Our kids (like most kids) love making mess. Not only do they love it, but I must say, they are quite gifted in the making-mess department. There is really no better way to make mess than with paint, and stamps and ink, and stickers, and glue, and tiny bits of cut paper...
With mess being inevitable, it is probably obvious that I do not want our kids to do their messy, crafty activities in their bedrooms (carpeted) or in the lounge room (on the rug), but I still want them to do them! Enter, the messy space...
I was inspired by finding some "art spaces" online. If you know where to look online, inspiration abounds...
Sadly, I knew that our messy space would not be as beautiful as the spaces above. For space reasons, we needed to construct our messy space in our old fibro (detached) garage. There are no internal walls (e.g. plasterboard walls) on the garage, so you have to look at the back of the sheet fibro, which isn't too pretty. The lighting is also not brilliant in the garage, so we usually keep the roller door open when we play in there. I didn't want to spend much money on the space, so I needed to use what we had available. (I think the only things I bought were the plastic tubs you will see on the bottom edge of the blackboard/ easel).
Here is what we have ended up with:
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| The table and chairs originally belonged to Matt's grandma. (The table is one of those marble-type topped ones, that are very retro and fashionable apparently!). |
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This was a wooden shoe-rack purchased several years ago at a discount store (I think it was $10). We used old jars and tins to store some essential art supplies. You may notice our foam box gardens from a while ago. They were on their sides to dry, after we had a little rain leak through the roof onto them. (We have since disposed of these!)
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| The wire drawer set was used in a wardrobe at our old house. I think they are available at Big W for about $40, or Bunnings or similar. The drawers are organised with paper craft and stickers in the bottom drawer, paint and paint brushes/ rollers etc above that, jars of bits and pieces above that (googly eyes, pom poms, pipe cleaners, feathers etc), and tubs with stamps, ink, spare chalk, spare crayons etc in the top. |
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| I originally painted this old sandpit cover (marine plywood) to use as an outdoor chalkboard. We haven't figured out where we want it outside yet (or how to attach it), so for now, it is in our art space (easy to nail to the internal beams). Above the blackboard, we attached a curtain wire (about $2 from IKEA). This was a space to hang artworks. In this picture we were still using the hooks that came with the wire, but the kids can't use these hooks themselves (too fiddly), and they kept falling off the wire. I have since removed these and we use regular clothes-pegs to hang artwork. |
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| This rod was already attached between two beams - made a perfect place for long paper sheets. The coat hanger/ mobile attached to the cupboard was inspired by an episode of play-school. Miss 3 insisted on making it for Miss 1, although Miss 1 was a little old for a mobile by the time we did it. |
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| IKEA again! Easel approx. $20 It has a whiteboard on one side and a blackboard on the other. A paper roll (also from Ikea) can be attached underneath for drawing with pencils/ crayons/ textas too. I bought the attached plastic storage containers when we did the office space in our bedroom. I think they are about $2 each, also from IKEA. |
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| Inspired by Nicole from Planning with Kids over a year ago... a box of recycling materials - for general play, construction or craft. (Can you tell we shop at ALDI?!) |
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We set up our art space around August - September last year and used it a lot last year. I have found the kids aren't quite as desperate to do art at home now that they do a bit at daycare/ preschool, but we probably still get in there and get messy about once a fortnight or so... definitely worth it on rainy days!
Do you have a designated place for messy play?
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