Tot art 2: you tossed it too!
Here and at my personal blog, I received plenty responses to the tot art post. Like me, many of you dispose of preschool prize-offerings—the starfish covered in cornmeal and glitter, the muddy paint swirls on posterboard, the playdoh-and-toothpick hedgehog. Many of us feign joy when the teacher hands us the weekly art stack. But we all know that sequin-decorated paper-plate fish will make only a brief stop in the living room or on the fridge before going to its final resting place—the trash.
Like me, many of you feel a tad guilty, and shuffle the paintings from surface to surface before tossing them. Others don't seem to fret at all and dispose of the sketches in one move. I'm guessing the non-fretters are seasoned parents, who've already been through at least one cycle of preschool art and thus don't take their children's every creation too seriously.
As to how to sensitively dispose of the art, I've received great suggestions: I love the idea of keeping giant envelopes on hand, addressed to grandmas, aunties, enemies, and friends, and encouraging the tykes to spread their masterworks around. Then there's asking the kid which piece is good enough to go to recycling—as though "Recycling" is a gallery for which only the best art may qualify. Reverse psychology! Love it.
I wish I'd had these tips sooner. While Tot was at school, I put her July 4 construction paper American flag into my paper recycling. But I didn't take it to the dump. That night, Crabtot spied the flag waving from the can. "My flag!" she wailed. I tried to pretend the flag had accidentally made it to the can, but even tots know a lame excuse when they hear one. "That's not berry nice, Mommy," she said in a pious voice, pressing the piece to her chest as though it were something, um, special.
And so the American flag proudly flies again on our refrigerator. It's a bit crumpled, but it flies still. For now.
Oh, yeah! I would totally try to mail that one to someone! Spread the love!
I have just been given the most brilliant solution for what to do with totart EVER. I must give credit to my delightful friend Sharon, most wonderful grandmomma a tot could ever ask for, also best person to go to for getting rid of new mommy guilt. She scans tot art onto her computer then saves it on a jump drive.
She's one of those crafty grandmommas so she later manipulates and prints the scans to use on her scrapbook pages.
I'm not nearly that crafty, but I do love the idea of storing them on the computer so that they aren't gone forever.
Wynne, that is absolutely genius. Naturally I would be too lazy to ever do anything so labor-intensive as to scan tot art, but it's a brilliant idea. Thanks for adding that. A superb tip!