28 February Featured Space: Kitchen - Kiddie Cabinet

Oh Kids.  I can't get enough of 'em.  Which is a good thing since I have three little men running around here from morning til night!  Not to mention I run a daycare.  They bring joy and amazement to my life each and every day, and for that, I am grateful.  And although, they have their moments of throwing themselves on the floor screaming for a sippy cup, or wiping their slimy fingers all over the freshly cleaned glass doors, or telling the neighbor that you once were dancing around in your undies singing Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (of course that didn't really happen), those moments quickly are forgotten when they look at you with their big beautiful eyes, give you that cheerful smile and fill you with love by giving you the most amazing squeezes imaginable.  

And although all of you may not have munchkins of your own, there may be some tips or tricks in this post that you can borrow for another space in your home or kitchen, but this post is definitely dedicated to creating a kitchen space just for the little guys and gals in our lives.

So, any of you parents out there, might be familiar with the amount of "stuff" that comes with having kids, and there is no exception when it comes to the kitchen.  For us, it's a matter of storing kid specific dishes, utensils, bibs and vitamins.  And this cabinet was all about getting organized for zero dollars, using things from around the homestead to keep the space tidy.

Here you will see the stacks of dishes used for feeding the little tykes their meals.  We go with the fabulous and colorful ones from Ikea, due to their amazing kid durability:

We also really HEART plastic slotted plates, since kids can be picky when foods mix:

Aside from the dishware, we also use the utensils that match the set:

As you can see, instead of splurging on a fancy pants utensil caddy, like this one:

I stole a previous idea and just covered some soup cans with pretty scrapbook paper, and presto chango, free utensil storage:

As far as the mini utensils for the really little fingers, I found a couple of plastic tumblers tucked away in a cup cabinet, and snagged those to hold the smaller forks/spoons and also some straws:

As for the massive amounts of vitamins or prescriptions that we need to keep out of kids reach, I found an old colorful card box, removed the lid, and now it's an uber cute vitamin holding box instead:

 

And those pesky sippy cups and bottles.  Yep, we have some of those laying around too:

And what would a kid cabinet be, without a little sugar?  You know, since kids are so sweet and all.  But really, call me a bad mamma, but I know how to get my kids to listen to me and do what I want, and it's all in the form of my secret weapon: Skittles:

 

Ok, so I am practically kidding about the bribery to be good kids thing, but not really kidding when I do say that I use them as little bits of rewards for fantastic behavior, or for making it through the night without an accident during the potty training stages.  Don't they just look so scrumptious, that you would be willing to do good and nice things, just to gobble up a few?

As you could see above, I store these fantastic little treats, inside a clear glass canister, allowing me to see when my supply is running low and requiring a refill.

To get the actual cabinet organized, it was a matter of placing everything on the counter, stacking it up and corralling like items together, and then putting things back in, taking into consideration, the frequency of use.  Things used less often (or things that those cute little fingers should be going after), go further in the back or up higher, things used more often take front stage.  Basic kindygarten stuff here.

So here was the finished project:

 

See the bibs hanging there?  Command Hooks rock for organization projects!

The best part is, that it's easy enough for my bigger kiddos (including my hubster) to put things back neatly and in the right spot, and they can all easily find what they are seeking as well!

Pictures like that give me tingles of happiness.  

Another super easy and quick organization project, that could happen in any evening or weekend, when you have two seconds of spare time.  And with kids involved, I know those seconds are rare and cherished, but you will find the more you invest in getting organized, the more time you will have with the ones you HEART.

Anyone have any cute kid stories to share?  Moments of laughter?  How about humiliation?  Today is share day, so speak up!