Keeping children's drawings and crafts without the house overflowing
September 24, 2026 · 3 min read · The Memory Palace Team
On the fridge hangs a drawing of a house with a purple sun. Below it, one of a dog, or a horse, that is not yet clear. In the hallway stands a box with three years of crafts, and every Friday more comes home. You do not want to throw anything away. You also do not want to live in an archive. This article helps you choose.
The short answer
Do not keep everything. Choose a few pieces a year together with your child, photograph the rest in daylight with the name and date, and write down what your child told you about it. The originals that stay, you keep flat, in acid-free folders or boxes, with tissue paper in between.
Step 1: choose together
A box with everything in it is a box nobody opens any more. So, for example at the end of each school year, choose the pieces that stay together with your child. Good candidates:
- the first drawing with a recognisable face, a first letter, a first name;
- drawings of your house, your family, a pet;
- the piece your child was proudest of;
- anything with a story you want to be able to tell later.
Children often choose differently from their parents. That is exactly right: then you keep what mattered to them.
Step 2: the rest as a photo
A photo takes up no space. Lay the drawing flat by a window, out of direct sunlight, hold your phone straight above it and turn off the flash. Prop large pieces against a wall, or stand on a chair. Crafts that are not flat you photograph from a few sides, with your child in the picture if you like. Give each photo your child's name and the date, so you can find them again in order later.
Step 3: store the originals properly
| Do | Don't |
|---|---|
| Flat, in folders or boxes made of acid-free board | Rolling up or folding |
| Acid-free tissue paper between the sheets | Drawings directly on top of each other |
| Cool, dry and dark | Attic, cellar or garage |
| Chalk, pastel, charcoal and pencil in paper or board | Chalk, pastel, charcoal and pencil in plastic sleeves |
Plastic sleeves seem handy, but with chalk, pastel, charcoal and pencil, static electricity can pull the material off the paper. For those pieces, paper or board is better.
Step 4: the story alongside
A drawing of a purple house says little in twenty years' time. "That's Grandma's house, and the sun is purple because Grandma likes purple best" says everything. Ask your child what they drew, and write it down word for word, with the date. On the back of the original in soft pencil, or with the photo.
A place to see them again
A folder of photos on a phone is rarely opened again. In The Memory Palace you can make a room for each child, with their drawings on the wall, year by year, along with what they said about them. You can invite grandparents to look too. And when your child is grown up, they can take over the room.
Questions people ask
Should I keep all of my child's drawings?
No. If you keep everything, you end up keeping a box nobody opens any more. Choose a few pieces a year with your child that say something: the first time a face appeared, the drawing of the house, the piece they were proud of. The rest you can photograph.
How do I store children's drawings so they stay nice?
Flat, in folders or boxes made of acid-free board, with a sheet of acid-free tissue paper between the drawings, and somewhere cool, dry and dark. Do not put work in chalk, pastel, charcoal or pencil into a plastic sleeve, because static electricity can pull the material off the paper.
How do I photograph children's drawings well?
Lay the drawing flat by a window, out of direct sunlight, and hold your phone straight above it, without flash. For large pieces you can stand on a chair or prop the work against a wall. Put your child's name and the date in the file name or the description.
What do I do with crafts that are not flat?
Photograph them from a few sides, perhaps with your child in the picture, and then decide whether the original gets a place. Crafts made with glue, glitter or food often do not last long; the photo and the story do.
How do I keep the story behind a drawing?
Ask your child what they drew, and write the answer down word for word, with the date. On the back of the original in soft pencil, or with the photo. What a four-year-old says about a drawing is often, twenty years later, the loveliest part.
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