Tips to Utilise Finished Kids' Painting by Numbers

 

No parent can deny the happiness when they see their child happy after completing a creative task with their own hands. As "Kids Painting by Numbers" kits are becoming even more popular, children can experience this feeling of accomplishment more easily than ever by turning a blank, numbered canvas into a colourful, creative work of art that develops fine motor skills, colour recognition, and artistic confidence along the way.

But what do you do once the painting is done? Most families are left with an excess of finished, dry canvases and need to figure out what to do with their child's work. Instead of letting them accumulate in a drawer or get lost to time, there are several creative, functional, and meaningful ways to utilise a completed Painting by Numbers Kit made by children.

Here are some great ideas to display and repurpose your child’s painted artwork and further encourage their developing love of creativity.

1. Frame and Display as Wall Art

The most visible, but potentially most meaningful way to use finished work is to hang it up in your home. You can find several pieces you want to highlight, get them framed professionally or purchase matted frames, and start hanging. It not only feels great for your child to have their work hung on display, but it also brings character and warmth to your home! Select a place in your home like: 

• Bedrooms

• Hallways

• Family galleries

• Playrooms

In addition to the child feeling proud about their art, you might ask the child to decide where they want their painting to go. Letting them choose adds ownership and self-esteem.

2. Create a Rotating Art Gallery at Home

If your child frequently paints, make a "mini gallery" wall or bulletin board and add their new pieces for you to swap out every few weeks. You could hang their paintings using clothespins on a piece of string, or use magnetic boards for easy changes. 

Having an ever-changing art space allows the child to continue to feel engaged in their creative process and provides an ever-changing decor for your home for everyone to see. You could always title the painting and date it, as the artist will always have the right to decide what to title their pieces. 

Over time, this becomes a visual diary of their creative growth.

3. Make a Keepsake Art Book

Don’t let those beautiful pieces of artwork disappear under a pile of neglect or get folded up with a thousand other little masterpieces. Take photos of each one, or scan them to your computer or phone and order a printed photo book. There are lots of options for creating printed books online. Shutterfly and Canva are easy to use and allow you to upload and create custom albums.

Add some whimsical captions like:

• “Emma’s Treasures – Age 6”

• “Liam’s Summer Artworks”

• “Animal-inspired- 2025”

This way of documenting not only provides great memories, but it is also a wonderful gift for grandparents, aunts, uncles, or other relatives who would like to share in seeing how talented your child is becoming.

4. Transform Into Handmade Gifts

Completed Kids Painting by Numbers pieces make very meaningful gifts. Cut up sections of a painting and use them to make:

• Greeting cards for birthdays, holidays or thank you notes

• Bookmarks for teachers or friends

• Gift tags to attach to gifts

• Custom envelopes to mail personal letters

These DIY gift ideas are personal, eco-friendly, and also teach children about the value of giving something made from a sincere heart. 

5. Use as Decorative Wrapping Paper

If the artwork is on a flexible paper or a thin canvas, you can reuse it for unique wrapping paper. It can be an interesting use of the larger canvases for wrapping small presents, especially for family members who can enjoy the child's artwork. 

For smaller pieces of artwork, you can try folding them into origami boxes, handmade envelopes, or paper flowers. These decorative things are sweet touches to any gift.

6. Incorporate into Mixed Media Art Projects

Prompt your child to cut, stack, and glue parts of their finished paintings into new, abstract pieces. This would be a fun way to investigate:

Collage art

Scrapbooking

Storyboarding with painted images

Your child can add stickers, glitter, magazine cutouts, or colored paper where they can play with different textures, and increasingly mixed media will allow your child to grow creatively from the original Painting by Numbers Kits. This process will increase creativity, teach about upcycling, and reduce waste.

7. Turn Art into Functional Items

Finished paintings don’t just have to hang on a wall. With some imagination, they can also turn into more functional, everyday items like:

• Placemats (laminate the painting for spill protection.)

• Deskorganisers (wrap painted canvases around boxes.)

• Drawer liners (bring colour to the inside of furniture.)

• Light switch covers (cut, bind and seal small pieces over plastic plates.)

Repurposing art into utility items also teaches kids that their creativity can not only be enjoyable or creative but also useful, building their self-efficacy and practical thinking.

8. Create a Story Around the Painting

Encourage your child to create a story to put around the artwork. Who is the character? Where is this taking place? Why are the colours placed in the way they are? 

Have them write a short story or verbally create a story using their finished painting. Doing this practice in storytelling will build literacy, imaginative capabilities, and verbal abilities. Participants will also solidify an emotional connection to the art they have created. 

You can even bind the stories with scanned images of the paintings into a "written and illustrated by" book. It can make for an excellent show-and-tell, a nice keepsake, or even a new way for your child to display their art.

9. Involve the Child Organisinging and Archiving

Allow children to help decide how their art will be stored or displayed. Give them a folder, a bin, or an art portfolio where they can store and ,preferably, arrange their finished works. 

Be specific when asking them to:

• Choose the pieces they have created that they view as their favourite

• Help arrange by theme or season

• Help to think through what pieces are reusable or what pieces are giftable

Teaching children to take care of their creations encourages responsibility and pride for their work and also helps to develop organisational practices.

10. Make Seasonal Decorations

Kids' completed paintings can simply become holiday or seasonal decorations. For example: 

• A snowman painting can turn into a Christmas ornament. 

• A spring flower piece can become part of Easter decor. 

• Cut out Halloween elements and stitch them into a fun, spooky garland. 

Cut the art into shapes, punch holes in the top of each piece, and string together for one-of-a-kind, meaningful decor, made by kids!

Final Thoughts

Finishing a paint-by-numbers kit is a point of pride for any kid, but that doesn’t have to bethel the conclusion. Whether it gets framed, gifted, turned into something or otherwise, there are tons of ways to keep the creativity beyond the canvas. 

Painting by Numbers Kits are not just a fun, one-time event; they are an entry point for imagination, self-expression and even functional design. With a little thought, we can repurpose the finished pieces in ways that encourage sustainability while boosting self-confidence and a lifelong love of creative thinking. 

Incorporating these ideas into the routine allows us to keep the value of art alive, ot just at the moment of creation, but in the many joyous ways that art can be shared, remembered and celebrated in many ways for years to come. Within the playful boundaries of Kids Painting by Numbers, every magnificent artwork can become something even more spectacular!