This summer feels different.
My daughter - the one who used to come home from day camp covered in glitter and paint, who could spend hours drawing flowers and chalk people on the sidewalk - is heading to university this fall.
Now that she’s leaving home, I’ve been thinking a lot about those early summers. The kind of summer where the days are long, the bedtimes late, and the laundry is full of grass stains and popsicle drippings.
You know what I mean.
We’re juggling work, but still trying to give our kids a real summer experience. We get them into camp programs, manage a week or two off for a family vacation, and then fill the rest of the days with post-work bike rides, splash pad meetups, and “just 10 more minutes” at the park.
My daughter’s summers looked exactly like that - full of camp crafts, mosquito bites, sunburned noses, and a chalk-covered courtyard.
What do you do with all that summer art?
Zara will spend her summer working as a camp counsellor at Art in the Park, a day camp where kids can explore all kinds of creative endeavours, from paper mache and woodworking to painting and jewelry making. Zara attended Art in the Park every summer from age 6 to when she aged out at 13. She loved it! I kept so many of her creations over the years. I have bins labeled "Zara’s Art", folders stuffed with macaroni masterpieces and paper mache sculptures all over the house. But even with all that stuff saved, I still let a lot of the small, quiet moments slip by.
The kind of moments you can’t put in a bin:
- The sketch she made with her best friend at the park (on a paper towel)
- Her first painting from Art in the Park day camp, messy but proud
- That little drawing of us holding hands in front of our lopsided house
I wish I had done more than just keep them.
I wish I had carried them with me.
What I’d tell my younger mom self (and maybe you too)
If your kids are still in that magic summer stage, still making crafts at camp, still pulling your hand to show you their latest chalk drawing, pause. Just for a second.
Take a photo. Ask them what their drawing means. Pick one piece of art to save this summer, and not just in a folder you’ll forget about until the next school year.
Turn it into something real. Something lasting. Something you can wear, carry, or gift.
You don’t have to save every single thing. But a few of those memories?
They’re worth preserving in a way that doesn’t live in a dusty storage bin.
5 Easy ways to turn your kids’ summer art into lasting memories
1. Camp Art Pick
Ask your child to choose one craft from camp that they’re proud of. Frame it or take a photo to turn into a keepsake later.
2. Sidewalk Snapshot
Next time they cover the driveway in chalk art, snap a picture before the rain washes it away.
3. After-Work Sketch Breaks
You don’t need an hour. Even 10 minutes drawing together after dinner becomes a memory (and maybe even a fridge-worthy masterpiece).
4. Friendship Art
If your child draws or crafts something with a friend, save it - it captures more than just creativity; it captures connection.
5. Summer Capsule Page
At the end of August, help your child draw or list their favourite summer moments on one page. Keep it, or use it to create a custom keepsake later.
The story behind turning kids’ drawings into custom keepsakes
The idea for Made With Your Art actually started with a cufflink sketch.
One afternoon, my daughter (she was about nine) brought me a drawing and said, “This is my cufflink design.” I’m not even sure she knew what cufflinks were but she knew I made them. I thought that was very sweet and not a bad idea…
That tiny moment sparked a big thought:
What if we could actually turn kids’ drawings into something real? Something wearable… Something that doesn’t just sit in a drawer?
That’s how it all began… Zara drawing at our kitchen table, and a quiet idea that maybe other families might want to hold on to these memories too.
Now she’s leaving home… and I still have that flower
She’s packing for university. I’m helping her shop for a duvet cover and mini fridge. And I still find myself wearing a necklace we made from one of her old paintings, something she probably forgot about years ago.
But I haven’t.
So if your child is still in that beautifully messy stage of sidewalk art, camp crafts, and “look what I made!” moments.
Pick something. Save it. Make it into more than a memory.
Because one day, they’ll be figuring out how to do laundry in a residence laundry room, and you’ll be holding a wrinkled hand drawing wondering, how did the time go by so fast?
Wishing you a summer full of sun, laughter, and memories you actually get to keep.