8 Unconventional Art Room Organizers

Great video and love the touch of music!  I loved hearing how you organize, and knowing that many of us think in similar ways!  One thing I have used a lot this year are a few dollar store trays.  They were extras from home and I didn’t know if I would even use them here at school.  They have been great for passing out wet materials like tempera paint, glazes, liquid watercolor, etc.
As always, thanks for the inspiration!

Haven’t used the apple containers, will have to try those.  I use small garbage cans for clay, and have gym carts on the bottom so I can roll them around the room. Someone donated yards of vinyl car upholstery fabric that I cut up for clay canvases and they work great.

Another free source for strong shallow boxes (with lids!) is your local meat counter at the grocery store. Ask for the boxes that the meat comes in (the meat is in plastic so the boxes are very clean). You may have to ask several times as I’ve often gotten there a few hours after they have broken all the boxes down for recycling. These boxes come in a variet of depths (depending on what meat they were for) but are all basically the same large length and width (can easily store large paper in them, larger than a pop can tray bottom).

I use detergent lids as individual crayon cups or to hold oil pastels because as you know the boxes get crushed in about 2 seconds…My other go-to recycled containers are tin cans (used as pencil cups and circle tracers) and PB jars. The peanut butter jars store everything from feathers and buttons to oil pastels. I have used them for rolling clay, the lids become paint trays, etc. Options are endless.  My favorite thing is plastic soda trays! These are so handy for storing class sets of crayons, water cups, etc and I use them to separate my supplies by grade level for the day at the front of my room. Just asked the local grocery store one day and they were happy to hand them over :)

Baby wipes containers are thee best! Not only are they a nice size, but they don’t have holes in the sides for objects to slip through. When you are not using them, they stack together to save space. I use them in drawers to divide my pottery tools. I can pull the containers out of the drawer to clean them or set the tools out for the students to access. I also store “found objects” in them. The lids snap on snugly so they can be stacked. I labeled the contents on the ends with permanent marker. I have also used them as water containers when working with Pariscraft. I also have crayons stored in them. Seriously, a great container to help you organize your art room! :)