When I was a kid, the ditto machine was the in technology for teachers. The blue, often faded and hard to read copies of worksheets were common- but not overly burdensome- because teachers, I think, didn’t want to have to suffer working that dreadful machine to make copies of little things…
Kids Paperwork = Avalanche
Now however, with obvious access to copy machines, my kids receive tons of paperwork every, um, DAY. There are art projects, random drawings, spelling pages, writing, and crayon colored images coming into my house at the rate of (no not a ton) but 4.27 pounds every 2 days. The reams are stacked high, and the various sizes were overflowing every “save for later’ bin, keepsake box, and scrapbook I have!
And, of course, DARE throw anything away, and the whole house is in an uproar- “HOW CAN YOU THROW THIS AWAY! I WORKED HARD ON THIS!” CRY CRY CRY!
Taking an Idea from the Classroom
One of the things that my son Elijah sees daily in his classroom is a classroom camera that combines with a LCD projector that turns into a modern version of the now dismissed overhead projector. His teacher puts a book, or paper under the camera, and the whole class can see the image- and her hands, in video!
Lets take this as a solution from the ‘Recovering Hoarder’ Handbook. – Don’t save everything that you find sentimental, but DO take a picture of it.
Now, my husband heard about this, and took the concept to save solve this kid artwork/paperwork/avalanche problem- what if we had a camera like this to take pictures of artwork that comes home?!
Minimize the Time it Takes to Photograph Kids Artwork with a HoverCam
HoverCam manufactures a line of desktop cameras that can be used for realtime video projection, video recording, document scanning, and presentations. And, it turns out, makes quick work of a stack of artwork.
HoverCam T3 Document Camera Review
The HoverCam T3 Document Camera and the accompanying software (see all features and download for free to any PC or Mac) turned my pile of about 60 items into digital files in about 10 minutes)
How to Photograph/Scan 60 school papers in 10 minutes
- Plug your HoverCam into your laptop or PC (USB easy)
- Start the software and pick where you want to save your images
- Place one paper/artwork on the supplied mat
- Crop the edges with a CROP button if you want
- Click the BIG RED Camera BUTTON on the software
- Replace the page and do this 60 times-
- Easy Peasy

The results of my project were fast, beautiful, made my husband happy because I can throw out boxes of papers I’ve been keeping, and makes my son happy because his artwork is now eternally saved as a digital file.
HoverCam T3 Document Camera Video Review
Examples of My First Grader’s Most Interesting Artwork- Scanned and Saved Forever
Buy HoverCam T3 Document Camera
You can buy the Buy HoverCam T3 Document Camera for $219 on the HoverCam website or on Amazon.com.
This was not a paid post. My own opinions were used based on my perceptions and experience. Thank you to HoverCam who provided the product for review.