Frames for children's drawings, made to the drawing's size

Not every drawing needs a frame

At the end of a year at kindergarten there is a thick folder, and clearly not all of it goes into a frame. The right question is not "how do we keep everything" but "which drawings do we want to see on the wall ten years from now". Usually that is the first drawing with a person in it, a drawing your child is proud of, or one that says something about that time.

And to be honest: if the goal is to swap the drawing every week, a ready-made front-opening frame does that job better than a frame built to size. A frame made to size suits the drawings you want to keep, not a rotating display.

Three ways to frame children's drawings

One drawing: the classic way. The drawing gets a mat around it, which gives it space from the frame and from the glass, and a thin frame. A white or cream mat almost always works, because children's drawings are colorful enough and don't need more color around them.

A series: several drawings from the same period, each in its own frame, in the same molding and the same size, hung together. It looks deliberate even when the drawings are completely different, and you can swap the content next year without taking the wall apart.

A collage: many drawings together in one large frame. In the photo above: dozens of drawings glued together into one collage and framed in a thin oak frame. It is the answer when there are many small drawings, and when the point is the quantity: a whole year on one wall.

Why a child's drawing is not an ordinary picture

Children's drawings are almost never a standard size. A notebook page, half a sheet of poster board, a sheet cut unevenly: each needs a frame cut to it, not a ready-made frame the drawing has to fit. Even when a drawing looks like A4, it is worth measuring: kindergarten paper is not always cut straight.

The paper itself is usually thin, and sometimes already creased or wavy from watercolors. A mat helps twice here: it holds the paper flatter, and its thickness creates a gap between the drawing and the glass, so the color doesn't touch it.

And the drawing itself is never glued to the backing. The mounting is reversible, so if in a few years you want to take it out, move it to another frame or give it to the child who has grown up, it comes out the way it went in.

Pastels, glitter and glued-on pieces

Many kindergarten drawings are really craft pieces: pastel that smears, glitter, cotton wool, buttons, dried leaves. A piece like that can't be pressed under the glass of a regular frame. It needs a deep frame, with real distance between the piece and the glass, so nothing gets crushed or smudged.

This is also where it pays to look at the piece in person before deciding. A glued part that is already loose, glitter that is shedding or pastel that crumbles changes the solution, and you see that on the table, not in a photo on a phone.

How to bring the drawings

Flat. In a folder or between two pieces of cardboard, not rolled and not folded: a fold in thin paper stays after framing. Don't laminate first: a laminated drawing loses the texture of the paper and the color, and that change can't be undone.

If you are torn between several drawings, bring them all. It is much easier to decide when they lie side by side on the table and you can hold a sample molding and mat against each one.

One small thing worth doing at home: write your child's name and age in pencil on the back of the drawing. Ten years from now, that is the detail everyone will want to know.

Where to hang it

In the child's room, in the hallway, or on a wall the whole family walks past. A drawing hung at your child's eye level is one they see every day, not only when someone points it out.

What to avoid: a wall that gets direct sun around midday. Marker colors and thin paper fade and yellow in strong light over time.

What it costs

Like every framing job here: by the size of the drawing, the type of molding, the glass, and whether you add a mat or need a deep frame. So there is no flat price list, and a small drawing in a simple frame costs much less than a large collage.

You get the exact price at the studio, in front of the drawings, with no commitment. Most jobs are ready within two business days.

Bring the drawings to the studio

The studio is at 3 Naftali Palatin St. in Rishon LeZion, with free parking nearby, open Sunday to Thursday from 08:15 to 17:00, no appointment needed. We lay the drawings on the table, hold samples against them, and choose together.