Play: Refrigerator Picture Frame

School is just around the corner for a lot of people. And for some it's already here. And so begins the task of dealing with lots of paperwork.

Kids bring home artwork. Kids bring home quizzes. Kids bring home tests. And that's just to display. There's loads more that we will touch on how to organize it later.

But for now, let's deal with how to make these proud papers less than clutter in our homes.

Now, I don't have a school aged kid yet, but Sebastian still manages to bring home a piece of artwork from the toddler room at church every week. And I'm often at a loss as to what to do with it. I don't want to just throw it out (even though he probably wouldn't care yet), but neither do I want it to clutter my end table or staircase.

The fridge seems the most logical place to put it, but I don't want to have oodles of barely clipped papers hanging off of the appliance I use the most in the kitchen.

And so I present to you the refrigerator picture frame.

This project cost me less than two dollars to make, and I think it is working out really well for the task I wanted it to do.


I first bought an 8x10 picture frame from the dollar store. I chose an 8x10 because most of the papers I get are 8 1/2 by 11, so with the extra width of the frame, the whole paper would be covered.

Then I took out the glass (like I need something breakable on the fridge) and the back, and I folded back the little metal brackets that hold the back in place.

Then I took some adhesive backed magnet strips and cut them to the width of the frame.

Then I stuck them on the top and the bottom of the frame. I went right over the folded metal brackets without any trouble.

And then I stuck it on my fridge with the art underneath. And ta-da! A slightly classy way to display Sebastian's masterpieces (on my less than classy fridge).

My plan is to rotate and recycle the pictures when he makes a new one. That way, each one gets its time in the limelight, but I'm not keeping these things forever. (No offense, child.)

And if you have more than one kid, you can easily decorate the frame to say his or her name, so each child gets their own special place to show off their work.

What do you do to display your kid's creations?