When I had my sons in daycare it seemed I had enough artwork to wallpaper my house at least twice. It was tempting at times to throw these works of art into the garbage. Seeing how much time, love and energy my children put into them made that option unacceptable. Out of desperation and love, I found some creative ways to recycle the overflow of artwork.
- Collect drawings on a regular basis (every 3-6 months). Write down the name and the age of the child and a few words they use to describe each one. Paste them in a scrapbook. You'll be able to see the evolution in the drawings and details. You can also include pictures of your little artist(s) artwork.
- Laminate drawings you especially like. These make great gifts ideas for relatives.
- Use artwork as wrapping paper. Birthday, Christmas, any holiday can use beautifully hand-made wrapping paper.
- Cut up drawing into strips and plastify them with contact paper to make bookmarks.
- Use the whole drawing, plastify both sides with contact paper and use as placemats.
- Use the other side as stationary when you write to relatives and friends. (Birthday party invitations too). Or cut up some pictures and paste them on to new hand made cards.
- Use art to cover and protect hard cover and school books.
- Periodically photograph some of the artwork, especially bigger or three-dimensional pieces that you don't have room to keep. The photos can go in their scrapbook.
- Purchase inexpensive picture frames and stack artwork in them to create a revolving show.
译文:
创造性的再次利用孩子的艺术作品
当我在家照顾我儿子时他的绘画作品差不多够我至少装饰两次墙壁的。每天把那些绘画作品扔进垃圾箱几乎成为一种诱惑，还要看孩子们投入这项不北大人接受的工作的时间的多少、喜爱的程度及精力如何。出于无奈和对孩子们的爱我发现了一些重新再利用这些多余的绘画作品的富有创造性的方法。
。基本上定期（三到六个月）收集一次画，写上孩子的名字、年龄以及孩子惯用的表达事物的一些词句，并把它们粘在剪贴薄上。你就可以看到在一些画上或是细微的进步变化。还可以放入你的小画家的作品照片。
。把你特别喜欢的画作成卡片类作品，是送给亲戚们的最棒的礼物。
。用作包装纸。象生日、圣诞节或任何可能用到漂亮的手工包装纸的时候。
。把画剪成条状然后把连在一起的两张粘合压缩成书签。
。把整张画的两边粘在一起制成垫东西用的垫子。
。用画的另一面给亲友写些东西（也可用作邀请亲朋参加聚会的邀请函）。或是把画剪开并粘在一起用另一面制成卡片。
。把画当作盖子用或用来保护覆盖物，还可以用来包书皮。
。把一些作品定期拍照，尤其是那些较大的或是三维的作品而又没有地方保存它们。这些照片可以做成书签。
。买一些便宜的画架，把画放在上面做成旋转的展示架。