Essential kids' art/craft supplies

[Smithagain]

Anyone like to share with me their ideas for a basic kit of essential kids art and craft supplies that will (a) foster their creativity while also (b) allowing family life to continue to function in the same room.

I am feeling the urge to tackle the cluttered glory hole that is our dining room. Our daughters are 3.6 and 6.5 and constantly making stuff.

At the moment we have:

• a box of materials for junk modelling
• a box of small bits and pieces (glue sticks, pretty bits for collage, pipe cleaners, small craft kits etc)
• a smaller box of painting accessories (brushes, pots, printing pads etc) plus several bottles of poster paint and a block of water colours
• a box of playdough and cutters etc
• two drawers in a chest of drawers with goodness knows what in, but it includes misc pretty paper for collage, plaster of paris, more junk modelling bits etc
• two magazine files of assorted card and paper
• a decent set of pastels, several dodgy sets of coloured pencils and a few felt tip pens that survived the last cull when I found one leaking all over the rug
• a few craft kits given to DD1 for birthday presents but not yet used
• DD1's sewing box and knitting bag - Christmas presents from grandparents and therefore sacrosanct!

There's probably more but I'm getting embarrassed now . Does everyone have this much stuff? And if so, how on earth do you store it all, because at the moment it's taking over our living space. But I do love the way they get stuck into making things and I don't want to get too obsessive about the mess.

DD1 loves to make cards - and they are actually quite presentable. And she's beginning to get into sewing. DD2 likes glue - any variety. Both like painting.

Help!

Bumping forlornly ...

We have a cupboard full of art and craft stuff, loosely organised into boxes of: felt tips; pencil crayons; patels; ribbons; printed papers; buttons and card toppers etc etc.

Things that my girls have always used the most/got through the most quickly are:

• A3 sized and A4 sized sketchbooks
• pastels
• Berol felt tips (cheap ones are a false economy)
• watercolour pencils
• ribbons - we are currently really liking the self adhesive ribbons you can buy for card making
• lots of pretty patterned papers
• Fimo and normal air drying clay
• poster paints

Thanks Janeite

That sounds like a manageable amount that the girls would still make good use of. Think I need to get everything out of the drawers and have a purge.

I have more than that but store it all in 2 Trofast tall drawer units in the kitchen. They take up very little floor space and go up high,fit masses in.

plain envelopes are popular in our house. I have a large crafty bits box (random bits of tissue paper, ribbon etc, anything useful, but not big stuff). They help themselves to cardboard from the recycling box but I don't keep much junk modelling stuff - too much space. Small box of ELC paints (rarely get them out these days), glue, prit sticks, sellotape - this is by far the most used item - and a pile of drawing paper - they are very un environmentally friendly and refuse anything except pristine A4 paper. A box of felt tips and one for pencils, biros, crayons (not much used). A bead box, if that counts. imo less is more - the things they actually use, well displayed and easily accessible.

Other things they liked a lot when younger:
paper plates for turning into people;
doilies for colouring;
pipecleaners, wool and googly eyes for collages;
beads and string etc.