Art Carousel

Crayons, color pencils, scissors, glue, tape, paints, paper. The list of art supplies is endless isn’t it? With four kids in the house I am always, always, always searching for a way to organize something. And because we homeschool our need for organization seems to grow almost daily! It’s a never ending task.

A few weeks ago I came across a wonderful idea from Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations. She blogged about the art carousel idea that she had read from another homeschooling Mom. (Don’t you just love how these ideas just keep getting passed around?! Don’t want to know where I’d be without them!) Anyway you can see her version here. Today however I am going to share with you my version which isn't near as pretty as hers but I'm okay with it. :)

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As this is the “back to school” season most of my extra cash has gone to purchase what I need to get for the up coming school year and this carousel idea although a great one was not something that was high on my list of spending priorities. So I sat and thought about how I could make this cost as inexpensive as possible.

1. Well yesterday I was able to make it up to my favorite local second hand shop and was blessed enough to come upon two lazy Susans that they were selling for a buck each. I tested them both to make sure that they would turn well and they passed the test.
2. I brought them home and began thinking about what to use in place of the buckets that the other ladies had used. I turned to my stash of plastic containers. I have all kinds stashed away for a just in case moment such as this one! I picked out three containers that were the same size and thought a little more. How to make this look “pretty.”
3. I thought of painting the lazy Susan's.I didn’t want to spend any more than I had to so I looked through the spray paints that we already had on hand. I had a choice of gold, dark green, burgundy or brown. Although I would’ve loved a more child friendly color I went ahead and chose the brown. I sprayed the Susan and waited for it to dry.
4. Once dried I looked for my stash of Velcro. (I did have magnets around but just couldn’t find them.) I cut a piece to fit across the  bottoms of each container and cut some the same size to go on the Susan.
5. I then set out to make labels. Probably the hardest job of all because the containers I chose were not perfect in circumference. After making my pattern ( I just wrapped a plain piece of paper around the containers, traced the shape and cut it out. I then cut three labels for the containers and added the words.
6. I affixed them to the containers, covered them with clear tape, attached them to the lazy Susan and viola! I now have an Art Carousel that cost me $1.00!!!

Now I decided to keep my carousel to holding just colored pencils because Littlest is still too young to have access to glue, scissors and markers. But I might do that at a later date!

I still have an extra lazy Susan to utilize in whatever way I want so I really could make another one and keep the non-toddler approved stuff in there.

Well, what do you think? Can you spare a buck to make one for your family? Look how they’re lovin’ it!

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I tell you what, they’ve been pumpin’ out a lot of art today!!! They do that on a regular basis but this has been a lot even for them!!!

Lovin' Learnin'