Mel here! My girls are absolutely with all things art. They could create all day long if I let them. Mandy I put our heads together to finally come up with an art guide that is full of the best supplies, kits, and everything in between.
1. Nortier Board: We are honored to have a Toy Testing Sisters special bundle reserved for our TTS family only! This art bundle has everything your littles could need, including a double sided chalk/magnetic board, fruit felts, magnetic letters, cute animal erasers, and more! My girls are into playing school with their friends, and this set has provided them the perfect pretend space to let their imagination run wild!
CODE: TTSBUNDLE gives $50 off
2. Doh Kits: It is so not fair that kids these days have the most creative toys available to them! We stumbled upon Happy Life Magic's doh kits on Etsy and we died at how cute they are. There are countless choices for every occasion: Halloween, birthday parties, girls’ nights, and world exploration! The doh literally comes to life in every kit, and I love watching my kids go wild with their creations.
3. Sticker WOW: It is like a stamp, but for stickers! The Sticker Wow Pen is such a fun way to place stickers, and there are so many different character pens to choose from. If your kids can’t get enough of stickers, they certainly need this activity booklet! I love how many stickers the pen can hold, so I am not continually needing to help my kids load their pens. Its simplicity makes it a great on-the-go toy!
4. Soft Core Colored Pencils: Every kid needs a standard set of colored pencils, and I feel like Amazon Basics did a great job with this one. The tin storage case keeps the pencils neat and organized, preventing breakage when they aren’t in use. I also feel like they don’t break as easily as some colored pencils, and the color selection is exactly what we were looking for! You also can't beat the price. These make great friend gifts.
5. Dot It: If I can find a way for my kiddos to draw without using markers or paint, I do it! The Dot It art activity is such a fun and developmentally creative way to color! Stickers are provided to fill in the blanks of the canvas, and kids can practice their fine motor skills by peeling and strategically placing their stickers. It is a mess-free way to keep my kids busy during church, waiting at the doctor’s office, or car rides!
6. Tivi Tray: Art is beautiful, and it can also get really messy. I try to minimize the mess as much as possible, and the Tivi Tray has been so helpful with that! Its silicone material is also heat and slip resistant, and the raised edges help to contain the art being crafted within! We’ve used them to make jewelry, paint, and for special glitter art. It has been a life saver for clean-up! I just throw it in the dish washer and it’s ready to go for the next project.
7. Fun Foil: If precision, shine, and professionalism is what your child wants to see in their art, then Fun Foil is exactly what they need! This new way of making art is magical, clean, and so fun. No worries about coloring outside of the lines or getting glitter everywhere, because the foil leaves a crisp edge and glittery surface with little work required from your kiddo.
8. Chalk Crayons: Wondersticks are a versatile, multi-surface chalk crayon, that my girls could not live without. They usually use them in the traditional way, on paper, but I have let them decorate our windows in the past with them for holidays! It comes right off of glass and windows, and is permanent on paper and wood products! This fall we even decorated pumpkins with them, which will definitely become a seasonal tradition.
9. Painting Set: I don’t know about you, but I swear every time my girls paint their brush cleaning cup spills at least once, and brushes roll off the table and get paint all over my floor. It’s no fun! This 4-in-1 painting set was the solution and has had me breathing easy every time the paint comes out. I love it enough for the brush holders and the built-in brush rinser, but the mixing tray and brush scrubber were the cherries on top.
10. Color by Number Puzzle: The Color by Number puzzle is the best of both worlds- puzzles and coloring. What kid doesn’t love both? The puzzle pieces are all white, but once the puzzle is put together, then the coloring can begin! One of my children loves to follow the instructions and color it the way it was intended, but my other child chooses to disregard the instructions and let her imagination run wild! Either way, they both have so much fun every time they do one of these.
11. Fingerprint Activity Book: Whether you are on the go or are trying to rid your space of messy, risky art projects, then you need Fingerprint Ink Painting. Your kiddo, especially if they are a little young to be handling markers or brushes, will be excastic when they see the magic at their fingertips… literally! All they need is their finger, and they can create art in the car, at a friend’s, or even in their bed! No mess, no stress, just clean, magical fun.
12. Scrubbies: Reusable art projects are such a good investment, especially when it’s affordable and clever! Crayola’s Scribble Scrubbies are so fun because when my 4 year old messes up or doesn’t like her pet creation, she can throw it in the bath, rinse out the ink, and try again! Even if she is happy with it, she often wants to try new designs anyway. She plays with her Scribble Scrubbies almost daily right now, and I am all for it.
13. Rainbow Scratch Offs: My childhood flashed before my eyes when I was introduced to the Rainbow Scratch Art Mini Notes. I had to get them because I knew they would be such a good toy to take on the road or to church because they are mess-free and so compact! I also used it to my advantage when I wanted quiet time in the house and encouraged my girls to pass rainbow notes to each other instead of talking. It worked like a charm!
14. Wall Art Frames: Parents are so proud of their kids’ art that we love to display it, but sometimes we end up making piles and piles of undisplayed art that we can’t throw away but don’t know what to do with. The Li’l Davinci Art Cabinet solves this problem by being both a frame and a storage container! Each frame can hold up to 50 sheets of paper, and the frames come in so many sizes! This is a must-by for parents whose kids make a lot of art.
15. Liquid Water Color: Once we discovered Colorations Liquid Watercolor Paint, we said goodbye to all our food coloring! We use it for egg and silk dyeing, but most of the time we use it to add color to water for sensory play! The paints are so vibrant, and since they are non-toxic, I feel safe letting my girls play with it.
16. Paint Sticks: Sometimes our youngins don’t have the patience or the attention span to get out all the paint supplies, paint, clean the brushes, and wait for their art to dry. My 4 year old is at that stage. I got her Ooly’s paint sticks because she wanted to paint, but she wanted to paint now. The tempera paint stick is so easy for littles to hold, and dries quickly so they don’t have to wait long before admiring their work!
17. Magic Light Brush: Okay the Magic Light Brush is the ultimate mess-free art toy, bar none. The technology is so cool that I still don’t quite understand it. All I know is that my girls dip the light-up brush into the “Wonder ink”, which is totally invisible, brush on the provided “Wonder Paper”, and paint appears! The brush lights up to whatever color you are going to paint with, so there is no confusion as to what you are about to see. It is pure magic, and our family is obsessed!
18. Sidewalk Chalk Activity Kit: Sidewalk chalk is a necessity for childhood, but sometimes kids need a little direction to help them maximize their sidewalk chalk potential! The Skillsmatics Activity Kit provides 18 pieces of colorful chalk and 15 activity cards that the whole family can enjoy. The activities are simple to understand and I personally love that it keeps us all outside together!
19. Hey Clay Kit: Sometimes guidance is needed to help a child build the perfect clay animal, and so I am obsessed with the Hey Clay animals kit! It comes with an interactive app that walks the builders step by step, helping my kids feel proud of their work. They can either leave the animals to dry and set within a day, or they can remold the clay into whatever they want! Both my girls are obsessed with animals so this was a solid win for them.
20. Washi Tape: If your kiddo is getting into journaling or scrapbooking, they will no doubt ask for some patterned tape. The Washi Tape set gets you so much tape for such a good value, and the patterns are to die for! They come in all different sizes for variability, and my favorite part is how it peels right off paper without damaging it. So you can re-adjust your tape as much as you want until you get it just right!
21. Gem Art: My 6 year old just started 1st grade this year, which meant we were all in for school supplies. She was so excited to pick out her folders and notebooks, and I could not resist the temptation to pick her up a Big Gem Diamond Painting set so that she could customize her new supplies. Her excitement was on a whole new level, and we had a blast gemming stickers together! She made every school supply her own, and it made sending her off to school a little less hard for me.
22. Dot Markers: Switching up how our kids color is so beneficial to their overall development, so I try to find new ways for them to express themselves often. The Do A Dot markes are a great way to introduce different styles of coloring, and my 4 year old prefers it to using traditional strokes. Overlapping circles can create texture to an art piece that you couldn’t get otherwise, and there’s something so satisfying about watching that perfect circle form every time!
23. Paint by Stickers: Some kids are paint kids, and some are sticker kids! The Paint by Sticker book is made with sticker kids in mind, while also taking into consideration their developmental needs. The book helps them work on their ability to follow instructions, promotes fine motor skills, and helps them learn how different shapes can make up a beautiful finished product! My 6 year old is a sticker kid and has a Paint by Sticker book in the car, ready to go, whenever we drive.
24. SmART Sketcher Projector: My 6 year old told me one day that she wanted to draw our dog as a gift for Father’s Day, but she wanted it to look accurate. I had just learned about the SmART Sketcher Projector and figured she was at the perfect age and ability to use it! It was the best decision. All we had to do was upload a picture of our dog into the app, and the projector was able to make a sketch for my daughter to trace! It came out so lifelike and professional-looking, and my husband totally cried when he saw it.
25. Magic Water Gel: I love nothing more than watching my kids’ eyes fill with wonder as they view the world through a magical lens. The Magic Water Elf Toy kits are really amazing to witness when put to work! My girls channel their creativity when designing their gel creatures in the various molds, and watching the liquid gel turn into solid in the water is pure magic.
26. Poke In Art: Any future fashion designers are going to swoon over the Poke-in-Art Magical Princess set. It is such a simple way to pretend like you are building a dress from scratch, with real fabric squares that you push into the holes around the skirt template, bringing it to life! It comes with 6 princesses, making it the perfect party activity. My girls have required at least one box each because it is just too fun to share.
27. Craft Mat: If you have a painter who wants to have access to many colors, this craft mat is a great option. This mat is made from silicone and is heat resisteant. It has a built-in brush cleaning cup and the cups are fully collapsable. Clean-up and storage is so easy.
28. Acrylic Paint Pens: These paint pens are for the young artist who is ready to up their game and dabble in the world of precision art! The tips are extra fine, so they are catered to people who want crisp, straight lines. They can be used for all kinds of projects on all kinds of surfaces, though! We have a cute rock collection in our neighborhood full of decorated rocks made by the community, so we used these pens to decorate some rocks and added them to the display!
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