One thing that has been helpful to me is having a good amount and variety of supplies for crafting.  Some days you just don’t have an idea of what to do but if you bring out a box with a bunch of supplies in it you will be surprised at what your children can come up with on their own.  Below is a list of the types of things we have and then I will share how I organize it all.

1.    A variety of paper, colors, sizes, textures, and weights.
2.    Chip board ( This is the brown cardboard you will find on the back of a note pad. It is light enough to cut with scissors but heavy enough to create small structures with.  We buy it at a paper supply warehouse in bulk. My girls go through this stuff fast.)
3.    Scissors – there are safe scissors available for little ones.  Just make sure to put them out of reach afterwards. (My girls have all decided at one point to take a little snip snip off their locks. Thankfully it wasn’t too drastic.)
4.    Glue, Elmers for paper and Aleene’s Tacky Glue for fabric and craft foam and heavier supplies.
5.    Fabric scraps
6.    Googly eyes
7.    Pom poms
8.    Glitter glue
9.    Tempera paint (don’t forget smocks or oversize t-shirts)
10.    Paint brushes of different sizes (these also work great for gluing)
11.    Craft foam
12.    Pipe cleaners
13.    Washable markers
14.    Crayons
15.    Colored pencils
16.    Sequins
17.    String
18.    Stickers
19.    Felt
20.    Playdough
21.    Beads
22.    Stapler with extra staples
23.    Scotch tape (this goes in the girls stockings every year)
24.    Hole punch

Even though there are many more supplies to add to the list I don’t want to make it overwhelming; this is a good start.  Start with a few things and add each time you go to a craft store.

I have also found great things at garage sales.  One time I found a box of sewing supplies and all the thread was on wooden spools. I took all the thread off and kept the spools. My kids have made Christmas ornaments out of these. 

How do I store all this stuff?  I have 6 stacking drawers (plastic) in my laundry room.  I have a drawer for all the paint supplies, including smocks and t-shirts. I have a drawer for playdough, and one has rice and toys for my hands on girl. The rest have the supplies divided up between them.  When the girls want to play with playdough, they just grab the bucket and bring it to the table. When they are finished they pack it all back up and take it back to its’ place.  This has worked well for us. 

I have learned a valuable lesson over the years with my kids and their crafting endeavors.  I am a controlling person and I don’t like waste.  It took a while for me to allow my kids to access these supplies without me trying to control how much they used and how they used it. I showed them that it is important to cut at the edge of a piece of paper instead of the middle so you don’t waste the whole piece, but after that I just let them have at it.  Princess, my oldest is very creative and it has been a huge blessing to see what she can come up with. 

One more thought before I close.  What do you do with all those projects?  Take pictures of them and put them in an album.  They will often times get ruined and thrown away and of course we often don’t have room to store all those beautiful creations.  With photos, they will have a memory of what they did.

Two of my favorite resources:
Family Fun Magazine (has wonderful craft ideas)
Oriental Trading Company (inexpensive, very cute craft kits, especially for holidays, and usually come in sets of 12)

Have fun gathering your supplies!
Susan

Susan Dusseault is in her 5th year of homeschooling her three daughters.  She and her husband have been married for 11 years and reside in the  Pacific Northwest.  Susan loves all things crafty and is passing this love along to her daughters.  Visit her blog Ladies in Training.

Related Tags: crafts, supplies, paper, glue, scissors, paint, craft foam, storage