I bet you are just dying to know what we keep in all those bins in the arts and crafts storage center! Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but I know I am curious nosey like that…so I thought I would share. First let me note that we did not purchase anything specifically to fill up the bins. To fill them up we:
- Relocated supplies the kids already owned into one central place (before we had crayons in the pantry, markers in the cupboard, chalk in the garage, etc.)
- I donated items from my own craft stash (scrap paper, leftover project supplies, unopened supplies I bought and never used)
- My mom went through her stash and made significant donations (she had craft supplies leftover from when I was a kid…almost vintage pom poms and pipe cleaners)
Let me break the whole storage center into sections and show you what is in each.
In the lower green bins, we keep the “safe” items. These are items I don’t mind if the kids play with or grab on their own. They are not dangerous and do not have the potential to make a huge mess. Here are the lower bins:
The blank envelops and notecards are great for quick notes to Grandparents or making birthday cards for friends. The stencil drawer has all kinds of fun for learning to draw shapes. These all came from my personal stash of stencils (and now I just borrow them from the kids). The stickers are a collection of leftovers from scrap-booking, party favors, and prizes. They are good for a quick quiet time activity.
Kids can use up a lot of paper. We put all the colored paper we could find in this bin. In a separate bin I added all the smaller pieces and paper scraps. This continually gets refilled by scraps from my own paper projects. The bound sketchbook and grid paper are great to grab on the go.
This first bin has large cardboard sheets (from packaging, backs of notepads), plastic grids (I learned how to cross-stitch on these as a kid), and food containers (that I am sure might turn into really cool bongos on a rainy day). The wood bits are a lot of fun. Between my mom and I we had everything from mini clothespins to mini baskets, and wooden shapes. The yarn and ribbon get used a lot. You never know when you will need a bit of “string” for a project. My mom donates her leftover yarn scraps from knitting and crocheting. I add leftover ribbon when I am done with it.
Newspapers and magazines are great to keep on hand for collages and letter hunts. Cardboard tubes and egg cartons are easy to come by on a weekly basis. We keep the ones that are in good shape. The peat pots and paper mache ball ornament were leftovers from other projects. One day the nanny helped the kids make a train with mini serial boxes and attached the bottoms of two peat pots to make the smoke stack for the front of the train. I am pretty sure the googly eyes, pom poms, and pipe cleaners are vintage. My mom found these in her basement, probably leftover from craft projects when I was little.
In the upper bins I keep all of the dangerous or messy items. These are up high and require an adult to take out for the kids to use. This really helps keep from getting crayon drawings all over the wall. These bins are also smaller and perfectly sized for holding containing smaller items like hundreds of crayons. Here are the contents of the upper bins:
Finally, above the upper shelf I added more storage for additional odds and ends that did not fit in the bins. For example, you can see the paint bin is stuffed with no room for brushes. No problem I corralled the brushes in an easy to grab bucket on the top shelf. Here is whats on the top shelf and what’s inside those small tupperware containers:
I hope this view into how I organized my kids craft and art supplies while inspire you to make an arts and crafts storage center of your own. It is fun for the kids to have their own “stuff” to use and for it to be easily accessible and still easy for me to clean up.
Also, check out the newest addition to the storage center: flash card organizers.
4 Responses to What’s In the Arts and Craft Bins?
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Hi, I'm Jackie
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Brilliant!
I think this is great. I have been looking for ways to organize our small homeschool room, and this is my favorite idea.
Love this! Thanks for sharing! I’m a 4K teacher at Christian school and have been trying to figure out how to have a small free-art center. I think this is it! Thank you!!
LOVE IT! great job.