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Ice Box Art
It isn’t often that I get Christmas gifts that reduce clutter, but this year my mom gave my family a gift that will help keep our kids’ artwork under control, and since I’d read some questions in the forums on the topic, I wanted to share the idea with you.
The first part of the gift is a simple acrylic sign holder with magnetic tape on the back. There are many ways that you can decorate this, or if your kids are a little older, have them decorate it themselves. Maybe create a decorative border, or include the child’s name. This gives them their own special place on the fridge, which is especially important if you have more than one child, and also helps you teach PEEP (a Place for Everything, Everything in its Place).
The other part of the gift is an album to be used when artwork comes off of the fridge. The album can include pages that hold the actual artwork, or just photographs of the artwork if your kids are very productive and you need to fit more in the album.
My son isn’t even one year old yet, but I can’t wait to start displaying his artwork on the fridge with this uncluttered and fun system!
10 comments posted
Posted by Kate - 01/18/2010
What an amazing thing, to have such a clever mother who picks the perfect gift for your personality, that takes in not one, but two (three?) of your passions – your child, and your delight in organizing (and your chosen job of making the entire world more organized!)
Posted by Martha - 01/18/2010
But do we really need a holder to put kids’ drawings on the fridge? Isn’t this another Thing disguised as an unclutterer?
Posted by Anita - 01/18/2010
For my part, I’m curious where the tradition of putting kids’ art — or anything at all, actually — on the fridge came from. I think it’s more of a North American thing, because growing up in Europe I don’t remember seeing any fridges with stuff on them.
I’m not against having things stuck to the fridge, mind you. I have a magnet-backed notepad for my grocery lists, a magnetic card for my vet, and a few cute notes from my boyfriend up there myself. Just wondering who first had the idea of sticking things to the fridge, how it caught on, and how the fridge became THE place for kids’ art. I haven’t found any answer in a quick Google search, but if anyone can humour my curiosity, I’d be grateful.
Posted by Lose That Girl - 01/18/2010
If you have a stainless steel fridge where magnets won’t adhere, the problem of fridge clutter is solved for you automatically.
I miss having photos and such on the fridge. It looks very neat but I liked the personal touch I had before.
Posted by steve crane - 01/18/2010
In response to Anita-yes it’s common to have stuff on our fridges in England but you’re probably correct in saying it originated in North America and we ‘stole’ the idea a long time ago.
Posted by Amy - 01/19/2010
I think it is clever, but it is a unitasker. Why use a plastic holder (that needed to be manufactured and will eventually end up in a landfill) to do what a magnet or tape can do? It limits you to one peice of art which is tough when you have an artist that cranks them out and does not account for much of children’s art, which is of the 3-D variety.
Posted by Kirsten - 01/19/2010
A few years ago I was reading a magazine and came across a clever idea for displaying children’s art work without having them all around. We purchased a digital photo frame and then take pictures of the artwork and display them in the frame so it is constantly scrolling through pictures. My family gets to appreciate it and I don’t have holes in the walls or things falling off the fridge.
Posted by Meredith - 01/19/2010
I like the thoughtfulness, but I’m with Amy on this one.
Posted by WilliamB - 01/22/2010
This is my solution for kids’ art.
Step One: Temporary Storage.
Get a sturdy hanging file box, the plastic kind with a hinged lid. Label hanging folders labeled by kid’s name and age – one folder per kid per year. Put anything you think you might want to keep in that folder. It’s that easy.
Step Two: Permanent Decisions
When the box is full, go through the oldest folders and decide what to keep forever. You’ll have the advantage of several year’s distance from the art, and if you don’t remember who “Nathan” is, then you can probably ditch the card from him as well.
This is all there is to it! It’s very easy – whenever you get art, drop it in the folder. No thinking, no wondering where to put it, no hard work to find the right space, no elaborate organizational structure to rememeber. It doesn’t take up much room. It’s cheap. It’s flexible. The plastic box and hanging folders make it durable and undamaging to the art but you can use a cardboard box and regular folders if you want. It’s not quite perfect: there will always be something too big to fit but this solution covers 90% of stuff for years to come.
Here’s a link to the sort of box I have in mind:
http://www.officedepot.com/a/p.....:13ddq0uth
Posted by Dana - 04/16/2010
Kids = Stuff. Once they grow out of the baby “stuff” they start to generate their own. The Artwork that children generate is precious and most parents can’t toss it. My husband and I loved our children’s artwork but are very tidy and organized people. When we realized that there was no solution for preserving the art, we launched ARTIMUSART.COM, a web based company that takes all the artwork, book reports, projects and everything colorful that kids create and transform it all into one big beautiful custom made, museum quality book and web gallery. These books are professional grade art reproductions where the artwork is displayed on each page. The web gallery allows you to share your children’s artwork via email. Send one art piece as an e-greeting or send the entire gallery of art to friends and family. So NOW, once it’s preserved, you can in fact toss the originals. Organized and preserved, forever.
Visit ARTIMUSART.COM
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