DIY Kid Artwork Display

Do you have small children at home?  If so, it’s likely that you have countless works of art, crafted by tiny little hands, that have been brought home from school and are either hung haphazardly up on the fridge, or are in a file cabinet somewhere.  (Or maybe the trash….  I promise I won’t tell if you don’t.)  

While I love seeing the creations that my daughter has come up with, I’m not thrilled with my refrigerator being cluttered up.  With her starting back to preschool in less than two weeks, I wanted to find a way to better organize and display her art.  So, I threw together this super simple kid artwork display.

 

I had the idea for it a couple of months ago, and I started keeping my eye out for a frame that would work.  I ended up finding an open frame on clearance at At Home.  The frame that I got was 18″ x 24″, but you could get any size you want.  

I would love to eventually have a pretty large area to display the kid’s creations, but at the moment, this is what works for me.  All the other supplies, I already had on hand.  So, not only was this an easy project, but it was also a cheap one.  Win-win!

Supplies:

1. Open frame
2. Fiberboard (approximately 1/4″ thick)
3. White spray paint
4. Twine
5. Hot glue gun/hot glue
6. 1/2″ – 3/4″ nails
7. Miniature clothes pins

Instructions:

I just so happened to have just the right amount of fiberboard out in my garage for this project.  I don’t even remember what it was leftover from, but I literally had about 3 inches leftover once all my pieces were cut.  (We did have to rip one of the boards down lengthwise, though, in order to fit in my frame.)

Once the boards were cut, I gave them a couple of coats of white spray paint.  I didn’t worry about the sides of the boards, as I knew they wouldn’t show.  I was only concerned with the face of the board.

Next, I cut two pieces of twine to stretch across the frame.  This is what the artwork will hang from.  So, I purposely didn’t pull it completely taut.  I left just a little give in it.

Since my frame was only 24″ long, I knew that I would only be able to get two rows of artwork on it.  I used an actual piece of my daughter’s artwork to help figure out exactly where I needed my twine to be.  

I marked my frame where I wanted the twine to be, then I glued it down with a bit of hot glue.

Then, I nailed each board to the inside of the frame.  You will probably need 1/2″ to 3/4″ nails, depending on your frame.  I used 1/2″ nails, and I put four nails into each piece of fiberboard.

Once this is done, all that is left is to make sure you have a hanger on the back of the frame.  Then, add your clothespins and some artwork.

We don’t have a dedicated playroom in our house, so I have turned one wall of our main living room into a kid’s area.  This little kid artwork display fits perfectly above their little school desk.  

 

And now, I can just rotate her artwork as she brings it home.  The new stuff goes up on the display and the old stuff goes in the file cabinet (or the trash…).  (Please tell me I’m not the only one who doesn’t save every. single. paper that comes through my door.)

So, that’s it!  Now my fridge is clear and my daughter has somewhere to proudly showcase her work.

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