"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."- Leonardo da Vinci

7.19.2015

Keeping record

The school year is out. The begin of summer vacation was greeted with relief and joy. No more homework, no more stress, no more negotiating playtime. I am sure you can relate.

On the last day of school, Aidan came home with a backpack bursting with art-projects. Which I love, it’s always great to see what he’s been up to. And of course he has an emotional attachment to most of his drawings.  We have binders full, from daycare to preschool, Kindergarten, and now Grade one, I’ve been keeping it all. It was a matter of time before I had to make a decision as to….. where to put it all?

Aidan is showing a bit of an interest in photography. He always asks for my camera to play around and take his own shots. He’s also claimed my old Ipod as his own, and is practicing writing emails to us, which to be honest is great practice for his spelling, and makes for some adorable correspondence. Along with writing he’s been taking photos. That gave me an idea.

I decided to sit with him, go through our massive collection of drawings, select his favorites and photograph them. Pinterest has an abundance of ideas on how to de-clutter and store you kids artwork. Initially I was going to create a collage, similar to this, but then..... I thought of something else. 

I created Aidan his own Instagram account. A private one of course, that I manage, but where he can upload his photos. Not just his artwork, but other pictures he takes. He always sees me using my account, and asks questions, so I thought he’d have fun with his own.

And as a bonus, later on, I will be able to use a service like Printstagram Or Blurb To turn his photos into magnets, a calendar or a book even.

He’s very excited about the idea, and we’re looking forward to immortalizing our summer adventures. Lazy afternoons spent in the backyard, biking around the neighborhood, exploring new corners, probably some selfies. It will be cute to see them all from his point of view.




5 comments:

  1. What a great idea, Monica!! I have three massive rubber made boxes full of artwork and school projects in my garage. Maybe I should try this, not so much for their sakes now ( at 15 and 20 they don't care about old drawings) but for them later. My son does post some of his sketches on instagram, though. I am planning to make an instagram wall in my kitchen with our combined instagrams from the last few years, but I never considered one with their artwork. So smart.

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    1. Thank you Michelle, I am on a de-cluttering kick now, and while it is important to me to hang on to his drawings, I'd rather they don't take over the house ;-)

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  2. This is such a brilliant idea!! I want to do this with the artwork that Lila brings home from daycare, because the stacks of a daily art projects is a bit much. :S And fantastic to get Aidan involved in an Instagram account of his own that you manage, so that you can begin to teach him about responsible social media usage.

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    1. Exactly, we have already had a few talks with him about responsibility when it comes to internet.

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  3. I love that he loves photography. That is awesome.

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