5 Clever Ways to Display Kids' Crafts

Trading Cards

Supplies: Computer scanner or color copier, cardstock, your child’s drawings

This idea comes from Allyson Bright Meyer, a scrapbooking expert and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Scrapbook Projects. She suggests using a scanner or color copier to make reproductions of your child’s most recent drawings. Size and print each project to 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches, the same size as trading cards. Print the copies on heavy cardstock. Cut the cards. “For extra durability, you can laminate the cards,” Meyer adds.

Optional: Ask other parents to make trading cards of their children’s drawings. Then, allow your child to trade her picture cards with friends.

Photo Scrapbooks

Supplies: Heavy-bound, three-ring binder and page covers or photo scrapbook, digital camera, prints of your child’s recent creations

Not every one of your child’s creations are sized at 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches. Maybe she loves to build stacks of Legos or craft noodle necklaces. Meyer points out, “3-D art can be the hardest to preserve, since it doesn’t easily scan, copy, or fit into an album.” Instead, take pictures of your child’s works and print them out. Let your child help you place the pictures in the scrapbook or album. You might want to date the picture so you know exactly when your child first designed his first Play-doh sculpture.

Optional: If your child is a prolific artist, take pictures of groups of her drawings to include in the scrapbook. Purchase a small picture album so your child can carry it around. Best part? You can get rid of boxes of drawings without tears.

Do-It-Yourself Scrapbooks

Supplies: Heavy-bound, three-ring binder and page covers or photo scrapbook, drawings from your child

Make an inexpensive scrapbook with a three-ring binder and page protectors. Place your child’s drawings in the interchangeable page covers. (This has become a hit at our house. I use it as a quiet book for my child in doctor’s offices and at church. I leave extra blank pages so she can add a new drawing each time she goes through the book. She loves to look through her past creations.)

Optional: Use the same process to create books for grandparents or other family members and give them as gifts.