Kids' Art Area

Our Kids' Art Area was borne from desperation, not inspiration. When we moved into our new home, we had a really oddly-shaped, narrow living room, and we didn't really think we had room for our coffee table. But we wanted to keep it nearby for those instances when we needed it, or in case life turned out to be impossible without one. I decided to push it into the corner and use it for an art area for the kids. We'd keep the art supplies right next to it, and they could just go over there and create. I think it's so important that kids, when they've proved to be responsible, have easy access to art supplies, and the time and opportunity to be creative.

Many years ago, I bought this drawer storage thing for my classroom. Once I started having babies and staying at home, we used it for baby clothes. Loved being able to separate all those tiny little baby things. But we don't have babies anymore, and I realized it would be perfect for storing arts and crafts stuff! FIFTEEN different drawers! The sorting and organization options made me swoon with joy!

For anyone who is super curious about what fills all those bins, here are some close-ups of the labels on the drawers (still loving my Amazon label-maker from Christmas this year! Woot!).

And here's a little sampler picture of some of the drawers.

Since we're in a rental, we put down those interlocking foam mats under the table and chairs. Really helps especially with the play-doh. Also, I have been dreaming ever since we moved in about getting some vinyl for the walls that says "create" and/or "imagine," and this "wall art" is courtesy of photoshop. LOL Just wanted to try it out and see how it would look!

Hopefully this gets your mind going on how you could create an area like this in your home for your kids to get in there and create! In our house, the kids are welcome to use any of that whenever they would like, but they do need to ask permission to paint, and they have to clean up after themselves. Anything else, they have free reign. Believe me, I know it's hard to think about the mess, but it's so important. And really, what better mess is there to be made than art?