Playmobil cr@p and art supplies

[browneyedsol]

How do you organize these? We don't do much plastic at all and I'd like to avoid it. Is there a better way to organize Playmobil stuff than a big clear plastic bin? HELP. My kids love it, so it must stay...much to my continual crabby attitude toward these little teeny things I want to suck up the vacuum!

Art supplies. We need everything from pencils, crayons, felt, watercolor boards, paint, etc... at our fingertips. We also need a good place for it to be put away away when it is time. Something that looks great and is easily accessible. We don't have the closet space, so I have to use something we have or get something new. Ikea? I'd prefer to avoid that, too...something creative??

IDEAS?? TIA!!

[Fay]

I use shoeboxes for craft supplies, and I stack them on a shelf next to the dining room table for easy access. Each shoebox contains a different category of craft items: paints in one, pens in another, etc. I don't know what to do about the plastic toys -- we do the giant clear plastic tub thing, too.

[lilyka]

we do clear plastic shoeboxes or clear plastic drawer sets (rubbermaid) for art supplies. and for playmobil we just use a big clear tup and mix it all together. they love it and it leaves thinsg realy open ended for them. also makes clean up easy

[2GR8KIDS]

I put most of the playmobil in a plastic tub or basket, but with the really little things (like the tiny gold coins) I use a screw sorter box- the kind with little compartments. Usually this sits on a shelf and the kids forget about it but if they want it I bring it out.

[marybethorama]

Baskets could work. They're a little more decorative than shoeboxes.

I was at a liquidation place near me (Gabriel Brothers) and I saw some painted wooden boxes with fabric liners. Something like that would be nice IMO.

I have a wooden sewing box that opens out. That would be great for small Playmobil pieces.

Maybe a wooden drawer organizer. I used to have one.

Just throwing out ideas.

Edited to add: I love to use stuff that I have on hand. Any kind of containers you might have could work.

[browneyedsol]

Those are great ideas. I'm going to the thriftstore to check things out. I have some wooden crates and baskets, but those don't work for the little flippin' pieces. See, how much I like this Playmobil habit my kids are in? I'm practicing tolerance...badly...but practicing! A foldout sewing box or a cloth lined wooden box are great ideas.

THANKS!

[Village Mama]

We had one of those pine utility shelves hanging around... we cut it to make the shelves more shallow ... to fit where we needed to put it. I use a fabric knitting stand( like an upright box shape) to hold all different types of paper. I do have one handy plastic tote that hold all of the basic bits like crayons, glue, penns and sissors. The kids have free access to that and the paper. I have a cheap set of three baskets that I use as well.... one full of painting supplies, one full of stamps, pads and dollar store spice shakers full of glitter. One other basket it full of craft supplies, many of them organised in mason canning jars.This setup has worked really well for us!I will post a couple of pics when I get them done !

[Village Mama]

Heres our setup for crafts...
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/villag...d6.jpg&.src=ph

I am not really familiar with Playmobile... if its anything like legos or things like tht...we use a big circle of fabric with a drawstring sewn all around. You undo it into a big circular flat shape on the floor... pile eveything in the middle and pull the drawstring tight into a big sack... then I hang it up in the playroom!

[srain]

An additional option for smaller Playmobil stuff is a tackle box.

[katja]

DD is heavy into Playmobil too, and we use cute cardboard boxes that we bought at ikea. They're about the size of shoe boxes but they look nicer and they're sturdy because they have metal guards on the corners. I'll confess that I do let some of the tiniest pieces get "accidentally" sucked up by the vacuum. Today I was at Target and saw some colorful canvas storage cubes. Those would probably be good too.

[katja]

Oops, I guess I didn't read the OP well enough--missed the parts about Ikea and the vacuum. Sorry! Our art supplies are a big mess, so I can't help you there.

[browneyedsol]

"I'll confess that I do let some of the tiniest pieces get "accidentally" sucked up by the vacuum."

I'm so glad I'm not the only : mom when it comes to this cr@p! "Oops, there goes another little weapon..."

Village Mama, you rock for posting pics. Thank you. I have that same wooden shelf. Never thought about cutting it down. I could even take those boards off and over to home depot and ask them to cut them.

Yesterday I found a great big basket with top and latch at the thrift store for my felt and sewing. Everything fits in there and it is now in one place and accessible.

Tackle box...we have little screw sorters and a tackle box laying around...duh! Ofcourse! I think the screw sorters are great for little peices and a small tackle box for people and animals. Then, I think I may just throw all of that in a big clear plastic bin and call it d.o.n.e.

Thanks everyone!

[nonniecita]

Originally Posted by Village Mama

I am not really familiar with Playmobile... if its anything like legos or things like tht...we use a big circle of fabric with a drawstring sewn all around. You undo it into a big circular flat shape on the floor... pile eveything in the middle and pull the drawstring tight into a big sack... then I hang it up in the playroom!

love that!!!! will def. be doing that in the future!!!

[root*children]

I'm not very familiar with playmobile either, but DS does have a castle of some similar make, FP, lil' tykes or somesuch. He did have a pirate ship, but I just couldn't handle it, b/c of all the small pieces, and the large parts of the actual ship came apart all the time. So we ditched that, and found the castle at a yard sale. I like it, cause it's all in one piece (no masts or doors that fall off), and we immediatly ditched all the little non-necessity things. Like, I soon realized that DS only wanted it for the knights, horses, the dragon, cannon and the castle. He had no real desire for the little table or goblets and such, so one by one, I discarded of those. So now there are so few accessories, they just fit in the castle for storage.

We do have a VERY artsy son, who required some good thought for storing his art supplies. It's mostly concentrated in one spot, but there are some items in other places of the house. How-to/idea/coloring books are stored in a corner of the family bookshelf in the living room. Since I have a toddler, and we do daycare at the house with 2 other toddlers, alot of thought had to be put into how to make things accessible, with out being too accessible, KWIM? The paints are all stored in the office/sewing room, playdoh, modeling clay and stuff are on top of the fridge. Then Clay has an old typewriter desk that DH cut the legs off of to make child-sized. In those drawers we store markers, crayons, glue, paper, pencils/sharpeners, beads, string, tape, etc. Underneath the lap part is a catch-all box that I sort through about once-a-month. It looks attractive b/c it's this nice blue color that goes well with the walls. We salvaged it from the trash pile at my aunt/uncles house, who thought it would need a good paint job before being presentable. I told her, I'm sure my boys will paint on it plenty I mostly like that it has a built-in work surface.

[*clementine*]

I have a tupperware box of this stuff put away and when they want to play with it they ask and if I say yes, it's a special occassion for them! They clean it all up and when they are done I put it up high again. Works great for us.