Ikea Art Cart...

Our playroom was once littered with art supplies. I love that my kids like to create but finding broken crayons and glue without tops was driving me crazy. Every couple days, I would have the kids round up all the supplies and put them back in their place in the playroom. Just hours after cleaning, I would walk in and find art supplies everywhere. I realized it wasn't really the older kids who were creating the mess - its the monster one year old we have running around that seems to make messes wherever goes. The only way to solve the problem was to remove the art supplies but make them very accessible.

Introducing the Ikea art cart that resides in my office closet.


I purchased a cart on wheels from Ikea. This allows the cart to be mobile and can travel to and from the playroom when needed.

Also from Ikea I purchased two sets of white magazine holders. These hold the coloring books, workbooks and clipboards. The clipboards were purchased for another project that I never completed and the kids kept sneaking them to color on. They are a staple on the art cart.


The bottom two layers are filled with quart-sized canning jars. Hallie meticulously sorted out all the supplies and organized them into different jars. Crayons, colored pencils, twistable pencils, twistable crayons, pencils and pens, scissors, markers, glue sticks, glue, whiteboard markers...and more. Everything they need for a art project or school assignment. Sometimes, they don't need the whole cart and they leave it in the closet and take the jars they need. Hallie will take a jar to her room to color and return it later.

It's been over 6 months and the supplies have remained relatively organized. There have been a few casualties including when the cart was left in the playroom by accident and a certain toddler dumped out the jars. But the kids have been great about making sure it gets put away since then.

The best part is anytime they're looking for a supply - they know exactly where to look. It's also easy to see what we're running low on - which doesn't happen to be gluesticks, we've got two jars full!

Water Balloon Pinatas...

A while back, I saw a Walmart ad that peaked my interest. It advertised a water-balloon fight where the water balloons appeared to be filled with paint. There was a link at the end of the ad for more information. It was good advertising because I clicked.

The balloons were in fact not paint filled. They were filled with a mixture of cornstarch/water/food coloring. I couldn't actually imagine having my kids throw those at each other but it would be fun to create pinatas out of them.

Filling the balloons was not difficult, but it took some time. I made the mixture and put it in a bottle with a squeeze top in order to fill them.

Once filled, they hung from a line using a binder clip.

The kids took turns with the bat - swinging their best swing.

The first try Hunter had he totally missed the balloon. I was laughing as I clicked through the pictures because he had closed his eyes for the entire swing. He tried his hardest to keep his eyes open the second go around!





I had filled enough balloons that each kid could have several turns and Cannon could throw a couple. When the kids were done there was one lonely balloon left in the bowl. We all agreed it was Steve's turn. He swung for the fences and me and my camera were standing a little too close (I was used to the kids swings and my dry zone was relatively close).

I was covered.

The kids were all begging me to fill more balloons so they could have a couple more turns and so they could see Daddy make it rain paint even more. The key is teaching them how to fill them!

Place cards the kids can make...

My Halloween decorations are officially put away (aside from the black wreath which I keep forgetting to replace) which means it's on the next holiday! Family Thanksgiving assignments are out and as expected we're in charge of place cards (probably because I'm the only one that cares - and I have kids that want to do it!). So, here's some ideas that are kid-friendly and super easy.

Fold ribbon in half to make the turkey feathers and glue them to the back of a piece of kraft or construction paper.


Use gold metallic paint to paint feathers (I purchased a bag of feathers at Michaels for 1.99). Paint half the feather gold with a couple coats and use a fine sharpie to write names on it.

Cut kraft paper to 8.5x11 and fold into a boat using these instructions. Tape construction paper to a toothpick and put it in the middle of the boat.

Use the kids fingers to create this work of art with some craft paint and googly eyes.

It's hard to remember my kids were ever this little - and even then they were helping with the place cards!