My 10 Must Have Art Supplies for Kids | Creative Living

I get asked pretty often about all the art supplies I use with my kids when we're creating at home. So to help with that I put together this list of all the things I always have on hand whenever me or my kids want to make space to create in our home. Most of these items are pretty simple and they're ones that I've been using over and over again for years since by oldest ones were pretty little. While there are many out there that I think are helpful for getting creative, these are the ones I've found to be the easiest to get started and store away. 

If you want to grab the list to always have on hand you can grab it here and I'll send it straight to your inbox. This list also has some tips and tricks I use with each supply also has a link for you to use so you can have them on hand and not have to dig up this blog post again. 

Grab the supply list here. 

1. Drop Cloth

This is a MUST have if you ever want to bring any form of messiness by way of creativity into your home. We've been using the same drop cloth for years and it is full of color and spills, and paint and memories of moments my kids have spent creating at our table. I share more about that here. This drop cloth not only works for making clean up smooth and easy, but ALSO becomes its own piece of art over the years as you or your kids create on it. I imagine some say I'll make a tapestry or huge canvas of some sort to hang on the wall and it will be my most treasure art piece ever. I'm determined to tell every mama about this idea, so go grab yourself one right this minute. You'll thank me 20 years from now that you did this too ;)

2. Paint Brushes

I'm always collecting these from all different craft stores. For kids, I would say pretty much any kind of paint brush works great and my little mom hack is the smaller the brush you give them to paint with, the longer it will keep their attention to paint whatever's in front of them, plus you don't have to use that much paint with a smaller brush. We have these paint brushes, and these. And this set is great for a slightly better quality ones and they're pretty too!

3. Craft Paints

This is another supply I've been collecting over the years. Whenever I'm grabbing crafts or know I have a project coming up I'll grab a few colors of paint. This set will get you started on all the colors to have on hand and I love that this brand is super easy to wipe down if it gets on the table. Anything that is water based paint is much easier to clean right away and I'd only recommend this kind of paint when using it with kids. 

4. Colored Pencils

Colored pencils and always revolving through our house hold and I prefer my kids using these over markers...becuase markers in our house is just asking for stress and disaster! haha! These pencils are some of my favorite and the quality is great if you're wanting more vibrant kinds. Although any kind of pencils will do the trick with kids. And if you're looking for some good ones for yourself these ones are another favorite of mine.

5. Watercolor Paints

I have a few of these palettes for the kids and I love how vibrant and easy they are to use. It makes it super simple for when the kids want to paint for a short amount of time. I also love these paints for my older girls that are more into painting and wanting to learn more about the technique of art. And these are the paints I've been using for years for all the watercolor art I paint myself.

6. Watercolor paper

I've been using this pad of watercolor paper for years for all the art I create. I use it for my kids too because its great paper that doesn't break the bank. A simple hack to do with this paper is to buy the larger size pad so you can cut the papers smaller for your kids to paint on. This way the paper pad lasts a little longer. 

7. Printer Paper

Paper, paper, paper. It will be a life saver for keeping kids busy and creative. We have drawers full of blank paper that they can go grab and start coloring with on a whim. My kids not only use it for coloring on, but have also come up with their own creative ways to use paper for playing. Paper airplanes for racing, microphones for singing, folding origami animals, books for journaling or writing their own stories, and so much more!

8. Paper Plates

This one is sort of a hack I've used over the years. Because we have a big family, paper plates just makes sense for us with easy dinner clean ups (and less dishes to do). But having paper plates also makes the perfect palette for painting with the kids and all you have to do is throw it away when you're done. No washing out messy plastic palettes after every craft. These also are great items for the kids to create and play with. My kids have also come up with all kinds of ways to use and bring creative with plates--masks and hats for pretending, make shift instruments, and more!

9. Foil

Foil surprisingly is so much fun for little ones. I gave a wad of this to my 3 & 4 year olds one morning and they played with it for a good hour. Ripping, folding, crumbling, throwing it in the air. They kept wanting more. So this not only makes for a creative sculpting project, but I've also used foil as palettes for holding painting or canvases to painting on. They really love it!

10. Masking tape

Every time I buy masking tape for studio, its gone within minutes. My kids are always coming in to grab more so they can tape anything they're crafting and creating in the other room. Sometimes it gives me a headache that I've lost so much tape to these little hands, but on the other hand it just means they're being creative and coming up with their own ideas and projects while using something that's pretty low maintenence. Plus masking tape (or painters tape) is pretty easy to take off of anything. I've spent lots of time peeling this off of things, but since it's not too sticky it comes off easily. 

So there is my list of all the things I keep over and over again. We add things here and there, but these are the essentials we've used since my oldest kids could start holding a pencil and their creativity seems to grow each time they pull out any or all of these supplies. 

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