09 February 2012

preschool projects / art supplies and storage



i'll let you in on a little secret. i want to teach playschool someday. i don't know when or how, but i'm already organizing my supplies like i have an army of kids showing up at my door. we'll see if that ever comes about, but when i do host a playdate with benji's buddies, it has become super simple to grab a project from the closet when they need some downtime.

i keep loads of crayons and glue in my office, but i decided i need kid supplies closer to the kitchen if i'm actually going to utilize them often (which i hope to do). it's more practical to have them nearby so i can start up a project when i'm cooking, etc. i made space in our main shelf and got to work organizing our arts and crafts supplies. (i think it's ironic how my house seems to fall to pieces when i'm organizing one area. i think to myself, at least this closet is awesome and tidy.)

i love the clear sterilite storage bins with the handy handle (i even keep his baby clothes in them). they are perfect for grabbing and hauling to the table. when he's older he can help me out. the open canvas bins are nice for benji to rifle through and grab the play-doh or lacing beads himself or we can bring the whole thing out. little options like these make me happy. an extra ice bin (supposedly for the freezer!) holds our paints and crayons. random, but fantastic. i call our tactile (messy) projects science projects. he loves that, so it just stuck. everything with letters and numbers is labeled learning activities. when we get them out i tell him we're playing school. (he gets into it and likes wearing his backpack to the table.) many of these items have been collected at back-to-school sales, from party favors, the target dollar aisle, and at michaels. you'll find a list of my favorite supplies below. please tell me your favorite kiddie art supplies, i'd love to hear them.








kid arts and craft supplies
coloring books / enough for friends too ($1 each at michaels)
stickers (i keep them in a large manila envelope for sanity's sake)
washable markers
washable crayons
twistable crayons
mad-lib notebooks
watercolors
washable finger-paints
colored pencils
sponge paint brushes
large stamps and stamp pad
scissors
tape
white glue and glue sticks
pipe cleaners
cardboard tubes (and other craft-potential items)
sidewalk chalk
tracing stencils
lacing cards
play-doh and cookie cutters
bubbles
foam sheets
shaving cream
sparkly pom poms
small magnetic white board
flash cards
alphabet letter magnets
foam alphabet letters (originally bath toys)
handmade musical instruments
large foam dice
lacing string and beads

12 comments:

How I Roll said...

I'm not a mom (yet) but I am a bookmobile librarian and do a daily craft with about 300 kids a month and googly eyes and felt are my absolute favorite art supplies. We've made so many different things with just those two but my favorite was these little finger puppets that were so cute and each one was unique and different.

I precut a ghost shape for the body in all different colors and then I cut mustaches, bowties, hair of all shapes and sizes, and random shapes and the kids went nuts. We used regular school glue to keep the pieces on so the kids didn't have to sew anything but my the end of the month, my example puppet was missing an eye and his mustache had seen better days. They were terribly cute, though.

Elizabeth said...

I can't remember how I found your blog, but I've gotten stuck on it, and just wanted to finally say hi. I love all your preschool and family posts. Even though I don't have a preschooler yet, I'm storing up ideas :)
http://breakfastinmoscow.wordpress.com/

Moments and Impressions said...

We love dry beans and rice... fun stuff to measure and dump. Love having everything corralled together. Our stuff is all over right now too. Time to hunt and gather.

Lift Like A Mom said...

What great ideas! I've been looking for a better way to get organized :)

Erin said...

Looks fun Mart! Reminds me to be crafty with my girls. The best kid paint we've found is from the Ikea children's section. We've used it for everything and it is completely washable. I stock up whenever I get the chance. Glad y'all are well.

Anonymous said...

Looks like you have all the supplies covered, sister! I used to teach a pre-school art class when my son was little; we ended up calling our daily crafting at home "Big Art Day". I kept our old pie safe in the kitchen stuffed with supplies, and since my son never took naps, we would break out the art supplies every afternoon. Lots of fun!

Shar

PS If I was only more 'techie' I could figure out how to add my comments without having to go anonymous!

kate said...

I love the Do A Dot paints because I can let Luke paint without an enormous mess.

http://www.dotart.com/

We made the cloud dough yesterday. To say it was a hit would be the understatement of the year. I had to hide it in the basement because I was afraid he was going to come out of his room and try to play with it after I put him to bed. Thank you for the idea!

Jessie said...

what great ideas!! i need to start a collection like this. you are so organized! some of our favorite crafting supplies include crayola pip-squeaks (mini markers) and the twistables.

Abby said...

Love all these ideas. When can we come for a play date? And when can you come organize my craft drawer???

Tisha said...

Have you heard of the book Playful Learning? Your post reminds me of it! I think there is also a website (I'm not an affiliate or anything).

We have an old map chest filled with art supplies in our dining room adjacent to our kitchen. Life saver! ;)

Christina said...

I love your secret on wanting to teach pre-school. It felt to me like the kinds of secrets I've told before about life ambitions. To those who've known me well, they've smiled when I told them it was a secret because everything about me had already given it away. To your long time readers, it was that kind of "secret," maybe not something I knew, but definitely not a shock. :) Your posts about the things you do with Benji are full of creativity and purposeful nurturing. I'm always motivated to do more fun things with my kids when I read them. Keep up the preschool practice, Marta! You're wonderful!

Erica said...

I teach a preschool class on Tuesday mornings at my church and our craft cabinet has become disorganized to the point where we almost never use it. I lovelovelove these organizational and product tips, I can't wait to put some of them to use. The kiddos will be appreciative too.

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