Officially, we have an art cabinet. Unofficially, our art cabinet is a three-tier shelf that sits in the corner of our recreation room downstairs and has baskets on it. Each basket is stuffed with an unfortunate array of bits and pieces at the moment, haphazardly stuffed into the corners of the basket. Let me say that I am not always a paragon of organization and leave it at that.
However, despite its not-so-lovely appearances, our preschool art cabinet is well-stocked. This is the time of year to take a look at your art supplies, plan for the summer, and re-evaluate whether you need all of those bits and pieces in there.
I find that while we tend to spend a lot of time indoors crafting in the fall and winter, summer is the time for outdoor play. This necessitates outdoor craft supplies. The beginning of summer is also a good opportunity to look at what worked and what didn’t work for you during the cooler months of the year.
What worked for us this year?
Stamps – get some stamp pads and old stamps from garage sales, add some paper that is used on one side and you are good to stamp away. Just supervise please, or you will end up with a black and white child like mine was.
Clay – this is a good winter and summer craft. It’s available in bags and boxes from craft stores. I’m talking about the real, natural clay here. Store it in an airtight bag and it will last for a long time, or store it under a damp cloth if your child is working on a project that needs to keep overnight.
Pieces of fabric – we get these from quilting scraps that people are selling at garage sales. They work well in kid-created three dimensional sculptures.
Tape – the ubiquitous and child-friendly masking tape in all sorts of colors is a delight. We don’t like the clear Scotch tape quite as much, since it sticks to small children and turns into balls.
Stickers – just a few, scavenged from birthday party bags. They’re a good addition to sculptures and to notes.
Beads – we like the bulky big beads from Melissa and Doug. Use large needles to thread them again and again.
Pipe cleaners or chenille stems – these bendy, twisty items are preschool-pleasers and are a good option when the tape is all used up. They also make excellent crowns and necklaces.
Party decorations – these add glitter to any sculpture or dress-up costume.
What is in your child’s art cabinet, box or bag as you head into summer?