January 1st is all about fresh starts. Inspired by Martha Stewart and self-help gurus of all flavors, for lots of people that means deep cleaning the spaces we fill with junk throughout the year. Today I introduced Crafty Cora to the tradition.
If you’re a classroom teacher working in a choice-based environment, a parent trying to support your children’s creative development at home, or some combination of both, you know that over time supplies get messy. While many people argue that messiness is a sign of creativity, I don’t believe it’s conducive to artistic exploration and productivity over time. Like other professionals, artists need to keep their tools organized so they can find them when they need them.
So, with the hope that organizing Cora’s art supplies would promote her creative development in 2016, we emptied everything out of her four drawer craft cabinet, sorted it, tossed the trash, and reset the stage for new endeavors.
Below is one of the drawers about halfway through our cleanup today. As you can see, it had become a random assortment of rubber stamps, pipe cleaners, cardboard rings, fabric, string, beads, and more.
It was important to me that Cora help, even if that mostly meant pulling things out of the bins and playing around with them while jamming out to the Beatles on her headphones. That’s what deep cleaning is all about, surveying the content of our clutter, remembering what we have that’s gotten buried, and considering possibilities for the future.
Here’s where we ended for the day.
Top to bottom, clockwise from upper left.
Of course, we still have these loose parts left to address tomorrow.
Because really, the clean-up never ends. Happy New Year!
Art Education Outside The lines 
Love this post especially its relationship to creativity, in general.