Can you believe school is out and summer is here? I really can’t believe it is June!! My oldest daughter is finishing up Pre-K and the amount of artwork she has been bringing home has really ramped up these last few months. Since many of you are emptying those backpacks & going through stacks of paper, I wanted to share a few tips for what to do with all that artwork (or school papers/mementos).

When your kid is in college, they won’t want to look at 100 pieces of artwork you kept from each year of school. However, they might enjoy a FUN & SMALL curated selection of art/papers/teacher’s notes that really encapsulated the skills they achieved & memories made that year.

Chatbooks is a really affordable and easy way to create a curated artwork album, minimizing the amount of paper (aka “originals”) you actually keep to show your kid someday. Here are some quick & simple steps to create an artwork album for your kiddos using Chatbooks.

1.) Store it

Get a clear plastic bin, label it “artwork” and store artwork in it as it comes in throughout the school year. In the bottom corner of the artwork I will write a little note to remember what it is supposed to be a picture of per my daughter so I can add to the captions in Chatbook later.

2.) Decide your “keep” criteria

Your kid likely brings in a ton of artwork everyday. I would recommend keeping artwork for the album that reflects a new skill (i.e. the first time they drew a stick figure), a new story/theme, a special event or memory at school, etc. Otherwise slip those other artwork pieces into the recycling bin as they come in if your kid will let you... If not, have a discussion with your kid on a mutually agreeable timeframe for displaying artwork as well as the quantity of artwork that can be displayed based on the space you have.

3.) Photograph it!

Get a white posterboard, find a bright space in your house, and get your cell phone camera ready- that’s all you need! Take pictures of each piece of artwork on the posterboard.

4.) Create your Chatbooks Album

You can import the photos you just took of the artwork from your phone to your computer and then upload to Chatbook’s website. Or download their app and you can upload photos from your phone directly to it. I found their website & app to both be super user friendly compared to other photo album website I have used in the past. I also think they have better customer service & shipping times than other websites I’ve used in the past.

I made a Softcover 6x6 book for my daughter’s Pre-school Artwork and it was under $20 with shipping. I’m working on one now for all her Pre-K artwork. What is nice about Chatbooks is you can work on your album throughout the school year so it doesn’t become a big project at the end- upload photos, save your album as a draft, and when the school year is done you can hit order!

In addition to artwork, you could add photos to the book or notes from the teachers. Our daycare has an app where they post photos of each kid doing activities. I downloaded these photos and then added them to the album as well so she can look back and also remember friends & fun things that happened at school.

5.) Display for your Kid to Enjoy!

My daughter is excited to look through her Pre-School artwork. I had it on display in our family room but now it is up in her room so her sister can’t touch it (haha). Later on, I will put the slim album in her memory box along with a few key “original” pieces of artwork that I saved. Now I can say goodbye to that huge stack of papers and have an empty bin ready to go when the next school year starts!

If you are in St. Louis and need any help putting together an album for your kiddos let me know! Hope you have a great summer!!