Organizing Kid Craft Supplies…Wednesday Windings 07/13/2011
This weekend while I was working on a couple new items for the Store (have you seen the new Bold Blooms totes, by the way? love that fabric–wish I had ordered more!), the kids got out their own craft stuff and started creating too.
The Cowboy digging his stuff out.
How do you organize kid craft supplies? Their stuff can get as out-of-control as my stuff! But we’ve hit on a few things that really work for us.
First things first–they don’t get them out without permission! That’s the only way to control the mess. They have to ask, so I can be sure they’re at the table and under general supervision. (And that I put the crafting table cloth on!)
They have a whole box of scrapbooking papers that are either scraps or didn't suit me that they all get to share. It has to stay in the middle of the table.
The second main thing is that I control the overall supply closet. They each get a project bag and small containers of supplies to go in it, but they never have free access to the whole stash! I buy a lot of stuff at Back-to-School sales (can you believe it’s that time of year again!) and store it in shoe boxes (yes, I’m a crazy label-maker lover!) in the top of our craft closet. Stuff like crayons, glue sticks, scissors, rulers, markers, colored pencils…
Pencil boxes give great access for little folks and contain the mess!
Each of them gets a pencil box with a couple glue sticks, their scissors, and their miscellaneous crayons, etc. to keep in their project bag and they can ask if they need any replacements. This way we don’t go through 500 glue sticks in one day or anything. The pencil boxes are also great to specify tools. Speedracer only gets washable markers in his, the Cowboy prefers colored pencils right now, and it’s easy to control access to the Ladybug’s Tinkerbell glitter-glue pens.
The Ladybug is what we call an "advanced crafter" around here.
The final part of our “system” is THE PROJECT BAG. Each of them has a canvas bag with their name on it (thank you to Mimi!) that they keep their “projects” in. This includes their pencil box, any magazines they have for cutting out, any special papers they have (I bring scrap maps home from work all the time), and any stickers or embellishments they have access to. Ribbons, buttons, fabric scraps…this way they can keep whatever is theirs separate. The Cowboy has some special “boy” papers that I gave him, and Speedracer keeps his Hot Wheels coloring book in there. This is also where the Ladybug keeps her stamps in inks.
I don’t bother them about what’s in there or if it’s neat–as long as their pencil box is closed before it goes in It’s their craft stuff and they can keep whatever they want (if 2 inch scraps of pipe cleaners and crumpled up cut outs of LL Bean backpacks are precious to them, hey, who am I to judge?) as long as it fits. When they’re done, they put everything in there and hang it up in the craft closet. Everything left on the table is considered scraps and thrown away.
They were making birthday cards for my niece and nephew this weekend.
We have a lot of supplies that I stash in that closet–they just don’t get access to everything at once so I can be sure we’re not completely wasting stuff. I usually pass out one or two packs of stickers at a time and when those are all gone, they can look through what else they might have in the sticker box and pick one or two more packs to put in their project bag. Same with ribbon and buttons. They get a roll or some long scraps or a small jar to keep in their project bag and can ask for more or something special when they need it.
Not having little fingers in everything makes it much easier to keep things neat! And I have a couple 12×12 poly envelopes that I use to save special in-progress or completed projects in.
How do you keep control of the kid craft supply chaos at your house?
We have a small closet that I try to corral all the extra craft supplies in. At the moment both Sophie and Bella have control of their desk, so all three drawers are crammed with crayons, markers, color books and paper to create. It’s not my fav system – but it works for right now, which means it works for me 🙂
“Works for mom” is the most important! That’s what I love about their project bags too–they can shove whatever mess they want in there and it’s contained and I don’t have to fuss about it. I’m a messy-creative too, so I understand the chaos. 🙂
I haven’t found a good system for Wesley yet. His stuff is scattered everywhere! He has a wipe box full of crayons and a pencil box like your gang for his markers, but the new ones he got are “missing.” I tried putting all his coloring books, water colors, extra crayons and special projects from his Aunt “Net” in what was my old desk in his room, but he never uses it, so I guess it’s pointless. It’s organized in my head. I just haven’t figured out how to keep it under control. Right now the only thing I really supervise is the play doh and the stamping.
We’ve had one or two writing on the wall incidents (thank goodness for Magic Erasers!), so we have a pretty strict rule about writing utensils being allowed only at the kitchen table. It’s fun that they’re all up there working and I’m back and forth from the ironing board to my sewing machine checking in on them and they get to show me all their progress.
We haven’t figured out the desk situation yet. We don’t really have room for 3 desks in our house, so they use the dining room table. We have a table upstairs too, but they’re not allowed to take art supplies upstairs right now.