I had originally wanted to call this post "Artsy Ways To Survive (Yet Another Snow Day) With Children" but it seemed a bit desperate-sounding...
1. ENCOURAGE CREATIVITY (Also known as "Set Yourself Up For Success")
All of my children are creative, but in different ways. One of them MUST do art every day. I used to keep all of my personal art supplies, my classroom art supplies and my children's art supplies together in my office. Problem? Well, I was constantly running back and forth grabbing supplies for my children, they were always getting into my classroom supplies and using things I had set aside for an upcoming class, and after a creative binge, the cabinets looked like a tornado went through...so I finally figured it out. If I want my kids to be creative, they need access to supplies and they need to be able to put them away themselves. I want this to be 100% access all the time. So, where do they work? The dining room. Where are their art supplies? The dining room.
Our house is small and this set-up isn't going to earn us a spot in Better Homes & Gardens, but this works right now for us. I suggest setting up a temporary art center in a corner of your home and trying it out and making adjustments before buying fancy organization "stuff." See how your children work and do what works for your family.
Here's a tour of our ART CENTER:
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| LEFT DOOR: Restickable hooks hold regular scissors ad decorative scissors, the red thing is a apron. TOP SHELF: Elmer's glue, glue sticks and tape such as masking, electrical, duct, and clear tape, there's a bin for watercolors with brushes, watercolor paper and a water cup, old yogurt bins hold colored pencils and markers. BOTTOM SHELF: a bin of assorted punches, Twistables, a sketchbook for each child, and a slot filled construction paper, a bin of crayons with a crayon sharpener. RIGHT DOOR: rulers hanging on restickable hooks |
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| My kids usually prefer to work at our dining room table, but we're trying out this table-turned-desk. There is a roll of IKEA paper on there (which they actually never use) |
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| This ain't pretty, but it is a repurposed bookcase with a place for "How-to" books o drawing and origami and coloring books, along with bins for clay, recycling and interesting bits for sculptures, etc. along with our scrap paper bins organized by color (I know that seems a bit weird, but it actually works well so you can find the paper color you need fast). |
Other things that are not shown here but are available to them, on an as-needed (mom-involved) basis:
Tempera paints
Acrylic Paints
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Higher quality watercolors and paper
Higher quality paint brushes
Craft stuff such as beads, pipe cleaners, craft sticks
I keep the above items high up on a shelf in another room. Every once in a while I take a handfull of crafty supplies and leave them in their art center as an invitation to create, but I wouldn't leave the whole box of craft stick or pom poms out--they'd be gone in a day (or more accurately strewn all over the house)...if they decide they need 100 craft sticks I can always bring the bin out and they can use however many they need.
I must say that I've tried MANY versions of an art center with my kids over the years and usually I have to pack most of it away once I have a new baby and they start walking (and putting the art supplies in their mouths), but at this moment, we are out of the baby phase so I can keep this stuff available all the time.
The addition of an art center to our home has increased creativity for all and I see the children choosing to "do art" more often and it is a cinch to clean up (for both the children and me) because everything has a place.
So, take the plunge and create an art center for your home today!
