From nature play, workbooks, arts and crafts, and seasonal play items we have A LOT of homeschool stuff. Each season I make an effort to go through things as I put seasonal items “away” to not overaccumulate, but point blank, there’s a lot to store. Here is what I have found to work for playroom storage, homeschool organization and storage, and all those loose parts storage.
I don’t have the biggest space or a designated classroom right now. So I made do with what I had, the biggest place I store things is in the garage right now (this system would be super easy and beautiful to do in a classroom). The garage is “overflow.” I keep all the seasonal stuff here, extra craft supplies, extra puzzles (I usually keep 4-5 inside but we have dozens), and lots of toys since I only have a few inside at a time.
THE SYSTEM:
In the garage, I have 2 main shelving units #1 HAVSTA Storage unit from Ikea. This is where I keep all of the seasonal homeschool items, the large white bins are full of seasonal-only items. I use cute washi tape on the boxes to easily identify which season it is for. As you can see one shelf is empty, I keep the current season inside for easy access. The doors underneath store all of the seasonal books, we have at least 50 Christmas books alone, this helps keep clutter of the house and bedrooms so much by just having a handful of things out at a time. I absolutely love these TJABBA magazine holders, they are less than $1 for two and they easily organize all the seasonal books, you can see them on the #2 BILLY Bookcase also where I store overflow craft items, they are perfect for all those coloring books we accommodate. I don’t do everything in a seasonal theme, but we don’t need 15 princess coloring books inside at a time, it’s too much clutter and too overwhelming for little kids.
Ok, let’s talk about these KUGGIS boxes now. I found them walking around the Ikea store one day and they come with an amazing KUGGIS insert in the top 1/4 so that all the small pieces can be stored in the bin without rolling around. As mentioned above, I keep one bin inside that I’m currently using right now is FEB-APR, then I have a summer bin which is really misc., and a fall and winter bin. It’s a lot of fun opening them each season and seeing all the things we can use again. Lots of times I will put old crafts in there just to make me smile when I open it. I do not keep any kind of schoolwork in here or they would get too full.
These are also great for when you find clearance items at Hobby Lobby end of the season to just open the top and throw in for the next year! I use a lot of these awesome zipper bags to keep things organized in the bottom of the bin. The KUGGIS bin fits perfectly under the FLISAT table, with plenty of room for the chair to tuck in still, so that’s usually where I keep it out of the way. Here are what the KUGGIS Bins and Inserts look like:
THE PLAYROOM:
The other main space I keep organized is the toys. I have a 3-year-old girl, and she gets LOTS of dolls with little shoes and accessories. After Christmas when she was 3YO and accumulated almost every version of Elsa doll out there, I had to get more of an organization system. This TROFAST storage unit is perfect for all the doll accessories, I have 2 bins, 2 trays, and 1 large bin on the bottom for Magnatiles. No more lost Elsa shoes and having the little toys all in one spot has encouraged my daughter to actually play with her toys not just make a mess with them. It’s only February, so I haven’t swapped any of these toys out since Christmas, right now I still have all those new and fun dolls she got.
Our playspace includes a toy rotation shelf, FLISAT table and chair, seasonal shelf (usually but either library books or a few seasons books on here), 3 tier cart for homeschool supplies, corkboard for most recent crafts, some play-inspired artwork, a padded floor space for a cozier spot to build, or be a hooligan, and a LEO Mat which we LOVE! It is bigger than the nugget and we use it in different ways every day!
CRAFT SUPPLIES:
I love my 3 tier cart for storing crafts! It is honestly is one of the most practical items I have. Before using it for craft storage I had it in my living room when my firstborn was a baby and kept diapers, wipes, toys, and burp cloths on it. I have a basket on the bottom that holds misc things like expo markers, playdough, tools, balls for counting, 20’s frame, and items we use a lot that doesn’t want to be hunting for. The top has this organizer so all the markers, pencils, and brushes aren’t falling over. I like organization within my organization. Here’s a list of my favorite homeschool must-haves. And my favorite small shop for homeschool items.
SCHOOL WORK:
Right now my daughter is 3 and we are doing a lot of “unit studies.” She really enagges with these and they are easy for me to rotate seasonally. I get most of these off Etsy, a few of my favorite shops are
I laminate a lot of the sheets so we can reuse them (such as tracing and spelling), and then keep them in binders. The sheets I don’t laminate I keep in protective sheets, which also work great for storing all the loose pieces for the activities. The one thing I don’t love is that once the sheets are laminated, they don’t fit in a protective sheet so they get stuffed into the binder’s front and back pockets. It keeps everything together, but not in order. But for cost purposes, they work great, maybe one day I’ll 3 hole-punch them to put in the order. I also bought some pouches that work great to keep smaller cards/activities in the binder without getting lost. Right now I just keep 1 binder out at a time, as I mentioned I don’t have a designated classroom, so we are doing work at the kitchen table. The rest of the binders I just store in a close
Homeschool is a blast! And I am fully called to be laminating sheets and doing pond scavenger hunts in the sun with my kids. While the stuff can seem overwhelming, I hope this helped spark some ideas of how to store items in your house and some amazing shops to check out.