How to have an art easel when you don’t have unlimited space…

Bayus loves to paint, like really really loves to paint.  Every time we are at a children’s museum he is at an art easel.  Every time we go to the open art studio at the local Tacoma Art Museum, he gets comfortable with an art easel.  I’ve been battling the desire to get him a painting easel with the practicality of not wanting to clutter up our space with more stuff.  He’d want it out all the time and I wouldn’t, nor would I want to drag it in and out of a storage location several times a day.

As an answer to my desire for less clutter and my desire to let him have creative open space I came up with our own painting area- and he LOVES it!  I went to a local office supply and bought 4 suction cup clips (there is a painting above the one showed that is hanging to dry- we used scotch tape until I bought the clips so technically this step is optional).  I used a suction cup shower organizer (purchased at a local hardware store I think, I’ve had it for a few years as I used to use it with our large aqua doodle mat on the opposite side of this glass door) to hold 3 jelly jars of paint (lids can be purchased at your local grocer, do not fill paint jars just an inch will do for most three year olds)- instant painting ‘easel’!

I challenge you to not look at your sliding glass door as just a door but instead a great easy to clean wall 🙂  We also use ours with the dry erase markers during ‘school’ time and like I said previously we had a aqua doodle mat hanging on it from suction cup hooks.  What do you do with your glass door?

5 thoughts on “How to have an art easel when you don’t have unlimited space…

  1. What a great idea! In answer to your question “what do you do with your glass door”, ours is wall space for our MFW timelines! We ran out of wall space what w/ shelves and everything, so our slider has two parallel strips of bulletin board edging, with year markers and events.

  2. I’d love to see a picture of your timeline set up, we’ve had to overflow onto the glass doors before but nothing fancy (just taped it up there with painters tape).

    Someone else was commenting on the dry erase aspect of this idea and so I wanted to add these comments:

    Its like having a giant dry erase board only free and doesn’t take any new wall space Our glass door opens into a sun room so we have a fish tank on that other side so we can see the fish from both in the play room and while we are at the table in the kitchen. Also I have taped pictures to the outside of the glass door and let the kids trace or embellish the picture with the dry erase markers. Sometimes I write notes to the kids on that door like ‘We are going on an adventure today!’ for them to find in the morning when they come to breakfast. Also you can write math problems on the back/right side of the door then slide the front/left side of the door over it and let multiple kids take turns to answer the math problems without having to re-write the problems. This works when you tape a map on the under side and let multiple kids find locations or draw a trail.

  3. Your brilliant. As always. I think I will be getting rid of our easel… just one more thing I don’t have to pack. 🙂

    Love Val

  4. Sarah – thank you! I have been womndering how to show math problems and now I can do it! We do not have a slider, just a glass door but it is in the kitchen next to where we do school! I cna not wait to use it tomorrow!! AND – I want to leave them a message!! THANK YOU!

  5. I will try to take some pics in the next day or so…I love the dry-erase aspect of it! Our is actually an unworking slider to the backyard (permanently closed), so that could probably work!

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