Favorite Art Supplies For Kids

If you are looking for my tried and tested favorite art supplies for kids then check out this post. These kids art materials will keep your toddler or preschooler inspired to create! My 9 year old still uses these art materials daily. These art material would be great art gifts for kids… especially for an artistic child.

Favorite Kids Art Materials

To me, an Art Cart is a MUST. It forms an integral part of our playroom and keeps my children inspired to create. Learn how to create an art cart here.

In this post I will show you my favorite art supplies for children. This will include paint sets, art paper for kids and other art materials that I think are must haves for kids. This is my most basic list. If you want a list filled with craft extras like feathers and pom poms let me know in the comments below.

Please note that affiliate links are used in this post.

Favorite Kids Art Supplies

I linked to a lot of Discount School Supply Products within this list. I have purchased each of the items I’ve listed below and only recommend those that I absolutely adore.

Currently Discount School Supply has a coupon for 20% off art material. Use code: SUMMERAC

You can find more discounts at the bottom of this post.

1. - Washable Tempera Paint
  - Liquid Watercolors – We use these a lot in our house. The colors are so vibrant. Check out our Raised Salt Painting activity where we use the liquid watercolors.
- Watercolor 6 paint cups – I LOVE these for our watercolor paints. They are simple to store and are truly perfect for watercolors.
- Watercolor paints – Here is another form of watercolor paints that my daughter loves to use for free painting. I just place this in a tray with some paper and water and she is good to go. The children also use them with coloring pages. I linked to my absolute favorite palette. In the picture above I used it with the Do A Dot Art coloring book pages. They are easy to tear out and the quality of the paper is amazing.
- Do A Dot Markers – These are also another item I make sure to keep in our Art Cart. It feels like paint! There is no mess, the kids like it, the colors glide on amazingly and it’s also a favorite with friends who come over to play. You can find the above Do A Dot art activity here.
- Fingerpaints
- No Mess Paint Cups – These are great because they are color coordinated. The rim and cap are the same color as what your paint color should be so a child knows exactly which color they are using with a simple glance. I also really like the dual paint cups because they take up less space on the easel.
- Chubby Paint brushes – These are great for toddlers and preschoolers.
- Colorations Keep it Clean Mats – We use these EVERY single time the kids paint (unless they are using a tray for painting). We really LOVE the bright bold colors and it truly does contain the mess. We also sometimes use Messmatz but our Colorations mats are our favorite for many uses.Below we used our mats in our Secret Love Notes painting activity
- Washable Markers – because I have a young child in the house and since markers always seem like the perfect thing to paint on a wall I always make sure to have washable markers. The washable part is important! I also like these Pip Squeak markers with the travel case too.
- Glitter Glue – It’s glitter without the mess. What could be better than this?
- Washi Tape – This is also used a lot in our home. I purchased this box of washi tape for the kids and leave it in their art cart. They can use it for paint resist activities as well as general art, to hang things up, to decorate clothespins and more. You can find the above I love you painting activity here.
- Melissa and Doug Easel– We have been using our Melissa and Doug Easel for many years. We LOVE it.

Glue – Glue sticks and liquid glue.

Paper

Each of these papers serves a different purpose. If you had to purchase just one I would get the white sulphite paper since its multi-use… but for the easel, you definitely do need easel paper.

Glue accessories for younger children:

These aren’t a must but..

Glue Jar – If you have a child who uses too much of glue, this is a good option for you.
Glue Pen– This is an amazing glue for toddlers. It is SO simple to use and doesn’t make much of a mess.