Scan Your Art - Fun at-home activities for Kids.

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Scan Your Art!

Use a phone or tablet to scan and digitize your artwork, crop and color-correct images, then organize and share a digital gallery.

Start Creating

Table of contents

Step-by-step guide to Scan Your Art!

What you need

Artwork on paper, plain background or poster board, good lighting or lamp, photo editing app or editing tools, folder or cloud storage, adult supervision required

Step 1

Place the artwork you want to digitize flat on the plain background.

Step 2

Turn on a bright lamp to light the artwork evenly and remove shadows.

Step 3

Open the camera or scanning app on your device.

Step 4

Hold the device directly above the artwork so the whole picture fits on the screen.

Step 5

Tap the photo or scan button to capture a clear image of the artwork.

Step 6

Crop the image so only the artwork shows and straighten the edges.

Step 7

Adjust color brightness and contrast so the image matches your original colors.

Step 8

Save the edited image with a clear file name that includes the title and date.

Step 9

Create a folder named My Art Gallery on your device or in your cloud storage.

Step 10

Move the saved image into the My Art Gallery folder.

Step 11

Repeat Steps 1 through 10 for other artworks to build your digital gallery.

Step 12

Share your finished digital gallery on DIY.org

Final steps

You're almost there! Complete all the steps, bring your creation to life, post it, and conquer the challenge!

Complete & Share

Help!?

What can I use if I don't have a plain background or a bright lamp for scanning my art?

Use a large sheet of white or solid-color paper or poster board as the plain background and place the artwork near a window or outdoors in indirect daylight to replace a lamp for Step 1–2.

My photo has shadows, glare, or looks crooked—how do I fix that?

Reduce shadows and glare by moving the light farther away or diffusing it with a thin white cloth, hold the device directly above the artwork (Step 4) to avoid skew, retake the photo (Step 5), then crop and straighten the edges (Step 6).

How can I adapt this activity for younger kids or older children working independently?

For younger kids, have an adult help place the artwork on the background and press the photo button (Steps 1, 4, 5), while older kids can take charge of cropping, color adjustments (Steps 6–7), naming files (Step 8) and organizing the My Art Gallery folder (Step 9).

What are some ways to personalize or extend the digital gallery after scanning?

Enhance the gallery by adding descriptive file names with title and date (Step 8), creating themed subfolders inside My Art Gallery (Step 9), compiling a slideshow or printable photo book, and then sharing the finished gallery on DIY.org (Step 12).

Watch videos on how to Scan Your Art!

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How to scan your art like a pro step by step

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Facts about scanning and digitizing artwork

📱 Many phones today shoot 12+ megapixels — that means a scanned drawing can be printed big and still look sharp!

🖼️ Scanning or photographing at 300 DPI is great for online galleries; 600 DPI catches tiny pencil or texture details (but makes bigger files).

🎨 White balance and simple color correction can make paper look true-to-life and bring faded colors back to life.

☁️ Uploading your gallery to the cloud lets friends and family view and comment from anywhere, and keeps your originals backed up.

🗂️ Adding tags, dates, and short filenames helps you find the exact piece in a big digital collection in seconds.

How do you scan your art with a phone or tablet?

To scan artwork, place the piece on a flat, well-lit surface and open a scanning or camera app. Hold the device steady, align the edges, and take the photo or use the app’s capture button. Crop to remove background, use auto color-correct or manually adjust brightness, contrast, and saturation. Save a high-resolution copy, name the file, and add it to an album. Kids can help arrange art while an adult handles the device and sharing.

What materials do I need to digitize artwork?

Materials you’ll need: a smartphone or tablet with a working camera, a scanning app (for example Google PhotoScan or Adobe Scan), a basic photo-editing app (Snapseed or built-in Photos), a plain background or white poster board, good natural or lamp lighting, a flat surface, and a charger. Optional: a tripod or phone stand for steady shots, a ruler to flatten pages, and a protective case. Supervision is recommended for younger kids.

What ages is Scan Your Art! suitable for?

Suitable ages: 4–6 years can participate with close adult help — they can choose artwork and press start. 7–10 years can learn to frame, crop, and apply basic edits with supervision. 11+ years can manage scanning, detailed color correction, and organizing galleries independently. Adjust tasks to the child’s motor skills and attention span. Always supervise online sharing and teach privacy basics before uploading or sending images.

What are the benefits of scanning and organizing kids' artwork?

Digitizing art preserves fragile pieces, teaches kids basic digital photography and editing skills, and builds organizational habits. It makes sharing with family easy and lets children revisit progress over time. You can create slideshows, print photo books, or compile portfolios. For safety, use secure cloud services, avoid sharing full names or locations, and check privacy settings before posting. Try themed albums or time-lapse galleries as fun variations.

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