Organizing Crayons and Markers AND No More Clogging Glue Bottles!

20 September 2014

Hello Friends,

I am linking up with another Bright Ideas linky! Yay!

I posted this idea awhile ago, but it continues to be one of my favorite organizational tricks.....

First I removed the inner trays from a cupcake carrier. (I purchased my cupcake carrier at Hobby Lobby, but I have seen them at Walmart and Target.) I attached a piece of heavy duty Velcro to the bottom of each section and then attached cute cupcake wrappers to the Velcro. I attached clear tacky dots to the bottom of a plastic cup and affixed it to the inside of the cupcake wrapper. I then sorted crayons into the plastic cups and VOILA!.... no more "I can't find a red!" "I don't know where the yellow is!" I absolutely love this crayon tray! This year the cupcake wrappers match the tables, so that also makes it super easy to return the crayon holder to its proper table. The neat thing about this is that the cupcake carrier can be used from year to year. The only changes are the cupcake wrappers and plastic cups.

I store Unifix cubes in the carrier itself which makes a cute and HANDY way for my kiddos to take their cubes to the tables.

I also organized our classroom markers in a similar way.... I used a regular sized cupcake tray and added cupcake wrappers and plastic cups. Through trial and error, I found that you MUST use HEAVY DUTY Velcro as the fixative to the bottom of the pan. Nothing else will work. Hot glue does not work. Gorilla glue does not work. Duck tape works for awhile.......

I love how easily my students can find their markers and this helps WONDERFULLY with keeping lids on markers and not rolling around on the floor!

One more Bright Idea that I wrote about a few months ago STILL is working wonderfully..... Using condiment bottles for glue. Each condiment bottle holds about 2 bottles of a regular sized glue botte. It works so well; honestly! No clogging glue; kids can work independently. LOVE!