DIY- Kids art station

I wanted to show you guys my art station we created in the unfinished basement to give the kids a place to craft.  As you know I have 4 kids, but this was made for the two oldest who are now 4 and 6.  I may have been a little off as to how much autonomy they could handle at that age but it is still really fun.  It isn't perfect as we were working with out any kind of budget it had to be from what we already had with just a little elbow grease.  For an unfinished basement though it sure adds some style and fun.

 Here is what we did.  First my husband built a long narrow table from wood scraps we had laying around and painted it black.  Then we mounted it to the back wall with a cleat.  The next thing I did was to create a nice back drop for the back wall with out paint since we were short on money and time.  I simply used a piece of fabric, rolled the edges under till I had a nice clean line and used upholstery tacks I had lying around to attach it to the wall. 

I then added a shelf on each side under a name plaque I created with precut letters and craft store signs.  On the shelf I put jars of glitter, stamps, paper punches, baby food jars filled with beads and a baby food jar full of glitter pens, as well as few other crafty supplies.  

On the table itself I lined up several tin cans that I washed well and covered with scraps of scrapbook paper.  I used cowboy type patters for my son and I used pink girly papers for my daughters.  Inside each can I put colored pencils, pipe cleaners, cotton balls, glue sticks, and paint brushes.  Originally I had in mind to mount a metal strip under the shelf and use magnets attached with a hot glue gun to the cans to attach them to the metal strip.  I haven't found the right thrifted material for that yet.  The magnets are in place, but we are waiting on the metal strip till I see just the right thing.  The board in the middle just acts as a decorative accent and is a left over scrap of paneling cut to size, spray painted and then covered with 4 squares of scrap paper using spray adhesive.  You could add binder clips hung on small nails to  make it a display for their art work.

My kids are thoroughly enjoying this space only it is not quite as clean as it all was this first day.  Looking at this picture inspires me to get on them to get it all organized just so again.  They love it and I love the time it allows me to work on things while they are entertained, and the creativity it fosters.  Let me know if you make one!