orgainzing & teaching it to little ones

 i've been trying to figure out how to organize the arts and crafts room. quite honestly, i really wasn't sure where to start! my area is pretty organized, unless i'm in the middle of a project. if that is the case, and currently it is, then it looks like all the stuff from inside my desk and from on the shelves has been burped up and spewed joyously all over my desk...and floor for that matter.
 my daughter's desk is up against mine for two reasons 1.) because she needs to be monitored at all times while in that room & 2. for a lack of space. i'm really eager to set up her space because it feels as though her mess is mine, and sometimes, that's just not the case...sometimes.
 while at target today i was checking out the dollar section at the entrance (my favorite section after paper and office supplies). they had tons of great organizational tools! boxes, totes, small creates, wire cubes, cubes with dividers, cubes with lids ... it was an organizers paradise at unbeatable prices! unless you're still not sure what you are organizing yet - uuuugh! so off we went to the office supply section.
 then it hit me, my son has a hard time simply getting comfortable at his desk because he has stacks of papers - i mean art work and his area really should take president. here was my original way to organize his art work:

uuuuuuuuuum - yes, it does bug me, big time!  i'm pretty sure it bugs him too, so organize it - we did. here was the plan: each kiddo got his and her own one inch, three ringed binder. unfortunately the .99 cent ones were all gone. the neat thing is, that the ones we did buy, had clear pockets in the front, spine and back for decorating! who wants to organize unless it's gonna be fun? certainly not my son! these were not the cheapest or the second cheapest but we got them for $3.97 each. 

once home, we made three piles 1. throw away 2. keep 3. give/make. not too hard for a five year old to understand, but he did need help. the idea here is that the art he'd really like to keep gets hole punched and put away in the binder. this makes it easy for him to look at it, show it to others, and keep it tidy. the art that he enjoyed but didn't necessarily want to keep for himself was put into a scrap box. this isn't redundant but a good place for him to pull from while making cards, gifts or mixed media art. the throw away pile is the art that he didn't feel like he needed to keep at all.

                           just look at that look of pride after a lot of whole punching and decorating!
 originally i said that when this note book was full we would throw everything in it away and start over all again. it sounds easy but after sorting threw all his art work, i'm just not so sure? i don't really wanna have a bazillion one inch binders by the time he's 18 though, so i think it's the best solution. i did find two pictures that i personally wanted to keep forever and ever:

one titled "Jesus cross" and the other "Jesus rising from the grave." these will be proudly be framed and displayed on the wall - somewhere. although i have yet to hang anything on our walls. for now i'm very pleased with how his area of the craft room is turning out. baby steps, and maybe just one every day, but one day that room will  be a work of art, in this organizer's eyes :)

do you have any special tips on keeping, throwing away, or show casing your children's art? i'd love to hear your ideas! thanks for stopping by and hanging out in our neck of the woods :)

p.s.

here are some after pix of mikey's arts & crafts area in the room. with the simply task from above, his area has become neat and tidy! i wish i had taken before photos of his desk! now to be consistent with him in keeping it this way - wish me luck!