4 No Art Studio: "Stuff" Management Considerations for Art-on-a-Cart

We've add a cord to hold paper towels along the top of the cart and clipped a row of pockets cut up from a Dollar Store Shoe holder to contain small items. Visuals on skirt hangers  can be unloaded and hung up upon arrival.

The back of a literacy cart has an additional white board (magnetic), and flip chart rings, so that posters can also be loaded here. The ledge accommodates picture books with room leftover for your dry-erase markers.

Moving table kits to the lower shelves prompts the question of whether this cart would accommodate a drying rack? As we saw in Figure 4.15 in 30 Kids, 1 Sink the drying rack does not fit on it's side. Here we can see that it's tall and awkward standing upright, which would make it difficult to move. A half height drying rack would fit, but would need to be grounded to the cart for comfortable transport

The poster holder/slot of the wood cart is a perfect place to stow mounted posters and the ledge is the perfect width to accommodate cups with hooks (these are sources from the kitchen section of Ikea and hold salt shakers and a laptop cord respectively).

While bins of all kinds are staple in the art room, when you are teaching art-on-a-cart it's imperative that your table bins fit well on your cart. As we've seen in Chapter 4 of 30 Kids, 1 Sink, shower caddies don't fit easily on all carts, but other Dollar Store bins and found boxes work well. Pack smart to maximize your space.

Trays of all kinds are handy for all of the little teacher necessities that we often forget to carry on the art cart.

This closeup of the literacy cart shows that the upper shelf can accommodate a larger bin for paper during transport.

While shower caddies don't evenly on the top of the cart (see Figure 4.14 in 30 Kids, 1 Sink); green Dollar Store baskets hold the same materials easily on the built in shelves, while an old milk crate holds hair dryers and no-top cups easily.

The flat side of this cart makes it easy to push, but potentially becomes wasted space. Here we've clipped pockets to the side, but the surface could be painted with dry erase board or chalk paint or other organizers could be attached (e.g., for clipboard, hanging file, laptop, etc.).

This closeup of the projector cart shows that the metal framing makes an easy magnetic surface for extra display of demo sheets and guided practices, as well as a backup spot for must have paperwork.

Class pack too big to put in the cart, but individual sets won't work for you? Make your own cardboard dividers to make a mini-class pack for you cart.

Keep an eye out for repurposed bulk containers. Here a bulk container originally held a variety of colored Sharpie's but has been repurposed here for a variety of black Sharpies and dry-erase board markers with pom-poms glued on the top as erasers.