Our New Art Cupboard

This little cupboard was found at a yard sale recently. After cleaning it and painting it all of our art materials were moved in. Here's an up close of our art cupboard:



On the top are some of the metal (Montessori) insets. They are used for tracing and help a child prepare the hand for writing since the different shapes have the same curves and lines found in and used for writing letters of the alphabet. They are not traditionally found in art areas and are not considered art materials, however, my daughter does prefer them used this way and so I put them with our art supplies.



Also in the cupboard, (moving left to right) we have glue materials- glue stick and liquid glue with a small bowl and small brush. Cutting shapes- paper folded in half with half a shape drawn on one side. Cutting paper strips used for my (almost 3 year old) daughter. And on the far right is the basket holding scissors, a large and a small paper punch.




A tray of paper sits on the left with the art mats under it. Art mats are used for putting under play dough, glue work, painting or coloring. The art mats are actually plastic food cutting mats. They are inexpensive and clean up easily with a damp sponge. Next to that is the crayon caddy which holds the drawing utensils.



The bottom level (upper left) holds large and small beads for necklaces as well as sewing materials. The upper right are animals stencils and rubbing plates. The bottom left is a tool box filled with our play dough materials like rolling pin, cookie cutters and wooden utensils. The bottom right is painting materials used for our weekly watercolor painting day and a paint set for painting at other times with a jar for rinsing and a paint brush.

I still need to add a basket of paper scraps for cutting and glue work. So, that's what is in our art cupboard. What are your children's favorites?