ABC and 123 Picnic Talk: Kids Crafts

Hello and welcome to 4 Crazy Kings! I am a former High School Art Teacher and currently am a SAHM. I love crafting and doing art with my girls. My blog chronicles our projects, adventures & life in general. Hope you enjoy your visit!

My basic art supply list for kids:

• foam brushes
• regular brushes (an assortment)
• various size plastic containers (for water, mixing paints, palettes...)
• sponge (for drying off your paintbrush between color changes)
• decent quality paint (tempera and water color)
  
• glitter (not necessarily a basic but it is in our house!)
  
• good quality glue (bottle and stick)
  
• lots of paper (all sizes, colors and weights)
• quality kids scissors and adult scissors
• crayons
• markers
• tissue paper
• pipe cleaners (chenille stems)
• clothes pins (for holding something in place while it dries)
• an old drawing board or masonite board (something that you can do your project on and then move to let dry or work on later.)
• smock (old t-shirt)

Extra Fun Items to Include:

• Colored Sand
• Clay
• Craypas (Oil Crayons)
• Water Color Crayons/Pencils
• Hole punch
• Yarn
• Pony Beads
• Stamps & Stamp Pads
• Glue gun (for you to make doing projects easier and cuts down on drying time)
• Contact Paper
• Colored Foam Sheets
• Assorted Collage Materials: pom poms, googly eyes, sequins...
• Craft Sticks (Popsicle)
• Wallpaper & Fabric Books (see this post)

Cupboard Items to Craft With:

• Pasta
• Rice
• Beans
• Paper Plates
• Paper Cups
• Sand Paper
  
• Card Board Boxes
• Oatmeal Containers
• Egg Cartons
• Margarine Containers
• Sponges
• Paper Bags
• Toilet, Paper Towel, Wrapping Paper Rolls
• Milk Cartons
  

The Importance of Cleanup
I am hardly the neatest or most organized person but being a former art teacher I am obsessed with keeping my art supplies clean and stored properly. I had very messy and disorganized art teachers growing up and hated trying to find a clean work surface, palette or brush that wasn't crudded up with dried paint with the ends bent into an unusable angle.

• Clean paint brushes and store brush side up.
• Clean palette (I just use the dirty brush to rub over the palette under running water - it cleans the brush and palette at the same time.)
• Clean the top of your glue and paint containers with a damp sponge.
• Put caps back on markers (Dip slightly dry markers in water and then replace the caps let sit over night. This revives them. Doesn't work on really dried out markers.)
• Get some plastic storage containers to store materials in. Divide into to material groups.
• Playdough Container: Playdough and all the accessories (cookie cutters, stampers, cutting tools, extruder...)
  
• Painting Container: Paints & Palette (one container) Brushes (stored up right in an cup)
• Bead Container: Large plastic jar with lid & small plastic bowls for sorting all sit in rimmed tray ready to play with
  
• Stamp Container: Stamps & stamp pads
• Everyday Craft Container (see photo below and this post)

Keeping your crafts organized and clean helps make doing crafts easier with your kids. I know that for many of my friends doing crafts with their kids is a daunting task because they think it involves so much set up, clean up and just makes a huge mess. It doesn't have to be if you have a system and are organized. Don't take everything out when working with toddlers. Limit their choices initially. This will allow them to fully experience the particular material. Art is a discovery process especially at this young age. Don't overwhelm them with too many materials.

Also at this age don't expect an end result. Experimenting is more fun than coming up with a finished project. For example, take something as simple as washable markers. Let them draw on heavy paper (you'll end up with a stack of marker scribbles.) Next time take out some of the marker drawings give them a brush with a little dish of water. Let them paint water on their marker drawings to see what happens.

When painting limit their palettes. Don't break out every color of the rainbow. They are learning about color so limit them to two colors that are either similar (blue & purple) or that make another color (blue & yellow.) This also helps them from making muddy pictures and allows them to observe what happens when you mix certain colors. As they get older you can let them have more color choices.

For more great ideas please visit some of my past Crafting with Kids Posts. And consider following my blog to continue to get great Crafting with Kids ideas! Have fun crafting with your kids! Mama King