School Artwork and Papers

An old-school Memory Book is an easy-to-make project you can do with your child and it's simpler than scrap-booking. You can add a few things yourself when they get older and maybe lose interest and surprise them with this keepsake when they graduate or have a child of their own.

Don't be surprised if they keep it for years... at your house.

• 2 or 3-inch 3-ring binder
• plastic sheet protectors
• 3-ring photo book refills (optional)

If your child is small, save a page of their first printing and cursive writing efforts, journal entries about family, pets or special trips, and a few  drawing samples. You don't need to save all twenty dinosaur or rainbow pictures, choose the "keeper."

The "my family" drawings are fun to look at later, and interesting to see how they change as your child develops.

As your child gets older, they might not think their creative writing efforts are special, but you might choose to save a few, too.

Fill the 3-ring binder with heavy-weight sheet protectors. Better-quality 3-holed plastic sheet protectors are archival safe, acid free, top-loading and print won't stick to them.

Sit down together and decide which items are "keepers" and which items can be recycled.

Slip anything you want to save that will fit inside the sheet protectors--play day ribbons, print photos, reports, team memorabilia, special cards or notes from best friends and relatives.

Take photos of your child holding artwork that's too large for the sheet protectors and print pictures or save on a memory card you can slip into the book.

Obviously you can take photos of everything and save your memories digitally, instead.