• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

PreKinders

Ideas for Pre-K & Preschool Teachers

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Terms of Use
  • Help
    • Printing Help
  • Shop
  • Learning Areas
    • Literacy
    • Math
    • Science
    • Art
    • Music
    • Fine Motor
    • Christian Activities
  • Themes
  • Teaching Ideas
    • Centers
    • Teaching Tips
    • Assessment
    • Back to School
    • End of Year
  • Printables
    • Literacy Printables
    • Math Printables
    • Science Printables
    • Music Printables
    • Visual Discrimination Printables
    • Classroom Management Printables

Classroom Organizing Tips

By Karen Cox | Affiliate Disclosure | Filed Under: Teaching Tips

A lot of people ask me how I store materials in the classroom, and many people want details. Here are some photos that show ways I organize the “hidden” materials, and in a future post, I’ll show our everyday supplies.

Organizing Classroom Materials in Pre-K

The simple trick to organizing is to put like things together. I know that sounds so obvious. In my Pre-K classroom, the main things I need to store are:

  • materials for each center
  • materials I use each month
  • materials for changing dramatic play
  • teacher’s supplies

First, I separate the center materials from the monthly materials from the dramatic play materials. Then, I divide those up, so that I have separate storage places for the blocks center, science center, art center, etc. Some teachers might separate their thematic materials, but I choose to put those in boxes by month.

This is what the storage space for my current classroom looks like. Instead of a closet, I have these large shelves with the cabinets on the sides.

Storage of Classroom Materials

At a previous school, I had a roomy closet down the hall, and before that I had no storage space at all. So I empathize with those who have no storage.

In the photo above, these cardboard boxes contain center materials, monthly materials, and dramatic play materials.

Organizing Center Materials

I change out some of the center materials each month, with my themes. I organize and store Center materials in these boxes. These are inexpensive (less than $1) cardboard shipping boxes that I painted white and put scrapbook paper on to decorate. I have a box for almost every center: math, literacy, science, blocks center, sensory table.

Storage of Center Materials

This is the type of thing I store in the boxes of Center materials. These collections of animals are stored in the Blocks Center box. I change out these and other items for our different themes.

Classroom Storage and Organization

Organizing Art Center Supplies

Since I have so many more supplies for the Art Center than any other center, I chose to use one whole closet for art supplies. On the door, I have shoe pockets with markers and a few other art supplies. The pockets on the 4th and 5th rows are where I store labels for each center.

Art Supply Classroom Storage

Inside the art supply closet, I store things like extra colored masking tape, crayons, bingo dot markers, paintbrushes, colored sand, play dough, beads, craft foamies, glitter glue, liquid watercolor paint, and lots of other stuff. The inside is organized, but it is packed full.

Organizing Materials for Each Month

The boxes above the Center boxes contain materials that we use each month.

Classroom Storage and Organization

This is an example of the type of stuff I have in the April box (and each month is similar). I have Easter puzzles, play dough mats, foamies, stickers. I also have things for our Bug Theme, which we do during the month of April.

 Classroom Storage by Month

Organizing Dramatic Play Materials

I change out our dramatic play area once a month, and each of those centers has its own box. These boxes are stacked on top of the month boxes. Here’s an example of my Garden Shop Dramatic Play box:

Dramatic Play Storage

This box has things like plastic flower pots, aprons, seed packs, garden gloves, knee pads, shop signs, artificial flowers, etc.

Dramatic Play Storage

Organizing Teacher Supplies

The other closet holds all of our teacher supplies. Cleaning supplies are at the top, out of the children’s reach. This closet is also where I keep tape, staplers, scissors, hot glue gun, card stock paper, laminating sheets, pocket charts, notepads, pens, cooking kit, and more. I have these mini drawers to store things like staples, paper clips, safety pins, and other small things. The blue baskets are great for containing things like zip lock bags and the cleaning supplies.

Teacher Supply Organization

Organizing Stickers

I used an index card file box to organize the stickers. The dividers are index cards with tabs on them, and the stickers are organized by holiday or theme.

Sticker Storage for Teachers

Fabric Bins: Hiding the Junk!

Here’s what happened with my filing cabinet this year: on the top, I had collected a pile of books, papers, and all kinds of stuff that comes my way during the year, and it looked junky. I had bought these fabric bins for my closet at home, but ended up taking them to school to hide all that stuff. I love the motto “everything has a place”. I just lack enough places. These fabric bins are very roomy and perfect for hiding stuff. (My file cabinet could use a makeover, but I’ll have to save that for another day.)

Organizing Classroom Materials

I previously wrote about Storage Organization here, which shows how I store my children’s books and other things I store at home. If I buy something with my own money, I store it at home. If I buy something with school money, I store it at school. No doubt about it, I own too much school stuff.

Get FREE updates!
Join here to get weekly emails with free printables and activities for Pre-K!
We collect, use, and process your data according to our Privacy Policy.
Don't worry - we never sell or share email addresses!

35 Comments

About Karen Cox

Karen is the founder of PreKinders.com. She also works as a full-time Pre-K teacher in Georgia. Read more...

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Leah Keeley says

    April 28, 2015 at 7:24 am

    Thank you so much for sharing. I am moving out of my spacious room with a huge closet, cabinets to a very small portable with no storage. This will help me to get organized. I too have way to much stuff. Would you ever post pictures on how you layout your classroom with area for centers?

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      April 28, 2015 at 6:47 pm

      Thanks Leah! I’ll try to do that sometime this summer. I’ll have to get the dimensions of the room and furniture.

      Reply
    • Ruth Anne says

      January 10, 2021 at 2:08 pm

      Never enough space for educators!! 😄 Thanks for your tips! So helpful.

      Reply
  2. PLeasantte says

    April 28, 2015 at 8:29 am

    Thanks for sharing these ideas, this is a challenge for many teachers. They have a lot of materials but keeping them organized is difficult because of space.

    Thanks,

    Reply
  3. Tina Martin says

    April 28, 2015 at 8:42 am

    WOW… I love your ideals .. i can’t wait to change my daycare around I have so much clutter and my home is overwhelmed .

    Reply
  4. Michelle says

    April 28, 2015 at 9:28 am

    This is very inspiring, just wondering if your shelves and closets are ones that you purchased somewhere, or they are just handmade designs? I would love to have a closet and shelve system for our toy/school room at home…but shelves are so expensive! Thanks.

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      April 28, 2015 at 6:45 pm

      Thanks Michelle! It’s an old school building, and the shelves were built in years ago. I’m sure something similar could be built in your home — hope you can find the right carpenter to do it!

      Reply
      • Joyce Kelley says

        April 29, 2015 at 6:08 am

        IKEA has a Kallax (sp?) line that is close to what is pictured here. About $130 for the 16 cube unit. But thank you for the breakdown of how you organize materials.
        It’s a never ending battle!

        Reply
  5. patricia kerwin says

    April 28, 2015 at 9:39 am

    Thanks for all these wonderful ideas. I love how neat everything looks. I’m a very organised person, but I’ve got nothing on you!! 🙂

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      April 29, 2015 at 10:12 pm

      Thank you, Patricia! People tell me I’m organized, but I still manage to lose things all the time. 🙂

      Reply
  6. Betsy says

    April 28, 2015 at 10:50 am

    What WONDERFUL ideas!! Thank you so much for sharing!!

    Reply
  7. Denyse Gibbs says

    April 28, 2015 at 12:37 pm

    thank you for sharing these tips

    Reply
  8. Medinat says

    April 28, 2015 at 3:04 pm

    Awesome! Thanks for this piece. Had been longing for something like this.

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      April 29, 2015 at 10:21 pm

      Thank you! Glad it’s helpful!

      Reply
  9. Patty says

    April 28, 2015 at 7:33 pm

    Great ideas! I love to be super organized. Do you have any ideas for preschools who share space with a church? I have a few cabinets but most of everything at school has to be put away on Wed. and Fridays. I have lots of things at home and every week have to lug them back and forth. My husband has build a shed for some of the things. I also have way too much stuff I store at home. I love your site and use many ideas. I have been a prek teacher for 28 years and always love new ideas! Thanks

    Reply
    • Joyce Kelley says

      April 29, 2015 at 6:14 am

      We share space with Sunday School and it’s tough because the furniture requirements are different. The preschool uses small tables and the Sunday school requires large long tables. The rooms are SMALL.
      We do have a storage room in another section of the church, but it has become a ” catch all” and doesn’t get used as efficiently as it might.

      Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      April 29, 2015 at 10:17 pm

      Hi Patty! I’ve never been in that situation before, but is it possible to cover the shelves with a curtain or sheet where they won’t be bothered by other groups in the room? I’ve also seen shelves with hinges where the two shelves are hooked together — you open them, and then close them and lock them when not in use. Like this one, there’s a latch on the end that you can put a lock on: Lakeshore Fold & Roll Shelf

      Reply
  10. corlette thomas says

    April 28, 2015 at 11:43 pm

    This site is fabulous it always works

    Reply
  11. socorro fiola says

    April 30, 2015 at 6:11 pm

    Great ideas! Thanks for sharing

    Reply
  12. NIDA says

    May 1, 2015 at 8:54 pm

    THANK U SOOO MUCH IT IS A WONDERFUL WORK

    Reply
  13. Kimber Pearce says

    May 1, 2015 at 9:35 pm

    Wow! I NEED you to come help me figure out how to get organized. It looks so Overwhelming to get started. I love the way you have everything so organized.

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      May 1, 2015 at 11:09 pm

      This comment just put a grin on my face when I saw who wrote it. Kimber, you are organized! I’m right down the hall from you if you need me, though. 🙂

      Reply
  14. Flida Leones says

    May 4, 2015 at 3:23 am

    Oh, I love your ideas Karen, especially your containers. I recommended your site to my friends.

    Thank you…..you are a big help.

    Reply
  15. fam says

    May 6, 2015 at 7:38 am

    a great help as always.thanks for sharing

    Reply
  16. Mildred says

    May 6, 2015 at 10:25 am

    Thank you for the storage idea, I run a small homeschool and it is always good to see storage ideas that I can use. Love the dramatic play ideas I am using the doctor’s office play this month.
    Looking forward to more of your post.

    Reply
  17. Marlene says

    May 6, 2015 at 12:40 pm

    thanx very much for sharing the recipe card file box idea for stickers. I have struggled for years with sticker storage. such a simple solution yet so unique.

    Reply
  18. Doniyor says

    May 8, 2015 at 3:33 am

    Thanks for sharing materils and information. I believe we could change our room design.

    Reply
  19. Janet says

    May 9, 2015 at 5:02 am

    This is great if you have a decent size classroom.

    Reply
  20. Kara says

    May 9, 2015 at 9:54 am

    Love it all. You said the boxes were shipping boxes. What kind and how big?

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      May 16, 2015 at 11:25 pm

      They are cardboard boxes that are 16 inch cubes. They were less than $1 each at Walmart, in the dept that has shipping supplies such as boxes and shipping tape, etc. I painted them with white tempera paint.

      Reply
  21. Brenda N says

    May 11, 2015 at 3:51 pm

    Thank you so much I have found so many helpful ideals for my room. I just can’t wait to start using them in my room.

    Reply
  22. Tina says

    May 24, 2015 at 4:29 pm

    These are great ideas. I’m thinking of doing a Head Start Pre-K position, would these same ideas apply? I know the curriculum may be different.

    Reply
  23. Judy Weinrich says

    June 3, 2015 at 2:20 pm

    Thank you so much, Karen!!! I like to be creative as I engage the children with many opportunities for exploration and learning, but I am sorry to admit that creativity has not translated to thinking about the best way to store materials in my classroom! Your photos and descriptions have really helped me, especially now, at the start of summer, when I have some time to get ready for the upcoming school year! I really appreciate you sharing your ideas!

    Reply
  24. Aniket says

    July 23, 2015 at 7:11 am

    Hello,
    These tips are really very creative and challenging. Children will learn many things from these tips. I am thinking to follow these tips from today onwards for my students.And I am going to share this article to my friends so that they may also give some innovative and creative ideas to their children.

    Reply
  25. Paula Hocke says

    December 5, 2018 at 12:57 am

    Thank you so much. Your so organised and wonderful to share with others.

    Bless
    Paula Hocke Queensland Australia

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Visit My Shop! 

Welcome!

Glad you're here! You'll find hands-on learning activities, themes, and printables for Pre-K, Preschool, and Kindergarten kids. I'm Karen Cox, a Pre-K teacher in Georgia. I have taught 4-5 year olds for 20+ years! Read More…

Before Footer

WE BELIEVE IN HANDS-ON, ACTIVE, & PLAYFUL LEARNING TO INSPIRE YOUNG MINDS

Serving Pre-K teachers, parents, & kids worldwide since 2000

Get Our Free Weekly Newsletter

Footer

  • Contact
  • Free Updates
  • Terms of Use
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · PreKinders.com

Get FREE weekly updates!
Join here to get weekly emails with free printables and activities for Pre-K!
We collect, use, and process your data according to our Privacy Policy.
Don't worry - we never sell or share email addresses!
Get FREE updates!
Join here to get weekly emails with free printables and activities for Pre-K!
We collect, use, and process your data according to our Privacy Policy.
Don't worry - we never sell or share email addresses!