Saturday, January 04, 2014

DIY Children's Art Display

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Wondering how to display your children's artwork at home? Try making this DIY children's art display in your playroom using a simple frame and some clothesline.

When my kids make a piece of art - even if it's just scribbles on a page - they are so excited and so proud to show it off to me.

To showcase their artwork at home, my husband and I made this DIY kids art display using some scrap wood and some materials from the dollar store. The kids now have their own personal art gallery and they loving having their artwork and drawings on display in our playroom.

So if you are looking for a creative way to display your children's art, then you're going to love this tutorial for making a children's art display.

Display children's artwork with this DIY kids art display

What You'll Need to Make this DIY Children's Art Display

I had been brainstorming this art display idea for months, but it finally came into fruition when my husband (perhaps mistakenly?) asked me, "Are there any projects you want to get done before I return to work?"

So I convinced him to pull out the saw, make a giant picture frame, and mount it to the wall. And I'm thrilled with the end result.

Here's what you'll need to make one of your own:

  • Wood window casings (dimensions will depend on how big or small you want to make yours) - ours were leftovers from when our new windows were installed
  • Two pieces of string
  • Acrylic paint (optional)

How to display children's artwork at home

How to Make the DIY Art Gallery for Displaying Children's Artwork at Home

To make the frame for the art gallery, we used our leftover window casings from when our new windows were installed last spring. They're the same window casings that we used to make our giant rainbow xylophone and to build giant letters outdoors with. So I was happy to put them to a more permanent use. 

The interior dimensions of our frame are 60" w x 32" h.

We attached two pieces of string to the backside of the frames with a staple gun before attaching the frame to the wall.

Once the frame was finished, I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the sign for our art gallery (Robson Fine Art Gallery) from black vinyl. You can now download the Silhouette Studio file for free and change the wording accordingly.

Using wood clothespins, I put some of the boys' artwork up for display, including this bumblebee craft.

It looked great, but we felt that it was missing something. Then my husband had a great idea. He commented that when he looked at the art gallery, it looked like he was looking at a clothesline through a window. Then he proposed that we paint the interior of the frame like a sky with clouds so that it would really look like a window.

Armed with some sky blue and white acrylic paints, I painted a simple sky scene with clouds. It turned out perfect! I love the punch of color behind the kids' art. Plus, it brightens up our playroom. Since our playroom is in the basement, the room can look quite dim at the best of times. This art gallery is just what this wall needed to come to life. And the playroom has brightened up even more since we built the DIY Super Mario climbing wall.

Framed clothesline display for children's art

You may have noticed our Montessori-inspired crayon color sorters just below our art gallery. I followed this tutorial for upcycled Montessori style crayon holders from Happiness is Homemade, which I found via The Kavanaugh Report. I didn't have tin cans so I made our crayon sorters from plastic individual applesauce containers. And goodness knows, I have tons of those laying around (see here and here)! I just lathered them in a few coats of acrylic paint and a coat of Mod Podge.

And that's how we'll be displaying our recent arts and crafts from now on!  

Remember, if you have a Silhouette Cameo, then you can download the Silhouette Studio file for the vinyl lettering for free.

Other Ideas You'll Love




How to display children's art and drawings at home - find out how to make a DIY art gallery wall for kids with this tutorial