To organize your art cupboard in the homeschool is to make sure that you have ideas for you to do with your children and some products that they can do on their own. Whether you are an artsy-crafty person or not (I am sadly not), we need to allow our children to experience this creative side of learning.

I think it is best to allocate a cupboard in your kitchen, garage or schoolroom. In this way you can train your children to clean up and pack away to one central area.

These are some ideas that we have used successfully:

Pottery

Every quarter or so I purchase a 10 kg bag of potter’s clay from a local supplier. I use Stoneware as versus Earthenware as it does not stain clothing. I have some tools from my pottery days before I had children - but for younger children all you need is some string or fishing gut to cut chunks of clay off the 10 kg block. You can use things like a garlic press to make “hair” for sculptures and old forks and blunt plastic knives to cut sections.

If your children want to learn some basic techniques, you can get a book from the library to teach them to make coil, pinch and slab pots.

I also buy bisque (first firing) plates, bowls and mugs and some pottery glazes in little jars for the children to paint, which when they are glaze fired can become birthday gifts for friends and family. This is a nice project for your children to do on their own.

organize your art cupboard

Painting

I like my children to paint every week. Sometimes we use water color paints, other times we use Tempera. Most crafts stores sell Tempera paints in large bags quite cheaply which lasts us a whole year. I also like to buy large sheets of blank newsprint paper for them to use for Tempera, especially for little ones who tend to just slop paint around.

Water color paint palettes are great for quick and easy projects. As the clean up is minimal, this is another “do-on-your-own” art time. These also fit well into a nature bag to be used outdoors.

I recently did a water color painting course at our local highschool as an evening course. I allow my children to do some structured lessons using my tubes of paints and more expensive brushes and paper only when I am with them.

Acrylic paints are also nice to try as they dry much quicker than oil paints. You can buy ready stretched canvas from most art stores.

organize your art cupboard

Drawing

It is my experience that some children are drawers and others are not. It is not an issue that I would force with any child but other moms tend to think it is imperative for all children to draw.

A book that we have enjoyed using is Drawing With Children by Mona Brookes. Her techniques are so gentle and easy to follow that I find when I use it with my children who are keen to draw, my non-drawers will ask to join in.

For drawing you will need to buy a selection of pencils with different hardness as well as markers and crayons. These can be kept in old ice cream containers and used only for drawing. We have cheaper colored pencils in each child’s individual pencil boxes for use in school time.

organize your art cupboard

Scrap booking and card making

Our girls love to make cards and scrap book old photos. This they do on their own.

Your empty ice cream containers come in handy here again to hold fancy scissors, glitter glues, punch outs and other small items.

A selection of colored card and scrap booking pages can be kept in stacking trays in a cupboard. Small scraps can be kept for punching out in envelopes or plastic sleeves.

organize your art cupboard

Collage

I love collage, but it s not one of my children’s favorite activities. These are some ways that I store our collage materials.

Empty egg cartons are great for holding small beads, seeds and dried legumes of different colors.

Material scraps can be contained in a drawstring bag.

Old magazines can be kept whole or you can tear out suitable pages and keep them in a concertina file.

Other larger collage materials can be stored in clear plastic containers or...you guessed it...old ice cream containers.

organize your art cupboard

I think one of the reasons that homeschooling moms do not do art and craft with their children is due to cleaning up afterwards. Make sure you take the time to train your children to work on old newspaper and the correct way to tidy up afterwards. Otherwise it will become a point of contention in your home and you will probably stop doing these valuable and fun activities.

Other pages you may be interested in are:
Resources for art and craft lessons
Art appreciation
Toddler Art and Crafts
Homeschool Art Programs

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