Click here to find out more about creating and organizing your own maker space!
A few months ago I asked my son to clean his messy, unorganized room, and like all the times I’ve asked him before, this is what happened; he went to his room, shoved things under his bed and in his closet, moved some piles around, and called it good. No, not good. Unless you have rock-star organized kids, you probably have run into a similar problem. They’re confused, they have too much stuff, and they don’t know how to organize it. We needed a system and we needed to get rid of things. Like telling a messy kid to clean their room without a clear plan, having a system for the creative spaces in your classroom is equally important! How do you organize your classroom? If you’re anything like me, organization is a real struggle…but it doesn’t have to be! You can organize your classroom spaces while also adding something cute to your simple classroom decorations ideas list!
In the past, I’ve started back-to-school organized, with everything in its place and the hopeful (but fruitless) expectation that somehow, this year, I’ll manage to stay organized.
The truth, however, is that I knew it really wouldn’t. As the year began, the struggle to maintain order began (at least for me) and I found myself letting things in my classroom and lab slide a little. First, my desk would start to accumulate papers, then my students would leave some of their lab utensils on the tables, scraps of paper towels, and project supplies. I got behind on my work and started putting lab equipment back in an unorganized way and several weeks into the school year my lab was NOT the way it started. I had too much stuff and no clear classroom organizational system. Just like with my son at home, when there is too much stuff and there are NOT clear expectations for where items go, things get left out or shoved into cupboards and order turns to chaos.
Chaos is stressful and is not a great environment for living or learning.
Finally, after years of this, I purged my classroom and lab. With the help of my wife, I labeled drawers, bins, and shelves. It has helped immensely. Everyone (including me) knows exactly where supplies go and there is room to breathe without all the extra supplies and tools I had accumulated but didn’t need. This seems like a no-brainer but I seriously did this just several years ago. This system, along with setting up clear expectations for my students, has been so helpful over the last several years. NOT perfect, but helpful.
This same “no-brainer” system can be very helpful when creating a maker space.
Click here to find out more about organizing your maker space!
Having very specific spots for each material can make cleaning up the space a lot easier for students. NOT perfect, but easier because there are clear expectations for where materials go.
My wife and I created a maker station label and task card set to help other teachers in the classroom, homeschool teachers, or parents who want an organized creative space for their kids to keep order and avoid creative chaos! We’ve also created task cards to spark the creativity that’s bottled up in each of their minds!
Click here to see my MakerSpace Kit on TpT!
Also, Check out these Exciting STEM Activities!
