This simple home makerspace is a wonderful way to inspire hours of creative play. You might also like this post on how we store craft supplies for kids.
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Creating a simple home makerspace to inspire creativity – I love the portable design! Plus, airplane activities for preschoolers.
Four-year-old Anna LOVES making things! From paper dragons to rainbows with googley eyes to sculptures and paper mache, this girl is a maker. Keeping a child like this busy can be a bit of a challenge, but I solved that problem a couple of weeks ago by setting up a simple home makerspace for her. I set it up so that it is portable – she can work at the dining room table when I am in the kitchen, or at the little table in my room when I am working on the computer.
Use A Simple Home Makerspace to Inspire Creativity
What You'll Find on This Page
I took a while to find the perfect container for this makerspace, before settling on this Deflecto rotating carousel organizer. It was a splurge, but much more affordable than signing her up for an art class! I liked the 9 removable bins with lids, and the fact that it rotates.
Stocking a Home Makerspace
Here is what Anna’s Makerspace is currently filled with:
- wooden clothespins
- felt circles
- cotton balls
- foam stickers (warning: don’t use these with children who might stick them to furniture. They are hard to get off!)
- popsicle sticks
- people shaped wood craft sticks – my kids love these!
- small pieces of tissue paper
- fuzzy sticks
- a small wooden airplane that I found on sale at a local shop.
We do a lot of crafts, and I didn’t have to go out and buy anything to stock this – everything was left over from other projects. If you don’t already have a craft stash, I still recommend looking at what you already own. Kids love to craft with pages from magazines, bits of worn-out clothing, and bottle caps.
Anna looked through her new makerspace, and immediately identified the single most valuable item: the wooden airplane. I knew she had found the perfect craft to go along with this week’s Virtual Book Club for Kids pick, The Noisy Airplane Ride by Mike Downs. The Little Airplane by Lois Lenski is another fun book for this theme.
I pulled out the same metallic paint and paint cups that we used to make DIY Harry Potter wands. The cups are easy to use, and the paint is a water-based non-toxic paint, so great for kids to use. Painting the airplane was wonderful fine motor skill practice for Anna!
At the end she had a shiny airplane ready for all sorts of imaginative play!
More Airplane Fun for Kids
Here are some more fun airplane themed activities for kids to enjoy, alongside this week’s book! The Noisy Airplane Ride by Mike Downs is the official pick of the week. The Little Airplane by Lois Lenski is another fun book for this theme.
- Fun Ways to Explore the Science of Flight with Kids
- Build a Cardboard Airplane
- Flying Paper Airplanes
- Airplane and Clothespin Number Match
THE 2016-17 VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB FOR KIDS
Click on the image above to see all of the themes, books, and activities for this year’s 2016-17 Virtual Book Club for Kids! I am updating the page as new posts go live.
Do you have a home makerspace for your kids? How about an airplane activity for Anna to try? Please share in the comments below, or on my Facebook page. You can also tag me on Instagram.
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Excellent idea! I remember doing a similar thing to this when my kids were younger. Last year, I designed and had someone build a wooden art cart on wheels, because her art supplies have grown quite exponentially.
I’d love to see a photo of that cart!
I love her new Maker space…..
I need to restock ours because we are currently out of most of the kids’ favorite supplies, in our house pipe cleaners are must have items.
Pipe cleaners are always a hit here as well!
Great organizational tips! It’s hard to keep all the craft materials organized!
It is hard, but they get so much more use when they are organized.
I had the opportunity to go on a short vacation with my niece. We visited a couple of craft shops and stocked up on simple items like gel pens and washi tapes. On the flight back we made little ‘miss you’ cards for everyone in the family. Best flight ever.
Amalia
xo
What a great airplane activity!
I think all your kids are makers, but it’s awesome that Anna now has her own mini makerspace. Great photos too!
Thanks! Anna loves her little makerspace. I agree that all my kids are makers, but the other three are pretty busy with school these days…