craft cabinet

As Ella has grown, so too has her collection of art and craft supplies.  She could spend thirty minutes coloring, painting, gluing, or drawing and, in toddler time, thirty minutes spent doing any activity is a great thing!  So we like to support her habit.  

When we returned from Cleveland this summer, I realized that her supplies were starting to overflow the spot I had originally used to stash it all.  Not only were they overflowing the space, but they were also impossible for Ella to access on her own without injuring herself (think boxes of items teetering upon more boxes . . . no good).  So I decided to clear out a cabinet in our living room and get all of these supplies organized for her.  

I started by making a list of all of the items I needed to store and a general indication of the size of container I'd need to store them in.  I already had a small collection of matching storage containers and so wanted to make sure that I purchased more of the same containers in the sizes needed.  I made sure to add labels to all of the bins so everyone will know where the items should be returned.

It's amazing how something so simple can encourage Ella's interests - she can now go to the cabinet and select the bin of supplies she'd like to use all on her own.  I only wish we had enough space to store all of her toys this way.

And for me, doing this has made me realize that not everything needs to be fantastically pretty to be incredibly useful and effective.