Kids’ art supplies, workbooks, and therapy items

I love this. We took a bookcase that wasn’t functioning well in my youngest daughter’s room and moved it to the downstairs playroom (a topic I’ll cover some other time). Linking it to OrgJunkie’s post about like-with-like items this week – although this was my FIRST 52 weeks of Organizing project! How cool is that? I got the clear PLASTIC jars on the top shelf from Oriental Trading quite cheaply. They are great – don’t break if dropped. The smaller size is perfect for standard and toddler crayons; the taller ones work great for markers, paint brushes, colored pencils and the like. The bottom shelf houses all the workbooks we use to supplement their schoolwork on holidays and during the summer, and the scissor set was a gift from my mom to them. Changes made since this photograph was taken: The Playdoh went away and was replaced with Theraputty containers when my youngest was diagnosed with autism. The top shelf where the Playdoh was now holds the jars seen on the second shelf that are my oldest daughter’s beads roughly sorted by color, thread and elastics, etc. The scissors gained a home in a bin in my craft closet due to an UnfortunateIncidentTM. The middle shelf now holds 3 bins I found at IKEA – one for therapy items, one for the aquadoodle items and one for miscellaneous supplies. The bottom shelf now utilizes poly magazine sorters in a rainbow of colors from The Lakeside Collection. Each grade level has an assigned color except for the last two which are used for coloring books. The jars are just so cool! I have 3 dozen more in boxes in the attic for future organization ideas and/or replacement needs. If you can’t find them on the OT site, check under “imperfect items” – I scored a dozen tall jars for less than $3. They are not food safe, nor are they water tight – so I don’t suggest trying to grow sea monkeys in them, use them as beta bowls, or make cocoa mixes in. Stick strictly to non-cosumables unless they packaged (medicines, for example.. a possible future use for some of my extra jars!).