Kids Cabinet - Organizing Crafts, Coloring Books, Legos, Etc....

Hello Everyone!  This one is for the parents and grandparents out there.  If you have kids around then you know how coloring books, crafts, markers, paints, games and legos seem to appear all over the house (especially legos; I think I'm going to be finding them for the next 10 years).  In my attempt to get these items all in one place, I cleared out some storage in the "office" area of my kitchen and dedicated a cabinet to the kids.  This was a quick organizing project and its all at kid height.  I used some plastic bins from IKEA for this project that were very affordable.

Here is the mess:

Here's what I used to coral everything, I think these were a total of $3.00 including the lid:

These bins are a great size, stack easily, and the lid comes right off.  A baby could take the lid off, which is nice for small kids because you don't have to open the bin for them.

Next, I made picture labels for the front of each bin.  I found clip art that matched the content of each box, laminated the picture, and attached it to the inside of the bin.  If you have a non-reader in your house, picture labels make clean up easier.

For the "Craft" bin, I used zipper zip lock bags for small items such as pom poms and stickers (side note: these bins are also the perfect size for wide mouth canning jars, if you would prefer them over plastic bags):

Here is the area I started with; its a hodge podge, junkish looking cabinet:

Step one is to clear it out and clean the area:

Next, load it up with kid stuff:

The other items found more appropriate homes in the kitchen.  I do still keep place mats for the table down here because I like to have the kids help set the table for meals.

I think I should address an organizing rule that I am "kind of" breaking.  Good organizers generally keep like items in like spaces.  For example, an office would have office supplies in it, not canning supplies.  I am keeping kid supplies in the kitchen for now.  I don't see this as being a forever home.  Hopefully, we will have better storage in the play room and these things will move there at some point.  For now, I needed a place the was easily accessible to kids, on  the first floor, and this was the winner.  Sometimes you do what works for your family.  The total cost for the project was $12.00, using the new bins from IKEA and supplies I had at home.

I hope this inspires you to tidy up all the kid "stuff" in your home.  As I am writing, one of my kiddos is using one of these bins for a painting project.

Thanks for reading!!!  Many blessings to you - Home Centered Girl