ART SUPPLIES FOR KIDS
Learn what Art Supplies for Kids you really need for school and how and where to save money. Sometimes you need the name brand but most of the time you don’t. Learn the difference to get your child off to a good start with Art.
When it comes to ART SUPPLIES FOR KIDS, there are more options than you could possibly imagine.You have watercolors, markers, glitter, acrylic paint, puff pain, colored pencils, school art supplies, teacher art supplies, and the list goes on and on. Ideally, we will make finding the art supplies easier, tell what they are for, and if you cheap will work.
Kids Art Supplies Basics
We will break this down into two groups: school art supplies and craft art supplies. They are slightly different and each has their purpose.
School Art Supplies
When buying art supplies for school, you really need to go cheap. (Trust me, I used to teach.) Chances are the supplies for younger children will go into a big bin anyway. These supplies need to be functional as you will never see them again.
- Crayons -
- Younger kids can get away with 8. However, a standard box of 24 is perfect. Buying a bigger box is pointless.
- Rose Art or other cheap brand works just fine. Save the Crayola brand for home. Crayola is less waxy and will give truer color. However, for school go with cheap.
- Construction Paper -
- You will need an assortment of construction paper every year in elementary school. Therefore, if you find a cheap price for the 9×12, then buy a lot and hang on to it.
- Teachers always run out of red and pink construction paper. (Think Santa, Valentines Day, and Mother’s Day.) You may want to talk to the teacher and see if she wants you to buy a package of red or pink instead of the assorted colors, which they often have plenty to go round.
- Map Colors – Colored Pencils
- Younger children buy the cheap kind as they will break and get lost.
- Older children, starting around 4th grade, it may pay to invest in the better quality. This is especially true for middle school and high school where maps are important. They will need to color a lot and breaking lead only means buying more colored pencils.
- Glue -
- The list may say Elmer’s glue but really they mean all purpose white glue. Rose Art glue will work just find and it is cheaper. Teachers just don’t want you to buy the glittery stuff or fancy art glue. (This is important as we use it for other stuff than gluing. Glitter glue can mess up projects where glue is an ingredient.)
- Stick Glue – If stick glue is asked for, then buy the kind that dries clear. There are some purple ones that dry clear but you don’t want one that dries purple.
Kids Art Supplies for Home
When you are at home, this is the time to buy the better products.
- Crayola makes the best crayon and will give the truest color.
- While Playdoh is nice, Moon Sand never dries out. You can find it at LakeShore online or through the catalog.
- The Squeeze paintbrushes look nice, but they are hard to use. I would not recommend them.
- Buying kits for art projects can help in 2 ways.
- They give you the supplies you need to make cool crafts
- They give you enough to have substantial leftovers for future crafts
- I recommend the project kits at LakeShore for a wide variety of goodies. They have Insects, Oceans, Transportation, Dinosaurs and so many more.
Best Art Supply Advice
I highly recommend keeping all extra supplies. Put crayons, markers, map colors, google eyes, and everything else in individual plastic baggies. You can organize them in a tool box for easy access. Additionally, sort of construction paper and card stock in an according folder to easily see what colors need replacing.