Teacher Toolbox

I really love the teacher toolboxes I've seen on Pinterest. They turn out so cute and are so useful! I thought I'd make a smaller one to fit into my Ikea Expedit shelves in my classroom. Here's what I came up with!

I decided to just use plain construction paper because I have a primary colors + green trend going on in my classroom. I just printed the labels out and used scalloped scissors to add some interest. I glued on the paper labels (that's why there are some dark spots). Then I laminated the labels and put them in. Very excited to use this!

Tin Can Pencil Caddy

I've been working on this project for a while. It started with an idea I had for a "Back to School" gift for my IA. I thought it'd be great to make her some sort of caddy to hold her pencils, pens, markers, etc. I came up with the idea to use tin cans. So I began to save tin cans, and even got some from my friends and family. My mother-in-law even joked that I was more than welcome to anything in their recycling bin. After I started saving cans, I decided to make one for myself too. :)

So when I had enough cans, I began to come up with configurations. I finally had the layout. Now came the real work:

My IA's cans all spray painted

My cans spray painted

The wood bases cut to dimension by my husband.

I had to put the cans on there to figure out how much to cut off the corners

Bases cut and painted. Time to attach the lazy sue, purchased from Home Depot for $5 each.

I drilled the lazy sue into the wooden base and glued shelf liner to help the caddy from sliding around.

Power tools to screw in all the cans.

My caddy all finished!

My IA's caddy all finished! I hope she likes it :)

The fun thing about this project is that the caddies spin around! So they're colorful, functional, and fun. The only real cost I had was the spray paint and the lazy sues. Otherwise, the cans were free and I already had the plywood.

Cardboard Caddies

Ikea has these cardboard caddies that they keep in the wrapping area. It's meant to help hold plates or glasses. Well being a teacher, I saw the potential immediately! I grabbed some to use in my classroom. One idea I had was to put one in my listening center. I could easily fit multiple copies of a book, along with the audio cassette or CD on one side. So this way, I can have two books available and organized at the center. To make it a little cuter, I decoupaged it with some scrapbook paper.

Tada!

Before

After

Here's one that my friend and former co-worker, Sarah, made.

Side One

Side Two