Deck the walls with children’s drawings…
|28.Feb.2008fa la la la la la, la la, la, laaaaaaaaa!
It doesn’t have to be Christmas to sing that song – just, y’know, switch out the words.
Yesterday, I talked about a healthy freedom of expression our kids can experience just by gifting them with art supplies. Paper, pencils, markers, crayons, scissors, glue and a toss-up of other crafting items crawl from lines and blobs to detailed drawings. One day you’re saying “Ooooh, I love this! Can you tell me about it?” and the next day you’re staring at their creation and marveling over how they’ve advanced so quickly.
When we homeschooled, one of my favorite things to do was Narrations following our History, Language Arts or Independent Readings. I created a printable page with a blank top for drawing and a few lines for their narration. The kids were allowed to draw whatever came to mind, related to the literature, while I was reading.
After I finished reading, they’d write 3 sentences about what I just read. Meredith wasn’t writing then, so she’d dictate and I’d write her words. Even more interesting than their sentences was how they translated the reading into drawings.
Kenny always joined us – though he was just a baby then. He “scribbled” alongside his sisters as soon as he could fist a crayon.
I believe it is a rare child that doesn’t want to color, draw, glue or cut paper. I teach 1st-3rd grade Sunday School. Each week the girls and boys come in, one by one, sit down to their coloring pages, and get after it. Sometimes the boys try to play it cool and act like they don’t want to color, but even when they don’t color the page I give, they’ll flip it over and draw what they want on the back. Heh heh…because THAT isn’t coloring, of course, that is something different altogether in their minds.
In 2000, I decided that my kids’ artwork was just as good as one of my favorite artists, Paul Klee, who often used a sort of grid of geometric shapes, colors and lines in his paintings. I began putting aside and framing some of my favorites…artwork that marked a point in their lives.
At this point Emelie was very shape-oriented in her drawings, always had to write her name (all uppercase, of course), and she preferred (always has) map pencils and Crayons to markers.
This map pencil drawing above hangs by our back door in the kitchen. It makes me smile every time I see it.
She’s still drawing – and she certainly has advanced over the years.
These were painted by Meredith last year. They are still waiting for frames, but hang by push pins in our breakfast room.
Both Meredith and Emelie have created some really fun art through the years and both have won awards in local art shows.
Kenny has a slightly different style to his work – it is more structured and he likes to pair things up evenly on the right and left. Unlike how the girls were for a while, he is less interested in tracing and coloring books, but prefers a blank sheet of paper.
We even have artwork from when Jeff was a child hanging in Kenny’s room – one of the most precious gifts given me from my mother-n-law.
This helicopter hangs over Kenny’s bed. It was done by a 7 year old Jeff with tempera paints on manilla paper.
This was done when Jeff was 4 years old. It was colored first with waxy crayons (the fish and seaweed) and then painted over in sweeps of blue.
Though I do have pictures hanging on my walls that weren’t created by family members, they are growing fewer and farther between. My home is my family’s haven – an expression of those who live here. I can’t imagine a better way to make it so.
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23 Comments
Tami
I have several pictures my boys have painted and drawn waiting for frames. I love your children’s art work. It looks beautiful on your walls. Can;t wait to hang mine. You’ve inspired me to hurry.
Shawna
How beautiful! I grew up in a house where there was no “kid-art” on the fridge and no pictures of my brother and I throughout our childhood. Growing up, I always thought that was weird when I compared our house to those of my friends. As an adult, it has made me determined to make our house a home. And someday when we’re blessed with children, I am going to wallpaper our walls with handprint turkeys and whatever else he/she/they can come up with. I’m glad you appreciate your children’s creativity (and your husband’s from his childhood!) and want to showcase it in your home.
BTW, does Meredith’s bull have udders, or is she so far advanced that she knows what makes a bull a bull?
bethany actually
Oh my goodness, those were JEFF’s handiwork? I just assumed they were Kenny’s! How cool that you have his childhood artwork. We do have a melamine plate that Troy drew on when he was about 6 years old, and Annalie loves to use it.
I know I said this before, but I just love Mer’s cow and cat in your breakfast room! All your kids are so stinkin’ talented. I think your plan of keeping their art supplies well-stocked is working.
bethany actually
Also, I don’t think I’ve ever heard them called “map pencils” before…I grew up calling them “colored pencils”. Is that a Texas thing, I wonder?
seven
That’s such a great idea. Your kids are great little artists.
Not the Mama
I love it! I love seeing children’s art framed and treated as real art, not just shoved aside. We have no children yet, but most (all?) of the art hanging in our house is my own handiwork – everything from a large (four canvas) geometric painting above the couch to a hanging curtain of coordinating photo frames connected by hardware and filled with family photos. When we do have children, we’ll definitely be framing and displaying their work.
One of my very favorite parts of nannying is arts and crafts. I really miss working with older children for just that reason. We used to make some of the greatest projects, and it was always a hit. I would often incorporate art projects into playdates, and the kids would go home SO excited and proud of their work. It was such a blast. I can’t wait until Henry is old enough to really appreciate art time. At 15-months, we have daily scribble time, but it doesn’t last long due to his microscopic attention span!
familymclean
OOOO beautiful art!
I once wanted to buy art for our home, my hubs put his foot down and said that with an artist in the home there was no way!
Our walls too are covered with our love projects.
Mrs. Wilson
I love that last line. Well put.
It took me a while to figure out what you meant by “map pencils”. Here in Canada we call them pencil crayons. Why? I’m not sure. Canadians are weird, what with all the extra “u”s we use.
Andrea
I have a ton of pictures from my kids, and even soem of my own…
But I can see a great quilt peeking out from the side of the breakfast room pic. :D
TheAngelForever
Love the art work by the kids! We have so much of my 4 year old creations all over the house. We finally had to get a container to store things in. I will go through those at the end of the school year and weed since we do not need to keep everything. Please remind me of that for my poor refrigerator.
Mr. OMSH – love the retro art :)
jen
Those are so cool. I love that cow! and the fish! I remember doing the same thing, wax and water.
I have one drawing my daughter did when she was younger… our little stick family complete with stick dog with FUR. It makes me laugh every time I see it and I keep wanting to frame it and hang it on the wall. Thanks for letting me know this is Ok :)
kerflop
I’ve always been so inspired by your taking the time to frame your children’s artwork. I have piles that make me smile all saved up, now just to find the time to frame them and give them the attention they deserve.
Liz C.
Before I gave into my Slacker Mom leanings and quit sending Christmas cards, we used our children’s art as the card… the first one was when our oldest was about 2.5 years old.
She’d draw or paint full scale, I’d scan and reduce, and then print the images four to a sheet, and glue ‘em onto the card front. MUCH more fun and meaning than a purchased card.
Now she’s nearing 12, and just yesterday, used a good portion of her saved-up money to enroll herself in a painting class series at the local art museum. It’s so very cool to see this kid grow into her passions!
Lisa C
Love it! Love it! Love it! It’s so incredibly cool that you have your kids (& husbands) artwork framed on the wall! I plan on stealing that idea & will soon be displaying my 4 year olds artwork. Right now, I’m just alternating her artwork on the fridge. :)
You have such sweet posts!
Mr. OMSH
TheAngelForever–my art is not retro…It’s VINTAGE! And it can be bought (just an FYI/public service announcement).
Meredith’s cow is just that…a cow. She made me a copy of that one for my office, and specifically informed me, “Tell those men, those [pointing between the legs] are where the milk comes from.”
I’m working on filling half a wall in my office of the kids’ drawings. So far, Kenny is beating them all!
Mandy
Your kids artwork is amazing. I too have three little budding artists. As a former artist (before I had to hit the corporate world to,you know, pay the bills) I have tons and tons of art supplies at home. My eight year old has created some of the most incredible things I now have hanging on my walls. Our newest venture is collages made from magazines.
A year or so ago after I had many pictures sitting around waiting to be framed, I switched to canvas. You can usually buy three or four in a pack at the craft store and then they dont need framed. You just stick a nail in the wall and throw it up there.
My parents still have pencil drawings ans paintings I created in art school hanging on their walls at home. Even as an adult, it makes me very proud that they display my work for all to see.
jamie
How much do I love that homeschool idea?? Mind if I steal it?
I love love love the kids artwork. We have yet to frame any, but I put it up on the cupboards, we have art strings where we hang it from… it gives them such a sense of pride too, to see that their efforts are as well thought of as something you can buy in a store.
OMSH
It is so enjoyable to hear how everyone else does things. Not only that, but it gives me great ideas.
For those asking about map pencils – um??? I don’t know. I wouldn’t think that was a Texan thing. All I know is on my school supply list every year it said “Map Pencils” – which is basically colored pencils, but yea…I’ve always called them that.
Ree suggested that I have them color scanned for safe-keeping too. I like that idea and am gonna check out rates for that.
bethany – Yep, Jeff’s work. :)
KYouell
Very cool ideas. (Subscribing to comments in case more ideas come in.)
I remember doing my first wax drawing that we then brushed over with black water paint. I can see it clearly in my mind 35-some years later. Thanks for bringing it back to me.
Time for us to get drawing!
Rebecca
I’ve been meaning to comment on this post since you did it. I LOVE your kids’ art. It is so cool that you frame and display it. :)