Preschoolers bring home a lot of projects. At some point, the amount of paperwork becomes a little overwhelming. While you are proud of everything your preschooler has brought home, finding additional space among the toys, clothes, and other things is challenging. So here are a few tips on deciding what to keep and what to throw out. You don’t need to save everything to preserve the memories.
Scribble artwork is a product of an endless supply of white paper and crayons. If you can’t tell the difference between the rabbit, the bear or the self-portrait, then it is time to get rid of some of that scribble. Keep one or two pieces as a reminder but recycle the rest.
Big projects are difficult to keep because of their sheer size. These are usually seasonal, so display them until season’s end. Then snap a few pictures of the project as a keepsake. Projects like these will last longer in photo form than in storage. Especially if these projects contain a lot of glued-on pieces like macaroni or showers of sparkles. Those pieces usually fall off after a period of time and paper can get ripped or torn.
Learning to write their full name is quite an accomplishment. But it is not necessary to keep all of their attempts. The first attempt is definitely savable. The last one should also be saved if only to admire the progress they have made during their time in preschool. Store these away but recycle the rest.
Save pieces of work that contain a special message written by their teacher. Those are important because of their upbeat messages. These are definitely savers. But those without a message aren’t as memorable and can be saved in another way.
If you want to save every single piece of artwork, craft project, or paperwork your preschooler brings home, you should consider creating a photo gallery of it. Take individual pictures of the work. Save them to the computer. Then arrange them in a photo gallery. This will save you space as well as preserving the memories. All that glitter, glued pieces, and big paint pictures are fragile. Eventually, they will lose their looks and you will wind up discarding them anyway.
Your preschooler’s projects are important. While you do want to save everything, storage space and life span are considerations. If you don’t have space for everything, take photos of the things you want to remember. Those will last at lot longer and you can view them anytime without damaging fragile artwork. Soon, they will be entering kindergarten and the amount of paperwork will dramatically increase and your storage space will become tighter with every year they are in school.