So I’ll confess. I still haven’t watched Tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix or read her book or even thought too much about her because I know I’ll want to organize everything in my life and it is OVERWHELMING and I DO NOT HAVE TIME. I’ll get to it eventually. Maybe.
But having a well-organized Club room was a MUST when I was in the Learning Center. With so many youth cycling in and out each day, I needed to have all of my supplies easily accessible and in good working order. Many classroom organization hacks translate well to the Clubhouse, but we also have Gamesrooms and Gyms to consider. So I combed through Pinterest with my Club-antenna on high to find some practical ideas to help you create organization systems that work!
Keeping working whiteboard markers is an impossible task. But it might be made a little easier with this shower caddy idea!
Hanging shoe bags can be useful for all kinds of supplies. This links to a free printable label set:
And if you find shoe storage designed for two shoes per pocket, headphones will fit!
Mounting board games is not only smart, but it makes them art! Best part is, the pieces store on the back! This project does take some DIY wood-working skills, but could be a good project for volunteers, whether from the community or a local hardware store or even from a scouts group.
While the puzzle storage ideas aren’t practical for Clubs, the other two are genius! Click through for more, but they are 1) keep an inventory of game pieces and 2) store cards in American cheese slice containers. Another card storage idea is travel soap containers.
Hula hoops are useful for so many different activities, but they can be a BEAST to store. This idea uses PVC pipe to create hanging hooks! There are actually a ton of other options if you can’t drill into the walls, just search “hula hoop storage” on Pinterest.
Same goes for jump ropes. But hanging them on hose hangers? Genius.
I have a cart similar to this for my office supplies at home and I LOVE it. OP says this one is from Michael’s (hello discount!), but I’ve seen similar at Target, IKEA, and even sometimes at TJ Maxx.
This style of rolling card has all kinds of colors and configurations. Click through to see an Amazon listing. They aren’t cheap, but they are all in one, which is convenient.
I’ll bet $10 that you’ve got a bunch of milk crates stacked up somewhere. If you have extras that aren’t being used, they make GREAT storage. They are durable and kids can easily carry them and thus help with cleanup! You can also buy containers this size and shape new if you don’t have any.
A lot of the Gym storage pins I found link to twitter, so I guess that’s where PhysEd professionals hang out. Here’s another DIY wall storage idea.
Create easy rolling storage by attaching utility bins to scooters!
This is exactly how I kept pencils, both as a Club staff and during my teaching days. The trick is getting youth to put the pencils in the correct bucket.
Listen. Don’t even try to save boxes. IT’S NOT WORTH IT. Just throw your supplies into labeled bins and move on!
Ok but this really is genius! Perfect for multi-colored paper as shown, or even just to keep worksheets or photocopies separated.
Have a bunch of papers that need to dry? All you need is a drying rack and clothespins!
Instead of keeping up with lots of individual dry erase boards, just make the whole table one! This teacher says she replaces the laminate each year to keep it looking nice.
Bookshelves are a constant mess. Many teachers have moved to using bins to group books and help keep things looking nice. Consider grouping books by reading level, series (for example, all Elephant & Piggy or all Magic Tree House books together), or genre. This pin includes a ton of beautiful ideas to get you inspired.
All of these bins are from DOLLAR TREE!! Now, I can’t attest for their durability, but they sure are cute. Consider choosing a color scheme and then getting mismatching bins, like the image below. You could also spray paint plastic bins all one color, even metallic, if you want to get really fancy.
I had two HUGE shelving units in my Club room, one was supplies that youth could access, but the other was my storage. To mark it as off-limits but still keep it easy access, I hung a tension rod and shower curtain and it was perfect. The rod did fall a couple of times, but looks like this idea actually mounted it, which is smarter. They also cut the curtain to size, since its a small shelf.
What are your best hacks for keeping Club spaces organized? Do you have any DIYs to share? We want to make a part 2 of this post! Comment below, on the BGCA Youth Development Facebook page, or email ClubXBlog@bgca.org to share your best ideas.
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