Organizing a Kids Craft Supply Space for Fall

Every parent with smaller kids should have a craft space right? Especially for the days when we are bound inside due to rain, snow, or heat warning. And as the Fall season has arrived with the winter to follow, it is definitely a good idea to gather craft supplies and store them all in one place for when they are stuck inside. Last week, I discussed Six Ways to Get Your Home Ready for Fall. Today, I want to talk about creating a kids craft supply space for Fall.

Our kids love to do crafts and I love seeing what they create and displaying them around the home. I believe the kids learn so much from doing and getting involved in kinetic activities. With these reasons in mind, I tend to keep a stash of craft supplies on hand. Just in case you missed my recent kids crafts and activities supply list to have on hand, you can view it here and print it for free if you choose to do so. It even includes a grocery item section:)

A few weeks ago, I showed you a peek into our home and some of you commented that it seemed organized. I guess I never really considered myself so much of an organized person before that post. But then when I stopped to think about all the pieces I have organized in our home, I can see how that can be true.  

I do not have a craft room so I use a space in our laundry room to store the craft supplies. We also keep preschool workbooks and activity boards there, too. In the past, I have moved the supplies to a space in the garage. And our 4 year old daughter proclaimed how clean and neat the laundry room looked then. I agreed. Without the craft supplies in the laundry room, the room is much more spacier but keeping the supplies in the garage was not my preferred way. So I have returned the stuff to the laundry room and restocked it with a whole bunch of supplies! Take a look!

This is the space in the laundry room to the left of the machines. The top shelves were already there when we moved in. Also, the lighting is terrible so even with the opened doors, I still could not capture bright enough images. Our intent is to eventually remodel the room. But for now it works as a laundry room, craft supplies room, and mudroom leading to the backyard. So I thought I would give you a look at how I organize our craft room space.

While I had many of the little bins and jars (previously from Target and Walmart) on hand to store the crafts, I ended up purchasing a few extras from the Dollar Tree for extra storage. 

And here is a sample of the items that went into the bins. I purchased them back in August during the Back to School sales at Walmart and Dollar Tree. All of the items in this first photo are from the Dollar Tree and the others in the photo following, from Walmart. 

While the Dollar Tree has good little coloring books and supplies for crafting, it is probably not a good idea to purchase dry-erase markers there. Just saying. . . .They tend to ‘dry’ out really fast. No pun intended.

But anyway, I am not usually good at thrifting, but I found this new, no damage, unopened organizing shelf for half the price at a goodwill store. They had about 10 boxes up front as you walk into the store. It is a Circo brand from Target so I just could not pass it up. I knew it would come in handy. I had no idea Target donated supplies to Goodwill stores.

It did not take very  long to assemble and it is not very tall. The bins are removable, too.

This storage shelf sits at the bottom of the already mounted shelves in the laundry room. The space was just perfect for the portable shelf both length and width wise. And I am glad it came in white, too, to match the rest of the shelving and the washing machines.

I use it to hold larger items such as construction paper, paper towel rolls, egg cartons, yarn and so forth. And way back in the corner, I keep very larger paper items: poster boards, charts, cardboards, etc.

On top the shelf is a basket that holds all kinds of activity and coloring books, paper puzzles, stickers, wipe clean number and letter practice sheets and various other paperwork. 

Here is a sneak peak into one of the workbooks I use for the kids. You can find the post on the workbook resources we use here.

I also keep additional bins and sectional plates for play dough and sensory play. 

For the sensory play, we mostly use homemade colored rice, pasta, cornmeal, and oats. And we colored the pasta and the rice in lovely Fall colors, too! Sensory play like this is more suitable for our 2 year old but our 4 year old preschooler loves playing with them, too. Colored rice makes good little pretend cooks! 

Just to the left of the shelf, you will find some tin cans holding long thin items such as straws, fuzzy sticks, and paint brushes. I had purchased these cans from Target (Dollar Isle, of course) for another use earlier this summer.

The first mounted shelf above the portable storage holds baskets and containers with items such as acrylic paint, glue, glitter, and small items for play dough.

A closer look at the play dough kit. I usually make homemade play dough and the kids can decorate them with little things like these. They also have cookie cutters and play dough sets in another bin that include rolling pins and trays for playing.

The middle mounted shelf keeps all items in bottled jars. The items include dried colored pasta, cornmeal for sensory play, buttons, craft eyes, Popsicle sticks, clothespins feathers, sequins, sparkly gems, and various other smaller items.

The top shelf holds the extra items such as extra crayons, glue, paint, paper plates and whatever we have extra for when we run out of something. Glue tends to go fast!

And here is a look at the entire thing. Once again, excuse the poor photo images. I try to keep the space looking neat as much as possible because our laundry room is not big. And having stuff all over the place will totally drive me crazy!

So that is the little space where we keep craft and activity supplies handy. And if you are wondering if we will craft daily, the answer is Nope! We used to pretty regularly, last year, but with three little ones on hand, it is not always easy to schedule daily crafts. But at least we have the supplies and we will try to do as much as we can.

What do you think of this small space? Do you prepare craft supplies to keep your little ones busy during the colder months? Do you have a separate room for them? I would love to know your thoughts in the comments below!