Think of organizing your kid’s crafts. You probably picture plastic bins or stackable storage cubes. But multi-level wall-mounted shelves under a reading nook with good lighting offer more than extra storage for construction paper. These functional display areas let children reuse supplies more easily. What they choose to leave out becomes a peek at their inner worlds.
A site like brightstartsusa.com sells these kits with two 24″ shelves, an artist’s bench, adjustable legs, and or itself. But we look for the surprisingly social benefits of keeping their recent work prominently out where others can see it. Finished projects organically become talking points to get kids vocalizing about what they made and why it matters to them.
Keep essential rich sensory materials like cardboard tubes and foil paper in reach on their first shelf. Pencil sharpeners and child-safe scissors can stay in fixed locations so younger kids don’t hide tools before the next session.
Be intentional about limiting maximum space instead of space until supplies form an unwieldy hoard.To create transition ‘bands’, use a second shelf above shelves storage just for finished pieces during the last week in any given project, defined as before moving work on to something new.
To resist the impulse to get everything put away slightly obsessively think twice — Heather White Emergency Department Child Life Specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital explains that displaying creative works boosts kids’ feelings of ownership over their ideas which in turn yields these lasting techniques: