An organized art station for kids

If you saw my post 2 weeks ago on beautifully organized art stations for kids, then you know that I've had art supply organization on the brain.

Even as a one-year-old, Emma has accumulated quite the art supply
collection, and I had absolutely no system to keep it organized. Everything was just in piles on our basement bar. So I finally got my act together and decided to transform a corner of our basement into a super-organized art supply station. I absolutely love the way it turned out. Take a look!

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Hobby Lobby antique wooden brown shelf with 12 slots

Ah... a place for everything, and everything in its (neatly labeled) place!

One of my big goals with this art station was to keep certain art supplies out of Emma's reach... and to have others that she would be able to access whenever she wanted to. I don't want her getting into the paint without supervision, for example. Crayons? Fair game. To solve this problem, enter: the adorable tin buckets!

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Hang metal buckets to easily store supplies such as crayons and markers

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Hang metal buckets for easy art supply storage

I found these at Target. I can't find a link to the exact ones I used, but I do see them in store from time to time, in the party section.

At her current height, Emma can't reach any of the buckets that are hanging up. I just unhook the buckets that I don't mind her using whenever she wants. Right now I keep the crayons, colored pencils, and magnetic alphabet letters on the desk at all times. Everything else, she has to ask my permission to use.

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Use tin buckets to easily label and store crayons and other art supplies

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Use metal buckets to easily store crayons and other supplies

The buckets fit perfectly on the top shelf of the desk, which was a $2 yard sale find. I don't have any before pictures because my enthusiastic husband sanded and repainted it the same day we bought it.(Hey... no complaints here!)

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Use metal buckets to easily label and store supplies

Emma LOVES her desk She can crawl up on the chair all by herself, which makes her feel really independent.

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Use metal buckets for easy supply storage

Right above the hanging buckets, I hung an organizer with two wire baskets. I labeled one for paper, and the other is for coloring books. 

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Use hanging metal buckets for easy pencil, crayon and marker storage

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Use tin buckets for easy supply storage

I kind of love this organizer. I found it at Hobby Lobby, and knew immediately that it would be perfect. 

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Use metal buckets for easy supply storage

Above the paper and coloring book folders is the 12-slot wooden shelf, where every other art supply fits quite comfortably. I love how easy it is to see exactly what we have. All the little cubbies also keep everything nice and neat.

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Hobby Lobby antique brown shelf with 12 wooden slots

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Hobby lobby antique brown wooden shelf with 12 slots

I love being able to take down one or two things at a time, which means that I never have to clean up EVERYTHING all at once. Once Emma can reach a little higher on her own, things might look a little different. ;) 

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Use tin buckets to store materials

Finally, to the right of the desk, we put Emma's easel.

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Desk, chair, easel, and hanging supply storage

The easel was a hand-me-down from a generous friend, and Emma is super into it right now. I love how versatile it is. The whiteboard side is great for dry erase and magnetic letters, but it also has a clip, which is perfect for hanging paper or giant coloring pages.

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Easel

The back is a chalkboard. Do you like my husband's artwork? ;)

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: easel

And probably the best part of the easel is... the painting! Emma and I paint about once a day, on average. It's so easy the way we have everything set up, and she loves it so much. Every time she asks, I think, "Why not?" :)

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Painting tips

I do have a little secret to make painting setup and cleanup a ton easier. I found a small metal trashcan at Ikea, and I keep an old sheet and a painting smock (one of my old Tshirts) along with a pack of wipes and some paper plates in there all the time.

Organized art station for kid's art and craft supplies: Use a small Ikea trash can to store a sheet and smock for easy painting setup and cleanup

When it's time to paint, I just spread out the sheet under our workspace, throw the smock on Emma, and we're all set.

An organized kids art station including a painting station with a trash can with sheet and smock for easy setup and cleanup

When we're done, I throw everything back in the trash can and tuck it off to the side.

I can't explain how good it feels to have all of Emma's art supplies cleaned up and off the bar. Well... except that now the bar is filled with the entire contents of our pantry because- surprise! we're already working on the next big organizing project. But that's another post for another day. For now- here's the source list- where I got everything for Emma's art station. If I forgot anything, just let me know.  And be sure to let me know what you think in the comments!

Source list 


Note: This list contains affiliate links

  • Desk: Repainted yard sale find
  • Paper/book holder: Hobby Lobby (I couldn't find the exact one I bought online, but it is similar to this one.)
  • Antique brown wooden shelf with 12 slots: Hobby Lobby
  • Crayola magnetic double-sided easel: Ours was given to us, but you can find them on Amazon.
  • Metal trash can with lid (4 gallon): Ikea
  • Children's Chair: Ikea

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A perfectly organized art station for kids- great way to organized art supplies for easy set up and clean up of art or craft projects from toddler to elementary schoool age
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