Tips for Organizing your Art Supplies

Papers, Pencils, and Crayons Oh My! We all know how quickly Art Supplies can add up. Let me help you get those Art Supplies Organized!

De-Clutter:

Step 1: Round them Up! Pull out all of your Art Supplies.
Step 2: Group like items together:
Adhesives (Tapes, Glues, Staples, etc.)
Dough & Dough Supplies (Cookie Cutters, Rolling Pins)
Paint & Painting Accessories (Brushes, Sponges, Cups)
Paper
Writing tools (Crayons, Pencils, Pens)
Stamps & Stamp Pads
Scissors & Punches
Collage & Craft Materials (Glitter, Foam Shapes, Stickers, Pipe Cleaners, etc.)

Step 3: De-clutter your Supplies. Discard Broken, duplicate, worn out, and Unwanted Supplies. 
Step 4: Now that you know what you have left, You can start organizing your Art Supplies.
Your first step is deciding where you are going to store your excess are supplies. To stay organized you will need to assign your items a "home".

Find a Home for your Supplies:

Try and keep all of your Art Supplies together. If Space is a premium, keep items grouped together by type.
For example: All of your Painting Supplies together, all of your Adhesives together etc.

As much as Pinterest leads you to believe Organizing is about "looking pretty", it's really more about how quickly you can find (and put back) the items you are looking for.

You can use a variety of Baskets, Bins, or boxes to organize your Arts & Crafts materials. Again, you don't need to spend a lot on these items consider re-purposing items you have, or using recycled items.

Consider housing your Art Supplies in a Closet, Cabinet, or Drawers. If you are Short on Space Consider a Vertical Storage option-Such as Pegboard, an Over the Door Organizer, or an under-the-bed storage box.
No matter which storage option you choose, make sure it is accessible.

Holly's Art Corner

Using clear storage allows you to see your materials easily. If you don't have clear storage, consider labeling your storage to make your items easier to find. You can find some links to FREE labels here.

Amy Klapproth

Organizing Inspiration from IKEA

IKEA doesn't disappoint when it comes to finding options to store your Art Supplies. The Bins in the TROFAST line make it easy to sort and organize your Art Supplies. They even have wall mounted bins for the items your want to keep stored away from little hands.

Apartment Therapy

Are you short on space? One of the great features about this  Raskog Cart from IKEA is that you can have a "Mobile" Art Center. Stock it with commonly used Art Supplies or Writing Supplies and return it to your closet or another room.

Learning Ladder Family Daycare

Tips for Adhesives-Tapes, Glues:

Create your own DIY Dispenser, or an area for all of your adhesives!

Left Brain Craft Brain

A fun DIY tape dispenser

A Diamond in the Stuff

Over the door storage!

Tips for Dough & Dough Supplies

Keeping dough in plastic bins will help prevent it from drying out!

Mama's Like Me

Keep all of your dough supplies in plastic drawers!

Pre-K Pages

Store dough supplies in plastic bins and label them to make them easier to find and put away

Tips for Organizing Paint & Painting Accessories

Respacedpdx

Use bins, baskets, and trays to corral all of your like items together

Rainbows Within Reach

Be sure to swing by your dollar store for some low cost baskets and bins

Tips for organizing paper

You can use Magazine Files (Such as these FLYT ones from IKEA) to store paper-either vertically or Horizontally.

IKEA

Store Construction Paper in a File Cabinet

Buzzfeed

Make your own paper rack from Wire Shelving

Cat's Creations

Tips for organizing Crayons, Pencils, and Markers

Sugar Bee Crafts

Aunt Peaches

Sugar Bee Crafts

Scissors and Punches

These Sterilite drawers can be added to cube storage to maximize your storage space
(They hang over the front just a tad).

Daycare Spaces and Ideas

An over the door organizer is great for scissors, punches and smaller items.

Judy Nolan

Stamps & Stamp Pads

Permanently Primary

Collage & Craft Materials

Consider reusing containers you have on hand to organize your craft supplies.

Bella's Playhouse

de-tout-et-de-rien

Teaching Mama

Style With Cents

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Short on space? Don't have a dedicated childcare Space?
Find tips on creating learning spaces in a shared space here.

Check out some Art Spaces from other Early Childhood Educators