UPcycle: DIY homework station

One of the best ways I’ve found to make homework time at our house less stressful seems pretty simple —be prepared.

With a little bit of organizing on your end, you can take the anxiety out of homework for you and your kids.

Start off by gathering together supplies. Put everything you think the kids will need into one area. I designated the bottom shelf of a bookcase in the kitchen as the “homework station.”

Click the link below and see the entire process.

PHOTOS: Easy DIY homework station

Things you’ll need:

• 2 colorful plastic baskets
• 2 sheets of foam sticker sheets
• Recycled tin cans
• Crayons
• Washable markers
• Highlighters
• Pencils
• Pens
• Tape
• Glue
• Glue sticks
• Scissors
• Calculator
• Ruler
• Flash cards
• Sticky notes
• White printer paper
• Notebook paper
• Construction paper
• Extra pocket folders
• Plastic desk tray
• Other plastic organizers you aren’t using or trays, recycled office supplies, etc.
• Anything else you might need for homework like syllabi, teacher's notes, journals

This list can be as flexible as you need it for your own children’s needs.

I started off by selecting bright colored baskets for each of the kids. In each one I put some specific supplies just for them.

For the younger child, I put some age appropriate flashcards and stickers. For my older child I threw in an extra calculator and some geometry tools.

I labeled each one with their names with the foam sticker sheets.

For organizing writing utensils and so forth, I painted recycled tin cans in pretty colors. This is a perfect part of the project to let the kids help out with the decorating.

I used a plastic desk organizer I had around the office for the paper. You could use another basket or just stack it.

The best thing about this project is that it’s fun to get your kids involved in creating their “space,” creating an atmosphere of fun centered around homework. It’s not an easy task to accomplish, but little tricks like this one can give homework time a positive twist.

Click the link below and see the entire process.

PHOTOS: Easy DIY homework station

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Twinkle VanWinkle ponders, creates and discovers cool stuff about music, movies, food, fashion and so forth. Her thoughtful writings and interactives give great advice about healthy food, cooking tips, DIY projects, fashion and more. She’ll teach you a thing or two about music as well. Along with producing dynamic entertainment content for LIN Media, she is a mother, musician and social media fanatic.