{ORGANIZING} Crayons, Markers, Pencils, Glue—IDEAS?

I don’t have pics, but a few years ago, my daughter’s missionettes class made Mother’s Day gifts, and she covered 3 plastic (empty) frozen juice concentrate cans (about 2.5 inches across & 3.5 inches high) with fancy duct tape, and then they ran a solid color duct tape piece around the middle of all 3 (side by side). She took a permanent marker and wrote “pencils,” “colored pencils,” and “markers” on them to show what should go in each can. It sits on either her art desk, which is next to the computer for school, or on a shelf in our school supply & book cabinet during breaks.

Not super-fancy, but cute & not too expensive. I’ve also seen people cover sturdy shoeboxes from toddler’s or young children’s shoes with pretty, heavy paper and print out cute tags to label the boxes, then put them on shelves to use as nice bins. We also used to purchase those plastic pencil boxes with the hinged lids when they were dirt cheap during back-to-school sales and plastic shoeboxes with lids at the dollar store. You can make those look nicer by applying labels that you or a crafty designer friend has printed out from your computer.

Also, rather than post lots of links, I would suggest searching “organize crafts supplies” on Pinterest to see lots more ideas for containing school and craft items. Although, personally, I think that having some open containers for the most often used items (markers, crayons) on one easily accessible shelf would make everyone (even the youngest) more inclined to put the things back right after use. Somehow, a lid sometimes doesn’t shout, “Throw those pesky crayons back in here…NOW!”

have links to a few pics

but can’t insert them

will if get it figured out

jo

We use a utensil caddy.  It holds all our pencils, pencil crayons, markers, gel pens, rulers, scissors, anything else long.  It swivels as well.  I love it, because it makes everything accessible for several children at.  I don’t know where it came from, because it was a hand-me-down from my sister. You could make something similar with a lazy susan base and then several small cans/jars/containers.  I might need to look into that, as we could use another.

Glue sticks, erasers, tape, stapler, and other smaller things are in a utensil tray that you would put in a drawer.  This keeps them organized, but still freely accessible. 

I won’t say that things are all put away all the time, but because the containers are open, it takes just a few seconds to tidy up when we need to.

On the super frugal side, one thing I have done when I have had LOTS of preschoolers in my home daycare is to use empty tissue boxes to hold things like crayons.  I just cut the hole in the top a bit bigger, but still with a lip around the top, so they are stackable.  Then the kids can each have their own box, but again, they are open and the items can just be tossed in at clean up time.  They don’t last forever, of course, being just made from cardboard, but when one gets worn out, it’s free to replace it.  This is what I still use in some of my kitchen drawers to keep bag clips, bread bags that we reuse, or other small items.

Each boy has a workbox cart…10 drawers stacked vertical, in wheels (from back in the day when we did the workbox system). A drawer for each type of supply…one for markers, one for colors, one for paints, etc. No sharing = no silly squabbles. My fave though is from Ikea. Bygel series, orginally for kitchen,, but it’s essentially a metal rod attached to the wall. Plastic cups formed with an edge that hooks over, so they hook on, and hang from the rod….but they also lean so the bottom is against the wall, not free hanging. I keep my general,supplies in them one for Sharpies, one for dry-erase, etc. if I had more space, I’d do more of these….super cheap too!

We use clear plastic containers for most supplies and math manipulatives.  I picked them up a Family Dollar, and I like that they have attached lids (that never get lost).  I have some in a bigger size as well.  I also use some small stackable bins for items like CDs/DVDs and our memory index card box.  I picked these up at Dollar General.    

We store some supplies in a zip up pencil case (the flat kind that can go in binders).  In these we keep: crayons/color pencils (depending on their age), glue stick, scissors, and a couple pencils.

Hi!

I use mason jars and other clear jars or glasses for organizing all of our colored pencils, markers, pastels, crayons, modeling beeswax, etc. I choose the height of the jar/glass based on what will be in it. All are stored on a lazy Susan we keep out all the time on our mulitpurpose lesson/project/game table in our family room.

Each child has a pencil box with the basic pencil, pen, eraser, glue, etc.

Best wishes!