How to Make a Kids Art Cart

Updated on August 23, 2024

How to Make a Kids Art Cart. Use a three-tiered rolling cart and fill it with arts and craft supplies from Oriental Trading to keep kids occupied at home.

My kids have been out of school since March 6 if we count spring break. Our school has been canceled here in Arizona for the rest of the school year, so they will be home until school starts up in August.

I don’t know about your kids, but mine are getting bored and restless. We have school work to do but it doesn’t take all day. I wanted to give them some options for creative outlets they could do on their own.

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Please read my full disclosure policy here. Thank you to Oriental Trading for providing me with some of the products for this post.

I have partnered with Oriental Trading to show you how to create a kid’s art cart to keep your kids occupied at home. My daughter loves to create crafts (just like her Mom!). She is constantly going into my craft room to borrow supplies to make things.

We have kids art supplies in our small office, but my daughter often drags everything out into the living room, her room, or even outside. It is a huge mess and takes forever to put it all away.

How to Create a Kid’s Art Cart

Rolling carts are one of my favorite ways to organize things that need to be portable and to keep things contained in one small area.

I have four of them in my craft room for all kinds of supplies. I knew I could add all my daughter’s favorite supplies to a pretty cart. Then, she could take it wherever she wants in the house, and clean up is easy!

What to Include in an Arts and Crafts Cart for Kids

Start by assembling the rolling cart. You can find rolling carts pretty much anywhere now – at home improvement stores, big box stores, your local craft stores, and Oriental Trading.

I have an American Crafts cart, among others, and the emerald green is so pretty. For my daughter, I purchased a coral one from the local craft store. It is a fun color, and it matches her bedroom if we decide to use it for something else down the road.

Next, think about all the things your child might like to do when creating.

I originally thought I would purchase a bunch of craft kits to fill up the cart, but I decided to add general arts and craft supplies instead. She can use her imagination to create whatever she wants. Depending on your kid’s ages, add age-appropriate supplies.

Drawing and Coloring Supplies

Below are some ideas of what to add so your child can draw or color. You may already have many of these supplies on hand. Gather everything up, or purchase what you need and add them to the rolling cart.

• White Paper
• Construction Paper
• Crayons
• Colored Pencils
• Markers
• Fine Tip Markers
• Brush Pens

I added all the drawing supplies to the top shelf of the cart. To keep things organized, I used this adorable confetti book storage bin to hold all the papers, plus a notebook.

The small white metal buckets are perfect for corralling individual supplies, like colored pencils and markers. These small favor pails come in a set of 12 and in just about every color you could want.

Add Craft Supplies

All of the different craft supplies are my favorite part of this cart. Here is where you can get really creative with what you add.

Below I added things that are appropriate for my 10-year-old daughter. If you have smaller children you will want to eliminate the supplies that have small pieces. Optionally, you could store smaller supplies in a plastic bin with a lid, and bring them out when you can supervise your child.

• Pom Poms
• Pipe Cleaners
• Googly Eyes
• Popsicle Sticks
• Gems
• Stickers
• Self-Inking Stamps
• Glitter
• Washi Tape
• Modeling Clay

Some other ideas of craft supplies you could include in your cart are feathers, foam shapes, paints, buttons, felt, and ribbon. Pretty much anything to keep the creativity flowing.

Tools

Once it is time to craft you need a way to assemble your craft supplies into new creations. So, on the bottom shelf, I added glue and glitter glue. You can also use these to make slime. You will also want to add some kid-safe scissors.

I also added a glue gun and glue sticks. My daughter is always borrowing mine. She knows she has to ask permission to use it, but she has been very responsible with it.

My daughter was really excited once we had the cart all set up. We rolled it right into the living room and she started to create a project.

She challenged herself to make a picture using as many of the supplies as she could! I was impressed that she used paper, glitter glue, washi tape, gems, pom poms, a pipe cleaner, crayons, markers, colored pencils, and stamps. I thought it was very creative of her.

Her picture turned out SO cute, and I of course, really loved her butterfly.

I hope this gives you some good ideas on how to gather all the supplies you need to occupy your kids at home. Purchase all the supplies at Oriental Trading. They have amazing deals on all sorts of arts and crafts supplies. Discount: Use code Squad20 to receive free shipping on any purchase of $49 or more.

How are you keeping your kids occupied at home these days?

You may also like:

• Kid’s Craft: Painted Bird Houses
• DIY Fairy Garden House
• Organized Art Supply Pouches