The Chronicles of Shaunia

All of my children are unique in their giftings and passions, but the youngest, Shoshanna, is a special kind of different, lol.

She often seems to live in her own little world and she LOVES to draw. I’m not sure if she was simply born with this free spirit, or if it was a product of a distracted parent, going through a difficult season during her younger, formative years. During that time, for the first time, our family had a nanny. She was just the sweetest thing, who was highly creative and happened to be an art teacher.

Regardless of how she became that way, no matter how hard I have seemed to train her up to follow the family rules, which includes not drawing on walls, she seemed to temporarily forget that one. What’s worse is that Shoshanna had a knack for somehow finding permanent markers as her medium. Just when I think I have either put every Sharpie marker out of reach or completely rid our house of every last one, she will have found one... and created a beautiful mural while we all sleep at night, or a little random stick figure on a door or something.

In our new home, where Travis and I have begun our new life, we are very intentional about being on top of the training of the little ones. This includes teaching them to be good stewards of their home and the environments around them. Having a partner who is present and on the same page has made a world of difference! We finally broke her of this habit, but after 6 months, we could see that she really needed some sort of creative outlet.

My Aunt suggested creating her an “Art room,” which is exactly what we did in the closet of our extra room, where all the household toys reside.

This is what we did:

- We put foam mats on the ground to protect the carpet and covered them with a 2cm plastic for extra protection.

- Bought a small fold up table and chairs from Costco and a little bathroom caddy to hold the art supplies and a plastic white table cloth from Bed Bath & Beyond.

- There were no lights in the closet, so we bought battery powered string lights and stick on push LED lights.

The best part of this Art Closet, in my opinion, is the dry erase paper that we lined the walls with! It was definitely a 2 person job to apply it, and we learned as we went that it’s best to apply the middle/ bottom of the paper and then push the sides out flat. The paper wipes off perfectly and the children love it! It can be found here (by the way, I get no kick back for recommending this). It’s just a great product!

I got many of their art supplies at Lakeshore Learning Center with a big coupon and Cyber Monday sales, but another product I really love are these paints that have zero mess. They would be perfect for a toddler.

We surprised the children with this room and it has literally kept them busy for hours on end. They go to bed not wanting to stop playing and talking about how they will be continuing the next day.

In today’s world, I’m always on the lookout for tools to help grow and nurture their little minds screen free. It feels like such a privilege to get to be a Mom and help mold and shape their giftings!

Please comment with any great ideas you have seen or come up with, and as always, any questions 💛 Much love 💋

Check out the new art room here! https://youtu.be/Ro-a5Ac-bEo