DIY School Memory Box

This simple paper organization system is easy to create and easy to keep up with. I only wish I’d made these sooner!

Tired of the school paper avalanche? Have sentimental art projects and handprint crafts piling up? A DIY school memory box is a great way to organize all of those special papers from your child’s school years.

And the good news is, these are super quick and easy to create. PLUS, they create an organization system that’s crazy easy to keep up with! 

What Is a School Memory Box?

So what exactly are school memory boxes, you ask?  They are essentially a file box that contains hanging folders for each age/grade all the way up to 12th grade or even beyond high school if you wish.

Tuck the very best school papers, artwork, about me worksheets, special projects, etc. into that year’s folder and you have a simple paper organization system. And once your kid is out of school, all of those keepsakes are neatly organized in one small box that they can take with them.

Here’s a quick video all about mine!

Things you could store in this keepsake box:

• School papers
• Artwork
• Handprint crafts
• About me worksheets
• Special projects and reports
• Cute Mother’s Day/Father’s Day cards
• School pictures
• Class photo
• Yearbook
• Annual interview sheets
• Award certificates
• Year-end report cards
• Family Christmas card
• Letters
• Birthday cards
• Baby book
• Newspaper clippings
• Fair ribbons

Why Create a DIY School Memory Box?

If you struggle with paper clutter, this will really help! It gives you a contained place to store the best things from the year. Instead of a mountain of paper clutter piling up on the kitchen counter, you can discard most of that school work and save the very best of your kids’ school papers for their memory box. 

It’s an easy memory-saving system for preserving the most meaningful items from the school year and turns into a sentimental keepsake you can pass on to your kids when they’re grown.

And if you’re sitting here thinking it’s too late because your kid is already in upper elementary or beyond, I don’t think you’ll ever regret creating one of these boxes no matter your child’s age. Just gather up as much as you have from previous years and then start strong with their current grade.

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How to Make Your Own School Memory Box

Materials & Tools You’ll Need

• A file box with a lid: Weather-proof plastic file boxes are a good choice for preserving these items, especially if you’ll be storing this box in a basement or storage room. Or a decorative file box may be something to consider if yours will be stored in a visible spot on a bookshelf or in their bedroom.
• Hanging file folders with tabs (I also like these): You’ll need one file folder per year/grade. These should come with plastic tabs. I think letter size folders are perfect, but legal size is also an option if you’d like something larger.
• Labels: You can either write on the paper labels included with your file folder tabs, or you can opt to use a label maker, Cricut, or home printer.

Step-by-Step Assembly

1. Assemble File Box & Load With Folders

Start by assembling your filing bin (if needed) and removing all price tags/packaging. Then fill it up with your file folders, arranging them in the order you prefer (if you have a preference). I got a great pack of colorful hanging folders so I took a few minutes to arrange them in a color-coded pattern.

You can also add your child’s name to the front of the box if you wish. Mine had a plastic sleeve for this purpose and I used my label maker to make one for each kid. You can of course do a fancy design on your computer or with a Cricut machine if you want.

2. Label File Folder Tabs

Add a label to each file folder to denote which age/grade it is for. You probably want to cover the school years from elementary through high school for sure. You can also add folders for the younger years – I made one for each age from newborn through preschool. I also left a few spare folders unlabeled in the back in case my kids ever want to create more for college years or anything beyond high school.

You’ll want to add a label to each of the plastic divider tabs, then insert the tab into the hanging file folders so they are organized chronologically from front to back. I like to stagger mine from left to right so it’s easy to read each label in the box. Here are some options for labeling the tabs:

1. Handwritten: The quickest option for making your labels is to use the paper labels included with our hanging file folders. Simply handwrite each grade on the paper and slide it inside the plastic tab. 
2. Label Maker: Another simple option (which I did) is to use your label maker to print out a quick label for each grade and stick those onto the paper label. 
3. Cricut: If you want to get extra fancy, you can use your Cricut machine and transfer tape to create vinyl labels for your tabs.
4. Printed: You could also type up labels sized to fit the tabs and print those out on your home printer for a professional look.

3. Gather & Sort

Now collect all of your kids’ papers from around the house: art pieces, certificates, school papers, etc. Sort through that paper pile and save the very favorite items – aim to discard much more than you keep. Choose the standout items that show your child’s growth, big achievements, milestones, and have the most sentimental value.

Now file the keepers away into the file folder for the corresponding grade and you have an organizedfp lace for all of your child’s school memories.

Note: If you’re starting this after your kid is well into their school career and you have years of papers to deal with, simply gather up everything you can find and do your best. You can take the time to figure out which grade each item is from or simply stash all the keepers into a single folder and label it “grade K-2” or whatever. Anything is better than nothing! Just get those papers all in one place and start using this system going forward.

4. Identify a Storage Spot

Now it’s time to designate a place for your child’s memory box to live. You ideally want the box to be easy to access so it’s convenient to add papers to it throughout the year. If it gets shoved into the back of a closet or storage room, it’s likely you’ll never bother to use it.

If you have space on a shelf or in a cabinet in your main living space or home office, those would be ideal spaces. My kids each have theirs on a shelf in the closets in their room – they are out of the way but still easy to pull down and add things to when we need to. 

This is why I chose a decorative file box – because I didn’t have a great cabinet space to hide them away so I wanted them to look nice.

Tips and Maintenance

• Sort through school papers when they come home each day and immediately discard as much as you can. I always ask my kids to tell me about their papers and we’ll hang the occasional picture up if they’re really proud of it. But for the most part, after they share their work and I acknowledge how great they did, they’ve learned that it’s okay to put it in the recycling. When you do have a favorite item you want to save, file it in their memory box.
• Write the year and grade on the back of the paper so it’s documented. This will be extremely helpful if the contents in your box ever get mixed up for any reason.
• Go back through their folder at the end of the school year and do another round of purging. Things you saved months ago may not be that meaningful after all and easier to let go after you’ve seen them amongst all the other favorite items from the year. Try to curate that year’s folder to the very best things and purge the rest.
• For large items like artwork, try folding them in half or trimming them down to fit in the folders.
• For bulky items that you can’t file (medals, ceramics from art class, their science fair project), you have a couple of options. 1) I often ask myself if we can take a photo of my child holding it and save the photo instead of the physical object. 2) Store these in a separate box for keepsakes – try to add labels with the grade/year/other details so you don’t forget.

And that, my friends, is how to make a simple children’s memory box. I’m all about easy systems, and these kids’ boxes are such a great way to organize school papers in a way that’s manageable to keep up with. And honestly, I should really set up a file box of my own, too!

I love how that single box gives you a container to limit how much you hold onto. If it starts to get too full, I can always sort back through the files and reevaluate what I’m saving.

So, what are you waiting for? Go grab a file box and a pack of hanging files and make one for each of your kids. It’s seriously such a quick and easy way to set up a paper organization system and you’ll be so glad you did it!

Have a fantastic day!