Add the "P" to Art!" By Pamela Caywood

Pam, Bill & Grace

Is you child's artwork overtaking your house? Does your child love every creation and cry at the thought of throwing any of the masterpieces away? Have you secretly tried to throw some of the art away only to have your child retrieve it from the garbage and ask you how it got there? If you have answered "YES!" to any of these questions, you will be happy to know there are ways to happily PART with ART!!

I have compiled a list of tried and true solutions from my creative parent friends and magazines. I hope you find at least one that works. We are currently combining a few of these ideas and have experienced great results! Although these ideas are geared around PARTING with ART, don't forget that it is important to save some of the true "masterpieces". Your child will appreciate having a few special ones saved for years to come.

VIDEO TAPING METHOD:
After you have accumulated a number of creations, plan to video your child with the art. Set the pieces up around a room and video your child as he walks from piece to piece describing how he made it, why he likes it, etc. After you have completed the video tape then ask your child to pick a few favorites to hang in their room. The remaining art is thrown away. When you video the next group of art then you will throw-out the displayed pieces and put up the new "favorites." If you don't want to video tape, you can do the same thing with a camera.

ART PLACEMATS:
Laminate the art and make placemats. You should rotate in new artwork and throw away the "old" placemats or give them to family members as a gift!

ART WRAP:
Make gift wrap out of the larger pieces of art. Your child will love helping you to wrap up their friend's birthday gift in her special creation. Plus, you will save on wrapping paper that gets thrown away anyway.

ART GIFTS:
Grandparents, friends and relatives are wonderful recipients of your child's artwork as a gift.

ART CALENDARS:
Either buy a blank calendar or make one and attach your child's art to the top section. You can make calendars as presents or just make one for you to hang in a prominent spot. You can add a new piece of artwork to your own calendar each month.

FRAMED ART:
Buy or make a frame. A piece of poster board works great. If you add a few flat magnets (that can be purchased at an arts and crafts store) to the back, you can put the frame on the refrigerator. Each month your child can remove the "old favorite" and display his "new favorite." If you have more than one child you can make multiple frames. Hopefully you don't have 7 children or you may have to buy a couple refrigerators to accommodate all of the framed art.(ha!)

BULLETIN BOARD ART:
Put a large bulletin board in your child room to display their art. Each month take down the art and replace with the newest creations. Your child will love to help putting up the art by himself. I have run ribbons in a lattice work pattern on a 4 foot by 6 foot piece of bulletin board. Not only does the ribbon dress up the board but you can slide the artwork into the ribbon. No tacks, no holes...safe and easy to use.

I hope that these suggestions were helpful. Please e-mail me your creative "Part with Art" ideas so I can add them to the list. Now, you can let your Picasso go wild and know that the art will not overtake every nook and cranny in your home. Dust bunnies are bad enough......

Pamela Caywood is the proud mother of 3 year old daughter and a 4 month old baby boy.