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Parenting two active boys who love arts and crafts is great. Every day I have excited little guys running toward me, showing me their newest creations (and my 5-year-old creates some truly amazing stuff!) However, it always comes with the challenge of managing the clutter, constantly clearing and replacing materials, and ensuring their art supplies are readily accessible.
Honestly, the entire process was driving me crazy. All of the boys’ arts and crafts time takes place at the kitchen table, which means there’s always a mess of markers, crayons, stickers, scraps of paper, feathers, pipe cleaners… you get the gift. Every time I cleared the table or put something away, the mess would be back by the time I turned around. Initially, I decided that I would keep the art supplies locked away in my office so that I could keep track of what was out and try to manage the mess. However, this became more annoying than anything else since the kids were constantly asking for new or different materials.
The other problem with this was that my office is… well, my office. While I’m working, the kids and our nanny can’t be in and out – especially if I’m on a call – so materials would just get left out on the table or counter. As neatly as they’d be “put away,” they were still out in the open. On the one hand, this made it easier for the kids to access what they wanted without having to ask for help, but on the other, it just looked sloppy.
Creating a Functional Art Station
The first step towards a more organized arts and crafts area was to invest in some appropriate storage solutions. By purchasing little caddies and an organizer for markers, colored pencils, crayons, and other supplies, I was able to give each “thing” a home. In this way, even if the items were still out – at least they weren’t just strewn about haphazardly.
This rotating art supply caddy was the perfect solution for all of the writing utensils to be easily accessible and neatly contained. And – bonus points – since it spins it kept the boys from dragging buckets across the table – they just spin to the section they want, and the little cups (all of the colored ones around the edges and the center one) can be removed if they want. These caddys are also great for keeping things that do need to get put away in the locked cabinets – like glue sticks and scissors, or for creating a little art supply basket to take outside with us when one kiddo wants to do an outdoor activity and the other wants to keep working.
The next challenge I had was containing paper – from white printer paper to construction paper and coloring books – it was all living in a neat-ish stack on my kitchen floor. Which is absolutely not where it should have been. I purchased this rolling cart to contain all of the paper, coloring books, and notepads. Since it’s quite slim it doesn’t take up a ton of space in the kitchen and it makes it easy for the boys to grab what they need without riffling through my desk drawers.
Finally, the piece de resistance is this gorgeous rolling art cart. It’s the perfect solution for all of the miscellaneous materials that get strewn about and gets everything off my counter and kitchen table. It has also given me somewhere to move all of the things that I was keeping in the office cabinets, so no one needs to disturb me while I’m working. I won’t lie – it’s a little bit on the pricey side and came flat-packed so I had to put it together, but it’s great quality and the assembly didn’t take very long (and I did it by myself).
Once I set up the cart I quickly got to work filling it up. My kids love playing with colored masking tape and washi tape, so I popped those on the dowels that are on the back of the cart (and when I replenish it, a roll of craft paper will go there as well) and put our rotating supply caddy and stencil set on one of the lower shelves (note: I had been hoping this would fit on the top shelf but it’s a bit too big — but we work with what we have!). I also took some of the items that are usually kept locked in my office cabinet, like dot paint, stamps, kid-safe scissors, glue sticks, and an assortment of random accessories like ribbon, feathers, etc (the kids are old enough now that I don’t think I need to keep them locked away) and put them in the drawers.
Now the kids have access to all of the materials they need to let their creative spirits soar and it all stays neat, tidy, off my counters, and out of my office. A win-win!