Our Favourite Art And Craft Resources For the Early Years
Plus 8 tips for building a collection + printable list
Most afternoons of the school week, you’ll find us gathered around the dining room table, creating some art whilst chatting about our respective days. This is a tradition that started when my eldest son was small and it remains a great way for us to decompress after the hectic nature of school pick-up.
I typically roll out some long sheets of brown paper and wheel over the art cart so that my children can pick and choose what they want to create.
Sometimes it feels like our days of messy (and often whole body) art happened in a different lifetime, but in reality our creative sessions have only truly gotten easier in the last year - when my youngest son turned four.
I know that getting creative with young children can feel a little overwhelming.
There’s the mess.
The worry over unsafe resources.
The lack of interest in crafts.
The organisation time.
Sometimes it feels like it isn’t worth the effort!
But here’s the thing: the more you do art with children, the easier it becomes! That’s why you need a good collection of art and craft resources.
Whilst this specific newsletter focuses on building a collection of art resources, I will be covering Starting Art in an upcoming paid Masterclass.
So What Are Our Favourite Art And Craft Resources for the early years?
Washable paints - Crayola
Paint sticks-Little Brian
Dot markers - Do-a-Dot
Chunky crayons - Honeysticks
Watercolours - Faber Castell
Poster paints - IKEA
Stickers/ sticker books Stamps and ink - Melissa& Doug
Clay / Plasticine
Construction paper
IKEA Paper roll
IKEA Washable markers - Crayola
Beads/ sequins
Ribbon
Washi Tape
PVA glue
Googly eyes
Textured paper
Sticky notes
Felt tips/ textas - Crayola
Wool/ thread
Child safe needles
Paintbrush selection
Rollers
Play dough
Coverall apron to protect clothing
You can download the art and craft resources list for free here:
Quality or Quantity?
We have a range of resources for the children to experiment with. When it comes to using art materials, the quality of resources used should match the project.
When my children were younger, we used non-toxic washable paints (IKEA do a good range in their children’s section) and anything we could find to use as a canvas. As you can see from the photo above, during the toddler years we made plenty of projects using a ‘pizza box’ canvas instead of the real deal.
Likewise, when my children get home from school and simply want to doodle and draw, I roll out a long piece of butchers paper and they happily draw with crayons and felt tip pens.
However, there’s also a time to use real ‘quality’ resources and paper. And if you’ve ever tried to do watercolour on standard copier paper, you’ll know exactly what I mean!
When I became the Art Coordinator of the primary school I taught in, one of the first things I did was conduct a proper audit of the resources cupboard to reorganise it and buy in new materials that would actually work. Quality sketch pads were top of my list!
Sometimes, it’s simply worth buying the best quality you can afford because otherwise, art becomes too frustrating. When I moved to Austria, I could no longer source affordable do-a-dot markers and so I resorted to a budget brand on Amazon. Right from the start, the markers were frustrating to use with the sponge tips easily ripping off from the bottle. In reality, where I thought I was saving money, I actually wasted it instead!
As my children get older, I’m turning more towards quality resources and the right paper for the job. Below, my daughter is drawing a pumpkin with Jaxon brand pastels and thick black card from the local craft store. They were pretty expensive, but when I thought about cost per use, it worked out well.
At 6, she’s getting more and more interested in her own creativity and I don’t want to discourage her by providing resources that don’t do the job.
With all that being said, let’s just be frank and say that quality art resources are expensive and I absolutely do not recommend going out and buying every art resource going in one go. When considering the resources you want to buy, think about how often you’ll use them in reality. There’s no point buying an expensive set of pastel crayons if you think you’ll only use them once or twice. Take your time building up a collection.
I audit our resources every season to see what we need and what we’ve forgotten about so that I don’t double up on resources.
You can read my tips for building an art collection below this photo.
8 Tips For Building A Collection Of Art And Craft Resources:
Choose paints and supplies with non-toxic ingredients. This is usually stated clearly on the labels.
Start with washable paints and pens. Crayola do a good range.
Do pay attention to the age recommendations. They are usually there for a reason – some smaller crayons and paint sticks can be considered a choking hazard.
Get good quality brands where possible (Faber Castell, Stockmar, Jaxon, Lyra, Crayola, Little Brian, Do-a-Dot original markers etc) and check reviews online. Resources that break easily are very frustrating!
Add art and craft resources to lists for special occasions like birthdays and Christmas. They make great stocking fillers and are often a better option than toys for the sake of more toys.
Recycle paper, pizza boxes and delivery boxes – they make great canvases!
Display resources in an art trolley so that your children can readily access items.
Store surplus items in labelled storage boxes. A quarterly audit of supplies helps prevent doubling up on items.
What would you add to this list?
I’d love to hear your thoughts. What art resources would you add for toddlers and pre-schoolers?
I’m also writing an art resource list for the middle years so if you would like to contribute your ideas, I’d like to hear from you.
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I have to admit, I was unreasonably excited when Substack announced the launch of their android app this month. Whilst it’s been on IOS for a while, as a Google Pixel user, I was eager to test out the app for myself to see what the user experience was like.
One of the main reasons I launched my Substack page last month was because I wanted to write about play and raising children in the early years with fewer distractions from social media apps. Whilst I fully appreciate that Instagram is a free resource for me to use, having to perform for social media can get pretty tiresome.
Here I can write detailed posts that go direct to you as a subscriber. It’s easy for me to write detailed posts and add printable resources for you to use without you being redirected to another page. I don’t have to worry about the algorithm controlling who sees my content and you get to see what you’ve signed up for.
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