Art Studio to Go

My three year old boy is VERY artistic and creative in an OCD/perfectionist kind of way. So to celebrate this, I thought that with a 14 hour car ride to Florida, I should pack some coloring books and such. But I started thinking and came up with this...a HUGE over sized school binder with pockets, 3 ring binder, zippered pouches, etc. filled to the brim with all sorts of art supplies that would keep "The Law" happy and me as well with the organization aspect.

Here is what I bought before our trip (keep in mind that if you want great deals on art supplies, now is the time to buy it up since a lot of stores now want your back-to-school business): 24 pk. of crayons, 24 pk. of colored pencils, 16 pk. of triangular shaped crayons (more on those below), pip squeak markers, stickers, coloring books, activity book, a sketch book, a Color Wonder set (great for not really wanting markers everywhere in the car), scissors, a ruler, a watercolor and paintbrush set (hidden until we got to the beach for all practical purposes).

It ended up being heavy and huge but since we were just opening it up to get what was needed and then setting it back down, it worked. This trapper keeper (is this what they are still called or am I really dating myself here?) had a file folder side where I put the coloring books.

I bought some colorful zippered pencil pouches to put the markers, crayons, etc. in.

The see-through mesh on the front of the binder housed the stickers so they could be easily visible. My favorite item - by far - are the triangular crayons from Crayola. They stay put and don't roll around which makes it ideal for traveling in a car or plane with these babies. Also, they help your child hold the crayon like they need to for when they begin to learn to write. I only wish crayola would take this farther and make triangular makers and colored pencils.

I also had one of those plastic TV trays (think breakfast-in-bed) for kids so I put that over the arm rest of his car seat so he could have a table to color on while we were in the car. This was one happy kid when I surprised him with this while we were traveling and, in all honesty, it's been the biggest hit since we came to the beach!