some creations to grandparents and aunts and uncles, she usually will share with other family members too. Good luck I know how many can pile up if you let them.I love that your daughter recycles too!

My daughter is only two and my son hasn't been born yet, but I already have a plan in place for this very situation!

On photo printing web sites (I like shutterfly.com) you can order these really cool "photo memory books" and fill them with pictures you have taken of your kids' masterpieces. You can even fill in the date and other info in little captions if you want. Then you can stop collecting that big mess and everything will be displayed neatly in a nice hardcover book you can keep on your coffee table!

Well now is the time when you need to tell her that she is getting old enough to clean her own her room and that she can't be junking up the house. Not that you don't like her crafts, but that you can not live like this. You have to be a parent and be strong. Tell her to go through her stuff and what she can use then she can keep some of it, but the rest has to go.

What I do is hang the child's artwork up as a collage on a wall once a month and take multiple photographs of it, good enough to pretty much see everything. I then let the child choose one of the photographs and we put it in a transparent sleeve in a huge scrapbook, one new photo a month for all that month's art. When I was raising my own children, though, I kept EVERYTHING, sent gobs to my mom, too.

Give your child a box to keep them in. Tell her if it doesn't fit into the box, she needs to pick one or two to get rid of. Let her do the choosing.

For the piles of recyclables, use small boxes to contain them. If it doesn't fit into a box, then it goes into the trash. I do this with my daycare kids and they actually enjoy going thru their mixed media stuff and organizing it as much as creating with it. This is also good for sorting and grouping colors, sizes, shapes etc. which are math skills!

I started a craft wall in the basement. I was planning on never throwing one out and putting the older ones in boxes. After awhile that seemed rather impractical and takes alot of room. I now put them up and sneak some in the garbage when they are older. Of course some I put in a box still

Ha it must be a 6year old thing to do. I also have a 14 year old. I tried to keep all the stuff forget it, you would need another house. Sneak stuff out and into the garbage can but make sure you take the garbage out right away ( i didn't and got caught by my 6 year old)

Oh I like the idea of taking a digital picture of it and keeping it that way- Great Idea! less room and they can look back at it- of course keep those very special pcs of art- like the 1st drawing or sculpture!