How sketchbooks saved my life

A typical and unanticipated challenge encountered in parenthood is what the h to do with all of the crap...er, I mean artistic gems your child creates.  My little doodle bug loves to draw and will happily work away on the back of a receipt with whatever implement she can find.  And i may even want to keep the amazing picture that appears on that scrap of paper! Sometimes, my artist goes thru 30 pieces of paper drawing the same half-ass, 5 second drawing.  Sound familiar??  And what are we to do with all of these papers???

Finally, I bought Lila a sketch book, with the rule that everything in the sketchbook stays in the sketch book. No ripping papers out. Ever.

Three years later, Lila is on her 3rd sketchbook and I'm still loving the idea. Some thoughts:

*i have a neat and easily accessible "storage" place of her artwork. Much better than a box, folder, or file (or random piles of papers that you just keep meaning to get to).

*i try to date as many of the pictures as possible (and now I'm using this to teach HER to write dates herself) and then the books serve as a sort of portfolio showing her progression.  

*i like to ask Lila to tell me about the picture she drew, and write down her story verbatim on the adjacent page. I'm pretty sure I could publish the crazy tales she comes up with as avante garde stream of consciousness neo-Kerouac literature and no one would know it was actually just the product of a little girl's imagination. Seriously, it's like Beatles lyrics-after they went to India and started doing drugs. (For the record; my daughter has never been to India or done drugs) 

*She's able to go back and revise or rework a particular piece. Instead of teaching our kids to hurry from one project to the next, I like this idea that some things are never done, and thoughtful improvements are always welcome.

*a sketchbook is a REAL authentic art supply. I prefer to give my kids real things whenever possible, especially when it comes to art. You would be amazed how much better even something like toddler finger painting looks when it's done with real acrylics (which are easily washed off) versus cheap kids paint. Plus the kiddos know they're getting ripped off with kid products and always want the grown up stuff :)

*i don't know if this is far fetched or legitimate, but I really feel like all this free drawing fosters so much more creativity than a coloring book. My girls have very rarely colored on coloring sheets (because I'm too cheap and lazy to buy them, and because they aren't in school), and I see some real stylistic uniqueness in the things Lila (6 years) draws.

*I've enjoyed the sketchbook idea so much that I've made it a regular gift to give at kids' birthday parties. I stock up on several books at a time along with some boxes of markers or colored pencils and keep them on hand for such a purpose!  The nice thing about art supply gifts, is that even if the recipient already has it, they'll run out eventually and need a replacement.

*now that I have two children with sketchbooks, I "labeled" them with pictures of each girl since 2 year old Maureen can't read yet :)

Now if only I could figure out what to do with all of the OTHER art projects!! What do you do??