When I first started working from home in mid-March, I placed a rather large online order for art supplies and kids’ activities on Amazon. I am INCREDIBLY thankful that I did! These art supplies and kids’ activities have allowed me to productively work while also watching my two crazy kiddos.
When the supplies arrived, though, they took over our dining room table. I was a little overwhelmed by the vastness of it all. Pre-pandemic, our art supplies lived on a rolling cart from Ikea in our sunroom, out of the reach of the kids. With everything living on the dining room table, Nathan could see and touch everything. NOT OK. The rolling cart was already bursting at the seams so, unfortunately, my new supplies couldn’t live there. I decided I needed to get ALL of our art supplies under control and organize them properly.
One evening, after the kids went to bed, I raided our container stash (yes….I have a Container Store addiction) and evaluated ALL of our art supplies. After carefully counting everything, I started labeling all of the containers (I heart my label maker) and filling them, one by one. It was only after this step that I realized just how many crayons we own. WOW, who could ever use that many crayons in one lifetime? Nathan can.
Now that every craft has its place, it is so much easier to find everything! If you are thinking about reorganizing your art supplies, I HIGHLY recommend these clear shoe boxes. They are incredibly affordable, and I love that you can see what is inside of them. I actually had a few empty ones in my closet, so we repurposed them here! The opaque white containers are a mix of Container Store and Ikea. A few weeks before the quarantine, I visited Ikea to pick up a few things, and I am so happy I grabbed a few of these containers. I will definitely be picking up a few more once I am able to visit the store again!
What I probably love most about this set up is that when we take one of the boxes out, Nathan now understands that when he is done, everything related to that craft or activity needs to go back in the box. It makes cleanup so much easier!
If you are working from home with kiddos during this quarantine, I HIGHLY recommend you take some time to organize your art supplies and activities. It only took me about an hour. It will make actually working from home that much smoother!
