Creative Uses for Your Child's Artwork and Homework Papers

If you have a preschool or school-aged child, you probably see lots of papers coming home each week. Your child works hard at coloring, painting and doing school work, and then brings the papers home to show you, proud of his or her accomplishments. You admire them, but soon you realize that, though you don't want to throw them away, you'll need to build an addition onto your home in order to keep them all. So, what can you do with them when you run out of space on the refrigerator, but can't bear to throw them in the trash? Here are a few suggestions.

Create a journal

Get a binder, and fill it with page protectors. Choose one paper per week, month or semester to save as an example of your child's work. It can be a simple drawing, painting or a spelling test. Anything you choose. Put the date on it and place it in a page protector in the binder. Decorate the front of the binder with one of your favorite pieces.

You can create different sections for different subjects, for art work, or separate them by date. When you look through the binder down the road, you will be able to see your child's progression of skills over the years.

Scrap booking

Use your child's artwork or homework papers as embellishments. Cut letters out of a painting for the words on the page. They will also work as a matte for pictures. Cut the paper about one inch larger than the photo and center the photo on top of it.

Use it for background on top of plain white paper, instead of buying expensive scrapbook paper. Select papers that go with the theme for your page, such as a painting in blues and greens for a page about your family's day at the beach, or a math homework paper for a backdrop for your child's first grade graduation.

Crafts

Artwork and homework papers are ideal for making crafts for use around the home or to give as gifts. Cut one to fit an aluminum can, with smooth- cut edges, then glue it on to use for a pen holder. Cover both sides of a few pieces with clear Contact paper for a one-of-a-kind set of place mats. Use one as a matte for a framed picture. Homework papers go perfectly with the first-day-of-school picture, or the kindergarten graduation picture.

Make personalized calendars. Print out calendars for every month, then put them together with your child's artwork so you can hang it up at work or give to grandparents to admire all year.

Greeting cards

Use your child's artwork do decorate the front of a homemade greeting card for any occasion. Artwork is also ideal for making birthday party invitations and thank you notes. It adds a personal touch that cannot be matched by store bought cards.

Larger art papers can be used for wrapping paper, or cut out pieces from various papers and glue them to a larger piece for a truly custom gift wrap. Heavier papers can be made into gift bags

Book covers

Large pieces of artwork, or a couple of similar pieces taped together, can be used as protective book covers for school books or your favorite books you have at home.

There are endless possibilities for using your child's artwork and homework papers. Using them in these and other ways will make your child feel special. It will also allow you to save more of it in useful and creative ways rather than tucking it all in a box and forgetting about it. Make it more fun and meaningful by asking your child to help you come up with ideas and to do the projects with you.