DIY & more, homeschool

Cute & Cheap Art Supply Organizer

I wanted to make a cute art supply organizer that can sit in the middle of our school table and hold supplies. This is what I came up with; it was super-easy, and the total cost was under $17!

art supply organizer

I bought a $7 wooden lazy susan at IKEA, then found little Valentine’s Day metal pails in the dollar section of my local Target. I didn’t want anything to fly off when we spun the lazy susan, so my original plan was to drill a hole in the bottom, and screw them to the top of the lazy susan. I still think that’s a good idea, but it would have made it harder to clean out the containers, or to change them later if I’m so inclined.

Ken suggested we use magnets, so I bought a set of little round magnets at Hobby Lobby ($2), and hot-glued them to the top of the lazy susan, like this:


After that, I just set the little buckets on top of the magnets and filled them with our supplies.

As soon as the girls put the markers and such in there, they both immediately started drawing, so I think that means this little project was a success!

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Jolanthe

LOVE this…I was thinking of making something similar and it’s given me something to go on!

Michelle, Muffin Tin Mom

GENIUS! so doing this!!

Jolanthe

Just finished mine today! Target had Lazy Susans for $8 and the tins for the 4th!!

The Activity Mom

Fabulous idea! love it!

Forest Rose

Thanks….this is a great idea. I will be using this one for sure:)

Erica

That’s so cool, and the magnets make me feel better, I was thinking that looked like a recipe for disaster at first, but I love it!

julie

a friend of mine has done this and she put a trash can in the middle of the buckets!! she had a larger metal tin she used but i found a fun little swing lid trash can at dollar general for $1 that is gonna be used in my center!

Jennifer

I saw this on Jolanthe’s blog and also on Kris’ blog at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers. What a great idea! I’m headed to Target in the morning before all of those little tins are gone!

JDaniel4's Mom

This post has been selected one of my great posts of the week. Here is the link to my post: http://www.jdaniel4smom.com/2010/07/great-posts-i-came-across-this-week.html

Jessica

Hi Jamie! I just wanted to let you know what a great idea this is!! I liked it so much- that I did it myself & posted about it- with a link back to you!! 🙂
Hope you have a great day!
Jessica

Cariann

What a great idea. I can see setting something like this in our supply closet and using it to store art supplies, using the magnets means they could take the bucket to their desks and return them when finished.

Bekah

I would love to do this in my classroom. I’ve been checking on lazy susan’s online. What size is this one?

Angela

Cool idea! I was just at Ikea, and I got the twirley circle and already have the $1 Target pails and I was going to do this. The magnet idea is great! I think I’ll add a mini-garbage too as someone suggested. 🙂

Shannon

My kids would love this… I have those exact Target buckets and can’t wait to head to IKEA! Thanks for the idea!

Ashlie

Love the idea. I had the kids do this at their desks in their rooms and it has made a huge impact on organization with a flash of fun.
Thanks.

Sally {with eager hands}

and I have a Lazy Susan from Goodwill!!! It was meant to be!

Brooke Stark

I love this. It is adorable and super-functional. I am going to pass this along to our homeschool group!!!

Laurie

I love this! I found some adorable owl tins at Walmart today and am making this right now (except obviously taking a break to type this….oh and to bandaid my finger after I had mishap with my knife while prying off magnets that were the wrong size 🙂 . It’s so cute! Thanks for the great idea!!

Leslie

Wow. I’m just now finding the blog hop of schoolrooms. GREAT IDEAS!!! This is the coolest idea I’ve seen in forever!!! I want one of these for our eating table as well. We are a family of 7 and I can see this with napkins in one tine, forks in another, and so on. We have kitchen helper’s each night and this would make setting the table for our littles so much easier.

OK, I have to show this to DH now. And the magnets from your DH–that is genius!!!

Kathie

Love this! & made it for my little girl! Ahhh….so happy that all her art stuff will be organized!

Amy @ Hope Is the Word

What a great idea! Thanks for sending me the link, Jamie!

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