How To Best Display Kids' Artwork With These 23 Creative Ideas
Gallery
Our kids create so many amazing works of art it can be hard to know how to handle it all! When you can't see the fridge for finger paintings, and your coffee-table is piled high with mini-masterpieces, it's time to start curating your kids' art and displaying it in the best possible way.
Giving our kids the pride of place above our mantlepiece or next to the artwork we've bought builds their confidence in their creative talent and helps them visualise themselves as real artists.
As well as boosting their self-belief, displayed in the right way, your kids' artwork can actually be a brilliant addition to an adult art collection and bring a sense of warmth and quirkiness to any home.
If you've filled your walls and still want to keep your children's art safe, check out our blog post on storing kids art for some great ideas.
Build the Perfect Gallery Wall
Creating an art wall can be a brilliant way to fill up a large blank wall in your house, and the perfect way to showcase lots of your kids' art in one place.
When you assemble all the artwork together and hang them up, the overall display becomes a lot more important than the individual artwork, which is great for drawings and paintings with fun colours and textures.
Our top gallery wall tips:
Mixed Art Display
Gallery wall art displays work really well when there is a range of different sizes of artwork and frames collected together. Don't be afraid to chop something up small, or display something big, it'll all add to the overall gallery feel.
Creative Colour Palette
Creating balance with a gallery wall is important so it does not overwhelm the room, and it works great when you choose to go for a colour scheme with the art you pick.
Decide if you want a wall that is black and white works well with pops of colour, natural tones or bright primary colours - whatever you pick will make your wall feel more curated and help the different art sit well together.
Matching Frame Aesthetic
Choose frames that are all the same colour - or paint all your frames different colours can be a fun way to pull the wall together. Once a drawing or painting is framed, it feels more important, and your kids' art will suddenly feel elevated.
Out-of-the-Box Artworks
Start thinking about art in a much broader sense and your display will instantly feel more exciting. A special leaf collected on a walk with grandad, a scribbled note to mum about dinner - beautiful memories make beautiful art that will make you fall in love with your home gallery.
Pop-up Gallery
If you don't want to keep your kids artwork on the walls forever, why not host a pop-up gallery? Cover a room with as much as you can fit in, and invite friends and family to come and marvel at the amazing masterpieces. You'll boost your child's confidence and show them how proud you are of their work!
Hanging Stick Decoration
If you haven't got an outdoor area to showcase your hanging mementoes, why not collect some long sticks, pop them in a vase, and display your hanging artworks that way. These look great on coffee tables!
Start Loving Clip-on Frames
Let your kids decide what art is wall-worthy, by sticking empty frames low enough that they're within their reach. Glue some pegs to the top, and they can attach new pictures they make!
This is a really fun way to display kids artwork that they get to be in charge of - you never know, you might end up sparking the excitement of a budding art curator!
Coat Hanger Frames
If you don't have spare frames, trouser coat hangers can work just as well to display kids artwork. Just pop some coat hangers from low-hanging hooks, and display away.
Clipboard Frames
Another great art display for your home where your kids can choose the artwork is using clipboards to display. Position 3 or 4 equally apart in a straight line for a fun art display.
Use Lots and Lots of Boxes
Working out a way to display your kids' art without it feeling like clutter can be tricky, so we love the idea of creating a space for box shelves to house any art that isn't so easy to display.
Simply take a range of small boxes you don't need - wooden food crates or hardy shoe boxes work great - and paint them all the same colour.
Attach them to the wall with some picture pins, and you can place cumbersome kids artwork inside the boxes to create an exciting home art display.
Magnetic Artwork
Create an extension of your fridge door by painting a large square of magnetic paint where you'd like to showcase your kids art. Attach drawings and paintings using magnets, and move around as you please.
Hanging Painting Display
Create an easy artwork display by hanging a piece of string from two picture-hooks. Use pegs to attach paper artwork for a fun unique design.
Hanging Artwork Tree
Small, oddly shaped things that you want to keep and display can look amazing if you add a hanging loop and decorate the branches of trees in your garden.
Artists Pin-board
Some of my favourite types of home centre around big family pin-boards, where art and notes and successes can be displayed for visitors to marvel at.
Creating a place where kids can take part in displaying their artwork, and a dynamic wall for your whole family to use to display what's important to them, can be a great way to bond and share as a family.
All you need to create this fun display is a large piece of corkboard and some pins. We recommend the bigger the better to create a clean statement in your home.
Artwork Shelf
We are obsessed with artwork shelves to showcase framed pictures, and it's as easy as putting up a thin shelf (you can buy them from most homeware shops now) and stacking a variety of different sized framed pictures to create an arty feature.
Large Picture Display
If you have lots of huge artworks that your kids have created, and not enough space to fit them all, why not take photos of your favourites, scale them down and print them as small-scale versions? Three or four massive paintings look brilliant printed A5 size and hung in matching frames as a display.
If you're not too attached...
These ideas are fun for repurposing your children's paintings to display in uniquely creative ways!
Decoupage Furniture
For an instant upgrade on any drab looking furniture you have lying around, why not decoupage some of your family artwork for a bright and colourful update! Decoupaging is just sticking paper down with glue onto your surface, so you'll need to find some artwork that's fun and colourful.
Cut the art into squares or shapes that can easily wrap around the piece of furniture you've chosen, and use Mod Podge or similar glue to stick the paper down. Cover over with another layer of glue once it's all stuck to give a varnished finish.
Birthday Cards
Chop up any fun paintings your kids have created, and stick them to the front of birthday cards for relatives! The family will love receiving their own little masterpiece, and it's a great way to repurpose art!
Wrapping Paper
Big paintings on thin paper work amazingly as wrapping paper. If your kids are giving someone a homemade gift, why not wrap it in their homemade wrapping paper too for an extra special experience!
Make Collages
Chop up pieces of multi-coloured drawings and paintings, and let your children make new pictures with the pieces! Just glue them on new paper to create endless fun designs.
Paper Chain
Funky coloured paintings make great paper chains - just chop them into strips, and loop together for quick, fun party decorations.
We Want Your Photos!
More for You
See All
An experienced Londoner, Emily loves to discover new and exciting places in the city, especially with her two younger brothers. She has a passion for fashion and design and is also involved in art charities that facilitate workshops for children with special needs and difficult home lives. Emily is a trained life coach and enjoys writing about general wellness, mindfulness, and healthy relationships.
Disclaimer
1) Kidadl is independent and to make our service free to you the reader we are supported by advertising. We hope you love our recommendations for products and services! What we suggest is selected independently by the Kidadl team. If you purchase using the Buy Now button we may earn a small commission. This does not influence our choices. Prices are correct and items are available at the time the article was published but we cannot guarantee that on the time of reading. Please note that Kidadl is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. We also link to other websites, but are not responsible for their content.
2) At Kidadl, we strive to recommend the very best activities and events. We will always aim to give you accurate information at the date of publication - however, information does change, so it’s important you do your own research, double-check and make the decision that is right for your family. We recognise that not all activities and ideas are appropriate for all children and families or in all circumstances. Our recommended activities are based on age but these are a guide. We recommend that these ideas are used as inspiration, that ideas are undertaken with appropriate adult supervision, and that each adult uses their own discretion and knowledge of their children to consider the safety and suitability. Kidadl cannot accept liability for the execution of these ideas, and parental supervision is advised at all times, as safety is paramount. Anyone using the information provided by Kidadl does so at their own risk and we can not accept liability if things go wrong.
3) Because we are an educational resource, we have quotes and facts about a range of historical and modern figures. We do not endorse the actions of or rhetoric of all the people included in these collections, but we think they are important for growing minds to learn about under the guidance of parents or guardians.
