Photographing Kids' Artwork: Keep Each Piece with Their Own Words

Three photos can still show just one piece

A paper house photographed from the front, the back, and close to a window is one creation shown in three ways. Choose a name your family recognizes, such as ‘Paper house A,’ and label the views front, back, and detail. Keeping them in one entry can make clear that three photos do not mean three artworks.

Give a different piece its own name even if it looks similar. For work made with siblings or friends, note who made which part as far as you know, without presenting it as a solo creation. Unknown names or contributions can remain blank. For a series of several sheets, record both the series name and each sheet's name, distinguishing it from multiple sides of one piece.

Ask your child what is happening in the artwork

Instead of suggesting the answer with ‘That's a lovely house, isn't it?’, you could ask ‘What's in here?’ If your child says ‘This is the snail's room,’ start with those words. Keep a story an adult imagined or praise for the drawing separate from the child's explanation.

A fictional editorial example is ‘Artwork: Paper house A / child's words: the snail sleeps here / adult note: paper window attached so it folds open.’ Do not interpret colors or shapes as evidence of feelings or developmental level. If your child does not want to explain, the record can have no title or spoken description.

Make a photo record of one artwork

1. 1

   Look with your child at the work you want to record and choose a name that identifies the piece.

2. 2

   Photograph the whole work and any useful back or detail views, noting that they all show the same piece.

3. 3

   Record the confirmed making date, day brought home, and the child's actual explanation as far as known.

4. 4

   Decide where to keep the original and who may see the photos, adding later changes to the notes.

The day brought home may differ from the day made

A drawing taken out of a bag today was not necessarily made today. ‘Brought home October 28; making date unconfirmed’ leaves the record readable without forcing the dates to match. If your child or their teacher later confirms a date, add who told you and when.

Choose an entry-date convention as a family and explain its meaning in the note. If your child later changes the title, you can preserve both the first title and the new name. A descriptive label an adult invented for convenience should not appear as a title the child chose.

Record the photos and the original's whereabouts separately

Taking a photo does not decide what happens to the original. If you agree with your child to keep it in a box, record its actual location, such as ‘Artwork box B.’ When you move it or give it to someone, add that day's change so an old location does not look current.

One photograph cannot preserve the paper's texture or every side of a three-dimensional creation. Having photos need not mean immediately discarding the work. Keep making a family record separate from posting it online, and check for names, school details, and information about other children.

Keep the piece and its explanation together by date

A parent or guardian can gather several views of one artwork in Pogaem with photos, a title, and notes. Put the piece's identifying name in the title, then write the child's words and the original's location in the body. If several works come home on the same day, separate entries can make their photo-to-piece connections easier to revisit.

Names, making dates, and storage locations are your own notes, rather than dedicated artwork-management fields. This method does not include Pogaem automatically interpreting drawings or analyzing a child's feelings. Check together which explanation your child wants to keep and whom they want to show it to.