Do you ever wonder what to do with all of your children’s craft supplies, art materials, crayons, markers, construction paper, puzzles, play-doh, and more?? So many times all of this stuff ends up in a bin somewhere or kept in random places. Have you ever considered how nice it would be for you and your children if all of these materials were kept in a neat and orderly way in an easy-to-access location??
Many children put puzzles together, create master pieces with play-doh, and draw and paint beautiful works of art on the main level of the home. While others have dedicated play rooms or spaces elsewhere in the home where children can be creative. Regardless of your set up, look around your home for a place where you can create a specific and well-organized space for these items.
If you are looking for space on the main living level of your home, consider the coat closet. Some of us enter and exit through the garage, so we rarely use this closet for its intended purpose. If this is a rarely used closet for coats, consider re-tasking the closet as an activity closet. You could also consider the kitchen area to see if some shifting in that area could open up a lower level cupboard. This is assuming that you are privileged enough to have extra space in the kitchen and that you could use a cupboard that is slightly out of the way. You would not want to put the craft supplies in a cupboard in between the stove and sink, and expect the little ones to not get in the way while you are making dinner. However, some homes have butlers pantries that make for a perfect, out-of-the-way, space for an activity cupboard. And aside from you and the kids, nobody at Saturday evenings dinner party would ever know what is behind those doors.
Even if you are among those with a home that includes a dedicated play room, a well organized activity closet could serve you and your children well. Especially if the play room includes a closet which could serve this purpose very well.
So now that you have identified a closet or cupboard, and moved everything is those spaces to another place in your home; you are ready to organize!!
Converting a coat closet or the closet in the play room into an activity closet can be done very easily with some wire shelving that can be found at your area home improvement store or specialty organizing store. Maximize the space by installing shelves that are between 12 inches – 16 inches wide as space permits. In an afternoon you can install a set of shelves and get everything set up. Purchase some small and medium sized storage bins, keeping in mind that your children may be carrying these bins to the kitchen table or craft table. You should have a bin for crayons, a bin for markers, a bin for play-doh, a bin for paint supplies, and a bin for coloring books. You may have several other bins based on your children’s interests. Items such as puzzles and board games can be placed neatly on a specified shelf. Obviously if you are working this into a kitchen cupboard, you will not be installing shelving. You will still want to create bins for items in the same manner; but make sure that the bins are small enough to be put in and taken out of the cupboard easily.
Get your children involved in the process of creating an organized activity closet. They too will benefit and appreciate being able to take the bin of crayons and bin of of coloring books to the table to be creative and have fun.
Do you have any creative solutions for storing and organizing children’s materials?? Share your stories and solutions with us.
