The Best Way to Display Kids’ Work

Did you know that one of the four factors present in the homes of nearly every early reader and student who responds easily to the first instruction in school includes (among other things) “displaying his paperwork in a prominent place in the home” (Jim Trelease, The Read-Aloud Handbook 7th Edition, page 33)? Luckily, a few years ago, a dear friend (thank you, Jenny!) introduced me to a pretty and extremely easy way to display the girls’ artwork and writing in our house.

We use these Articulate Gallery picture frames and absolutely adore them! We’ve got 6 of these single frames arranged together on a wall in our living room. These single frames hold paper up to 9″x12″ (the opening is about 7.5″x10″, and the total dimensions are about 11″x14″). Since raving about ours, some friends have bought other arrangements — I’ve got my eye on this triple frame, and a good friend has this quad frame hanging in her breakfast nook!

So, why do we love these? My husband and I love that they look nice hanging on our wall. Instead of taping our girls’ artwork all over the fridge and our kitchen cabinets (which we still do for oddly-sized pieces…), the white frames look complete and finished. These frames also make is extremely easy to change up the artwork frequently, as you can simply slide the new art right over the top of the pieces that are already displayed!

But most importantly, our girls truly love having their work “framed” on the wall! In fact, before our oldest started kindergarten this fall, when asked what she was worried about, she responded, “That I’ll have too much work to fit over there on the wall!” Ah, the worries of our children… But back to what makes these frames amazing, they give that “prominent place” to display their work that has a powerful impact on their literacy development and sense of importance. If you hang your frames right, your kids could even change the artwork out on their own!

How do you display kids’ work in your house? Do you have a framing system, or are you a “tape and magnet on the fridge” family?