What to Do With Kids' Artwork and Finished Coloring Pages: Keep, Display, Let Go

Why does it matter what happens to the art?

Because a child notices. Zero to Three, a US nonprofit focused on babies and toddlers, lists displaying a child's work among its tips and says it shows children that their efforts are valued (Zero to Three).

NAEYC, the US early childhood association, says the same about early writing and scribbles. Putting a piece up tells your child that the work is important and worth sharing, and the child will want to do more (NAEYC).

Neither source says you must keep everything. A preschooler can produce several pages a day. Valuing the work and keeping every sheet are two different things.

How do you decide what to keep?

No official body sets a rule, so this part is our practical suggestion. A simple three-way sort works for most families.

Pile	What goes in	What happens to it
Display	This week's favorites	Goes on the wall or fridge for a while
Keep	A few pieces per season that show something new	Dated, named and stored in a box
Photograph and let go	Everything else	One photo, then recycled or reused

A few ways to choose the "keep" pile:

• Firsts. The first circle, the first person, the first time they wrote their name.
• The ones with a story. Zero to Three suggests noticing the process, not just the product. Keep the piece your child talked about most, and write what they said on the back.
• One per month. A single dated page per month shows more change over a year than fifty pages from one week.
• Let your child pick. Ask Emma which two she wants to save, and let her choice stand.

Finished coloring pages can go through the same sort. A page your child colored with great care at 3 is as much a record of their hand as a free drawing.

How do you display kids' art at home?

Pick one or two fixed spots and rotate what hangs there. NAEYC suggests the refrigerator, a bedroom door or a cork board, or taping a piece to a bathroom mirror or tile. The Raising Children Network, an Australian parenting website, also suggests the fridge or a wall, to help children feel proud of their effort and confident to keep trying (Raising Children Network).

Practical ways to set it up:

• A string and clothespins along a hallway. Swapping a page takes seconds.
• One frame that opens from the front, so the newest piece replaces the last.
• A cork board or magnet strip at the child's eye level.
• A "this week" spot. When a new piece goes up, the old one moves to the sort above.

One caution from the US National Archives: all light can fade and darken paper. Its page on displaying family papers shows two children's drawings where purple marker faded everywhere except the part that had been covered. Its advice is to display a copy and keep the original in a box. A color scan or color photocopy makes a good display copy (National Archives).

For most art that is too much effort, and fading does not matter. For the handful you truly want to keep, it is worth doing. If you do hang an original, the Archives suggests keeping it out of daylight and using glass or acrylic that filters ultraviolet light.

How do you store artwork for years?

Flat, cool, dry and away from light. That is the short version of the advice from two US institutions that look after paper for a living.

The US National Archives advises (National Archives):

• Keep papers out of damp basements, garages and hot attics.
• Stay below 75°F (about 24°C) and below 65% relative humidity.
• Use a box big enough for sheets to lie flat or stand upright without folding or bending, and do not overstuff it.
• Choose acid-free or lignin-free folders and boxes.
• Store boxes on a shelf, away from pipes, windows and anything that leaks.
• Avoid rubber bands, ordinary tape and glue. Use stainless steel clips if you need a fastener.

The Library of Congress adds a few handling habits: clean hands, pencil instead of ink for notes, and no paper clips, rubber bands, self-adhesive tape or glue on the paper (Library of Congress).

In family terms:

1. Write the child's name and the date on the back, in pencil.
2. Keep one flat box or large folder per child.
3. Large paintings can be rolled. The Archives suggests rolling around a sturdy tube, not folding.
4. Once a year, go through the box together and thin it out.

Neither source mentions laminating children's art, so we make no claim about it.

How do you save artwork digitally?

Scan it or photograph it. NAEYC suggests scanning a child's work and sending it to the grandparents. The Raising Children Network suggests taking photos of things that cannot be kept at all, such as letters drawn in sand or mud, or shapes made from play dough.

A few practical tips:

• Use daylight from a window, with no flash, and lay the page flat.
• Shoot straight down and fill the frame. Many phones have a document-scan mode in their camera or notes app that straightens the page for you.
• Include the date. A sticky note in the corner of the photo works.
• Make one album per child and add to it as you sort.
• Back it up the same way you back up family photos.

At the end of the year, 30 or 40 photos can become a printed photo book. That is one slim book in place of a large box.

Art made on a screen is already digital. In the Gullu app, each child profile has its own My Gallery, and finished pages can be saved to the device's Photos. A parent can switch that saving off. On iPhone, iPad and Mac, drawings stay on the device and in the family's private iCloud.

What can you make from finished coloring pages?

Things that get used, given away or mailed.

• Greeting cards. NAEYC suggests making cards for special occasions and letting children "sign" their names. Fold a colored page in half, or cut out the main picture and glue it to card stock.
• Mail for grandparents. A page in an envelope is a real letter to a child.
• Wrapping paper for small gifts.
• Bookmarks. Cut a strip from the most colorful part.
• Place cards and table decorations for a family meal. See Thanksgiving kids' table activities.
• A homemade book. Staple ten pages together, and write down the story your child tells about each one.
• Seasonal decorations. Cut out colored shapes for a window or a paper chain. See Christmas coloring activities.

If you want fresh pages for a project, the free coloring pages on this site print at home, and how to print coloring pages covers paper and settings.

How do teachers send art home without clutter?

This section is practical advice from us, not an official classroom policy. The same sort-and-rotate idea works at school.

• Send it in batches. A folder every two weeks is easier for families than a loose page every day.
• Keep one portfolio piece a month per child, dated, and hand the set over at the end of the year.
• Use a class display that rotates, so every child sees their work on the wall at some point.
• Photograph group work and large pieces. One photo can go to every family. Follow your school's rules on photos and sharing.
• Put a note on it. One line about what the child was practicing tells parents why a page is worth a second look.

For classroom ideas that produce the art in the first place, see coloring activities for the preschool classroom.

FAQ

Is it OK to throw away my child's artwork?

Yes. No source we read says to keep everything. Display it for a while first, photograph the ones you like, and recycle the rest. Letting your child help choose what stays keeps it from feeling like a loss.

How much kids' artwork should I keep?

There is no official number. One piece a month, plus the "firsts," gives roughly 15 to 20 sheets a year, which fits in one flat box per child for many years.

How do I keep marker and crayon drawings from fading?

Keep the original away from light. The US National Archives says all light can cause fading and recommends displaying a copy and storing the original in a box.

Where should I not store kids' artwork?

The US National Archives advises against damp basements, garages and hot attics. A shelf in a closet inside the home is a better place.

What do I do with coloring books that are only half finished?

Keep them in the art box. A half-used book is handy for travel or waiting rooms. See restaurant activities for kids.

Sources

• Zero to Three, "Learning to Write and Draw": https://www.zerotothree.org/resource/learning-to-write-and-draw/
• NAEYC, "Support Writing at Home": https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/support-writing-home
• Raising Children Network (Australia), "Handwriting in children: development, tips and support": https://raisingchildren.net.au/preschoolers/play-learning/learning-ideas/handwriting
• U.S. National Archives, "Displaying Family Papers and Photographs": https://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives/displaying
• U.S. National Archives, "Storing Family Papers and Photographs": https://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives/storing
• Library of Congress, "Care, Handling and Storage of Works on Paper": https://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/paper.html