Before and ... (Ok, Just Before)

Zack's Art Bin is not working for us anymore. It's one of these Ikea bins which has a spot in his room but seldom makes it back there, instead spending most of its time sitting on the kitchen table. Part of the problem is that Zack doesn't really like to dig for his stuff - he'll work with whatever I set out or what's on top, but forgets about the rest. Also, having it always at his elbow on the unused third of the table during meals is bugging James. On the other hand, we really enjoy having his art materials accessible in the family space during the day.

Prompted by organized art photos from this book (which I have mentioned before and will review properly one of these days, really), I tackled his bin today, finding a lot of past paintings and drawings piled up within the supplies.

Unfortunately, as is so often the case, UNpacking the bin and stacking things in piles of like items was as far as I got. I did get rid of a bunch of trash. I also took past masterpieces and culled through them (just a little), dating the undated ones by month or season, as best I could remember. While I was at it, Zack narrated older drawings for me, telling me some things about them I'm not sure I knew at the time.

This was about as far as I got when it was time to clean up for dinner. I just barely ordered some things in the bin before James came along and stacked my stacks together and set everything on the floor. Sigh. I guess I have a little re-do to accomplish to get to make any progress beyond what you see here. Do you love how you keep your kids' art supplies? Hopefully, I'll be able to come up with at least a slightly better system, but I'm still trying to figure out what that will be.