Saturday, August 18, 2007

Our Messy Art Cart


How do we make hands-on learning accessible to our children even when we are not available? How do we store all those artsy odds and ends? An art cart!


I am going to post pics of how my art cart looks at this very moment, resisting the urge to 'staighten up' before the photo. It is a bit embarrasing, but I am a self-admitted Messie. This a honest to goodness look at an art cart that gets used almost daily by a 10 year old! While not lovely to look at, our art cart is working for us. Hands-on learning is happening nearly daily during productive free time with or without Mom's involvement, and we are content!

Basically this was a cart I got from Office Max and it was, at one time, organized. : ) Instead of fixing it all up all the time and driving myself crazy, I just make sure all the hands-on materials get in, or on top of, the cart! It is in no way organized or neat...LOL!


Here are some items on top of the cart:

  • Air dry clay
  • colored pencils in pencil boxes
  • Hands and Hearts kits
  • Home Sciene Tools science kit


Some items in the drawers:

  • glitter glue
  • scrapbook paper
  • decorative scissors
  • tempera paint
  • watercolor paint
  • fabric paints
  • watercolor pencils
  • oil pastels
  • watercolor paper
  • pastel paper
  • glue sticks
  • craft glue
  • construction paper
  • colored Primo clay
  • sequins and other embellishments
  • different fabrics and odds and ends
  • fabric scissors
  • sewing kit
  • different types of yarns
  • ribbons
  • crochet hooks
  • colored beads and hemp
  • stamp pads
  • stickers
  • spray sealant
  • egg carton (for some project dd is planning?) - if there are cans, cartons etc to be saved for a future project, dd throws them in the art cart so she can retrieve them later.
The gallon bag hanging on the wall holds Dinah Zike-style mini-books and 3-D reports in progress.

I'm sure there are many other things I don't even know about that dd has collected in there!


It isn't pretty and organized, but it gets the job done. Somehow, by God's grace, dd can find anything she needs in our messy art cart. Someday, I will get around to organizing it.... Sigh.


So there it is, my 'real life' not-so-pretty art cart!

: )
Tami



2 comments:

my5wolfcubs said...

I like the new look! Ooh, and all those blog links...must not read...must plan next week...

I like your art cart, iit is all contained in one location! That is more then I can say. :)
Lee

Robinella said...

I have an entire dresser dedicated to art supplies just for the kids and then too many other things in cabinets and rubbermaid containers. I have artsy folks around here too.

I looked over your digital scrapbook posts and love the layouts. I have CK also but haven't used it. I just feel lost when I open the program. I should probably take the tutorial and just get started! Thanks for the inspiration.