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Does your family love creating art as much as mine? Growing up, I spent my free time drawing and attending art classes. Before becoming a teacher, I studied Studio Art as an undergrad and almost chose to be an art teacher. Ultimately, I decided to teach 5th grade. It seems as though I’ve passed my passion onto my children. If you follow my instagram, you’ll see lots of our creations.
There are so many amazing art materials, crafts, and toys available for children. I thought I’d share with you some of the materials and drawing tools/toys that we use the most.
1.) Magnetic Drawing Pad- This has always been a staple in our household. Both children love the VTech Write and Learn Creative Center. It is mess free, reusable, transportable, and versatile.
2.) Jumbo Crayons- Regular crayons are so easy for toddlers to snap in half. These Flower Monaco Jumbo ones are a little more durable, they do however still break when used with force. If you need extra durable crayons, then go with the these, Honeysticks Beeswax Crayons.
3.) Art Markers- If you can trust your kids to be safe with permanent markers, these Bianyo Markers are a great option. My son colored so much with his Crayon markers, that they’d dry out so quickly. These are long lasting, and come in amazing shades.
4.) Water Colors- We love the 36 colors that come with this non-toxic beginner set by Kedudes. Bonus, it comes with 12 paint brushes!
5.) Paint- We currently have been using this Prang, Washable Tempera Paint set and we are happy with the quality and range of colors.
6.) SMart Sketcher- This projector, was one of my sons most wished for Christmas gifts. It gives step by step instructions and is great for beginning drawers. They also make more activity packs that go along with it.
7.) Osmo Creative Kit- Another Christmas gift my 5 year old was super excited for was this Osmo Creative Kit. The technology this uses is really cool. The kit is meant to teach drawing, listening, speed of drawing, visual thinking, problem solving, physics, creative problem solving & fine motor skills.
8.) Oil Pastels- There are a lot of great brands. We currently have Doms Oil Pastels, but I have also used and liked, Cray-Pas and Faber Castle. My son loves using the scratching tools to add texture to his artwork.
9.) Tempera Paint Sticks- Sometimes we don’t have time to get all the supplies set up for painting. These Kwik Stix are virtually mess free and quick drying.
10.) Droppers/Pipettes- Pipettes are great to have for fun art experiments and process art.
11.) Contact Paper- Kenzie is a big fan of creating art with contact paper. You can make so many beautiful crafts using it.
12.) Glue Gun- We’ve tried a lot of glue sticks, but nothing works like a glue gun. We have the Gorilla Hot Glue Gun.
Other- There are so many materials that you can have on hand to create crafts. Some other things we frequently use (besides the obvious paper/pencils...) are sidewalk chalk, cheap paper plates, brown paper bags, tissue paper, card stock, lots of recycled materials, felt, and foam sheets.