How to Save Childhood Artwork With a Photo Book

Binder photo books: the simplest approach?

Since children’s artwork mostly consist of drawings on a piece of paper, preserving them in a so-called binder photo book seems like the most logical solution. From a certain point of view binder photo books are great keepsakes, since you only need to put your children’s work into binder pockets to add them to the book, continuing the process until the book is physically incapable of holding any more pockets – or pages if you will. In addition to that, binder photo books exist in many shapes and sizes, with many coming with refined covers like genuine leather or wood.

But as convenient as it may be, storing childhood artwork in a binder photo book is basically the equivalent of a shoebox. The main problem with this approach is that aside from being able to reorganize the order of the pockets and decorate the exterior of the binder, there is no more customization possible. And since putting drawings into the transparent pockets of a binder requires little to no effort, the emotional attachment is lessened and you won’t feel the compelling urge to take out the book and flip through its pages as often as you would do in the case of a real photo book.

When digitized beats the original

Creating a digitized version of your children’s scribbles may seem unnecessary at first, but doing so has many advantages. For starters, this ensures the artwork will continue to live on in digital format, even if the original versions are lost or damaged beyond repair. Digital drawings are also easier to reproduce, not to mention that they enable many enhancement options from simple cropping to more complex tasks that require the use of photo editing software.

What’s more important, however, is that the digitization process itself is ridiculously easy, requiring only a scanner or a smartphone. In fact, capturing the drawing with the phone’s camera guarantees that the digital copy will be in either JPG or PNG format, which is essential for those who would prefer to build the would-be photo book right away with the aid of photo book editing apps.

Making the most out of children’s art photo books

The beauty of modern photo book builders is that they offer virtually endless possibilities for customization, whether that is the physical appearance of the book or its content. Photo book editors can handle any picture that’s in the right format, which means that aside from scanned drawings you can also include photos and digital drawings in the photo book, too.

This already creates a unique twist on the traditional scrapbooking concept, but if it’s combined with the countless themes, backgrounds, and embellishments that are available – all of which can be freely mixed with one another – and parents and their children have the power to build the photo book exactly the way they want to see it.

But who said that the book should feature scribbles only? The stories behind the drawings can be just as fascinating as the pictures themselves. So, it’s fitting to go beyond the traditional photo book concept and turn the project into a storybook that features the characters from these artistic creations. This way you’re hitting two birds with one stone: your children can be the illustrators and the authors of their very own book.