I'm going to make yet another attempt at blogging, and am starting with my summer projects. I have plenty to do in preparation for another school year with my kinders, so I might as well share!
The first project I tackled this summer was a solution for my art center. I am lucky that my students get free choice centers, even though it's a very small part of the day, because I know so many kindergarten classrooms no longer have them.
My Thinking: I love the idea of having an open art center full of different supplies that students can be trusted to use freely and creatively. My first few years I only had paper, crayons, and stamps, and I know my kiddos would benefit from exploring and creating with more materials.
The Problem: My classroom doesn't have the shelving to support all of these materials. Last year I attempted to solve the problem by purchasing a shoe hanger to hold the supplies. I loved the shoe hanger since it takes up so little space, but as a whole it was only decent; pom-poms, feathers, and beads were everywhere!
The Solution: I decided to fix this by having designated containers for each supply. My goal was to have a place where everything belongs and have each be clearly labeled. I am very excited to use this in my classroom!
Materials:
- Shoe hanger (I think I got mine pretty cheap at Target)
- Contact paper (Target and Rite Aid)
- Old containers
- Scissors
- Labels of art supplies
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| Shoe hanger and some of the containers that were used |
Step 1:
I started by cleaning out the old containers and peeling off the labels. I was lucky that none of the labels were sticky, but goo gone works wonders if yours are. I used three containers from Clorox Wipes, two cream cheese containers, two sour cream containers, and an old parmesan cheese container.
Step 2:
Once the containers were clean I covered them with contact paper. I measured out the size, cut it out, and smoothed the contact paper on. What's great is that if there are air bubbles it is easy to peel it back off and reapply--it takes a while before it is fully stuck on.
**Hint** If you are using an old food container such as sour cream, it is important to note that they are not a perfect cylinder. I found it easier to cut strips of contact paper because it didn't fit all the way around nicely as it did for items like the Clorox containers.
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| Some of the finished containers |
Step 3:
All that's left to do is choose which containers will hold which supplies, stick on the labels, and put the containers in the shoe hanger! I didn't put all of my labels on yet because I want to wait and see how my supplies fit once I'm back at school. I did put on two, though, and I'm very excited about the way they look!
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| The containers fit perfectly in the shoe hanger! (I had nowhere in my apartment to hang it up, but I know it'll look even better once it is hanging!) |
I hope you have enjoyed my very first project post! If you would like to use the labels that I created, click here to be taken to my TpT page for the freebie!
Please leave any questions you may have in the comments section : )
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