Q: Arts and crafts are BIG in my house with my (almost) 3-year-old - and next week at his birthday, he'll be sure to get a TON of craft supplies and art projects. I have been sorting out the materials as they come in and trying to keep them in bins, but it's starting to get even more confusing with the bins now! There is stuff everywhere in bins and to just pull together a project on the fly takes too much hunting for things. (Having the supplies out for my son to get on his own isn't an option at this point either - as I also have a crawling 6-month-old who is into EVERYTHING and the 3-year-old hasn't grasped the 'no small objects for baby' concept yet.) [continued...]
Sent by Jendra
I have started to have a larger box that is meant for free-range crafting, and having smaller bins with specific projects, but I'd love to hear some tips from others! How do others organize their arts and crafts stuff and where do you store it? What do you do with all the extra/double/random items? And for those who homeschool - how do you organize all the craft AND the learning supplies?! In the spirit of the toy cleaning thing going on here - do you ever go through your craft supplies and get rid of them? What do you do with them? How much is TOO much?!
Editor: If you haven't already, I put some arts & crafts supply organization photos in the inspiration gallery near the bottom of this post (3rd row). Readers, do you also have a large collection of art supplies? Any tips for Jendra?
• Got a question? Email yours with pic attachments here with the subject line: Good Question. (Those with an image get published first.)
(Images: Crayola)
10 No-Fail Decor Tricks & Tips for Small Spaces
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Shaw's Original Fir...
How to Bake a Potato: Three Easy Methods
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
I keep a large, handled serving tray in a wardrobe with paper, foam crafts, stickers, beads and stamps on one side of the tray and eight pencil cups filled with crayons, markers, glue, scissors, etc. on the other side. I can pull out a crayon cup for a quick drawing project or pull out the whole tray for larger projects.
I think a hobby box, like these are also great:
http://www.containerstore.com/shop/collections/hobby/toolBoxes
Not a direct answer to your question, but we only do one activity at a time and it must be picked up before starting a new one. It helps keep supplies organized.
Extras are stored until they are needed to refresh active supplies. Honestly, between our dog eating things and the grandparents tossing the old stuff when we’re not home, we don’t really have to think about when to get rid of worn items.
Peg boards are amazing to get organized, and cheap too. They make a thing called a "sticker on a roll shelf" for peg boards/ slat walls that they use at scrap book stores. it works wonders for ribbon and small rolls of kraft/ wrapping paper. For markers, crayons, tools, and odds and ends... I use the making memories brand desktop carousel. I got mine at michaels in the scrapbook organization section. Small rubbermaid containers with drawers work for paper and other larger supplies like stamps, glue sticks, etc. Google craft room or craft storage to get more ideas.
I put together this creativity center using IKEA stuff. The idea is to have stuff visible and enticing to my 2 1/2 year old but not accessible to my 1 year old.
http://www.modernparentsmessykids.com/2011/06/diy-creativity-center-toddler-friendly.html
Seethrough bins/boxes.
Then some kind of cabinet/shelving to hold them and one you can lock from the crawler.
I don't have a crawler or ittybitty, so I keep markers and art stuff on a table, then the rest (paints, glitters, stickers, jewels, paper, dough, foam, playdoh shapers, pipe cleaners . . . ) in the built-in kitchen desk and its cabinet above.
I have a whole 30x30 Ikea kitchen cabinet devoted to our kid friendly art supplies. I have a baskets and bins grouped by activity (stickers, colouring, painting etc) and a little divider box with foam stickers, googly eyes, pipe cleaners (that is a toy in and of itself)
It is over the kitchen table where we do our crafts and out of reach
We do most crafty things at our dining room table, so the dining room buffet is full of old wipes tubs: one for markers, one for crayons, one for random bits of crafty crap. It seems to work well for us. They are in drawers too heavy for the big kid (almost 4) to open on his own.
I tried everything until I saw a neighbor used gallon ziplocks, and they worked so much better than everything! Here's the thing: kids can see everything inside, so there is no need to dump everything out, which makes cleanup much easier. I put markers in one bag, crayons in one, etc. then the ziplocks all go in one big basket.
I don't ordinarily use ziplocks for lunches, etc. but since I'm using them for years at a time, I think it's justifiable. (BTW, you'll want to use heavy duty freezer bags so they hold up!)
Use a shoe organizer to hold everything. I saw this idea on Pinterest. I thought it was brilliant!
http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2011/08/our-new-schoolcraft-supply-organization/
A family member gave me a standing jewelry box kind of like this one when I was in High School.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&nord=1&q=jewelry+box+standing&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&ion=1&biw=1366&bih=667&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=15066523352518607850&sa=X&ei=m2liTpHwMc6btwex2KyXCg&ved=0CIoBEPMCMAA
I don't own a lot of jewelry though, so I use it for craft supplies. One drawer for glue, one drawer for markers, another for pens. The bottom cabinet has a sticker machine and a glue gun. It helps keep everything in one place.