I used a hat box, but any box will do.
Place the following in the box:
Scissors
School glue
Glue stick
Watercolor set
Colored pencils
Construction paper
Take a walk around your home and collect things that would make good collage materials:
Cotton balls
Empty toilet paper rolls
Toothpicks
Chopsticks
Lids from various jars
A couple of paper towels
Dried beans
Dried pasta
Dried rice
Old magazines
Comics
Costume jewelry
Scraps of fabric
Beads
Yarn
Used envelopes
Used labels
Greeting cards
Have your children help you think of ways of organizing their art supplies (empty yogurt containers with lids, zipper baggies, etc.)
Remember to ensure that the box remains well-stocked. Whenever you (or your children) are about to throw something away, consider putting it in the box instead.
I did this for my 5 year old grandson and he just loved it. I do a lot of crafts (scrapbook, rubber stamp, sew, knit) so I have plenty of odds'n'ends around. Now when he comes to Granny's house, it is something special that we do. First thing he says is, "Let's make crafts Granny!" And now that he has 9 month old twin brothers, it is something that puts him in the center of attention with me.
I have a friend who when her kids were young used to always keep a craft basket for them. This basket was a square plastic laundry basket. When she went to the store, she'd sometimes pick up one or two new things for the craft basket. It might be construction paper, fancy scissors, coloring books, glitter-glue or marking pens. Most times these craft items came from the dollar store. The cool thing was, whenever her kids said "I'm BORED", she's say, get out the craft basket!
* The problem most people have is that they use craft containers that are to small (like cigar boxes & the like). If you use a laundry basket, then you won't run out of room & your kids can move it from one room to You can always put the smaller supplies in zip-lock baggies. Square baskets work better than round ones because they seem to fit into smaller spaces.
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