Having supplies (safely) accessible for kids will spark their creativity and encourage child-led learning. When an idea strikes they will be able to gather the materials they need to bring their innovation to life.
Storage can be affordable (and pretty). Often local thrift stores have organizers, or you can nab some at your local dollar store for an affordable price. You may also have many of these items around your house that you can repurpose to new use.
Here are some of the organization tools we find more useful and powerful for promoting play-based learning:
- Glass jars with lids: These are perfect for storing pom poms, stones, beads and gems. You can grab them new or upcycle from your recycle. By the time your child is 3 they should have the motor skills to unscrew the lids themselves. Reusable snack containers also does the trick.
- Tiered organizer: You don't need large quantities of all your loose parts. A tiered storage tote keep them all in one place and organized without taking up much space. The dividers can be removed making larger compartments for items you have more of.
- Utensil caddy: Caddies make a great storage for coloring tools, such as markers, crayons, and pencil crayons. They are child accessible and you can simply pull out the whole caddy any time you have a coloring activity. If you want to store them inside a drawer, then a utensil organizer also works wonderfully.
- Traditional craft organizer: These are great for paints, paint brushes, glue sticks, scissors and all the other assorted supplies you have.
- Canvas Bags: These are great for organizing wooden toys, wooden loose parts, games, and assorted toys.
- Plastic Bins: These are the perfect size for coloring books and sticker books meaning that you can bring the whole bin out for their own activity. The deep version also makes a great, contained, basin for kinetic sand or a bean bin.
- Accordion File Organizer: These are perfect for organizing all your printables and keeping them easily accessible. drop file organizers also work.
Join Earlybird for activity ideas for all these craft and loose part supplies!
