Hours of Fun Without Breaking the Bank!

You don't need to spend much to have the best kids art box packed full of creative possibilities. In fact, it's easy! You just need a little know-how to select the right type of materials that can be used in different ways for an endless number of art and craft activities at home. Here is a definitive list of all the things you'll need to stock the best art box ever.

Best Kid Art Box for Home Use

It's a well known fact that school art boxes are absolutely packed full of quality art supplies. What we forget, though, is that the school art box is often under a very tight budget. Teachers have to be clever about what type of art materials to purchase to get the maximum range of art activities with minimum spending. Now you too can stock up your kids' art boxes with the essentials that will keep your kids (and your wallet) very happy.

Paper

Paper is probably the most expensive part of the quest for a good kid's art box. If you don't already, try saving any scrap paper in a folder or file for your kids to freely use. A lot of kids like to color in or decorate the printed side of scrap paper anyway! Blank office paper is also fine, too, especially for drawing. As far as new paper goes, it is definitely worth investing in large, A3 colored card in several different colors. Arts and crafts often look many, many times better when on colored card rather than plain white paper. Card also holds thick paint and glue better than office paper, and is great for using as a border and mounting surface. As a bonus, it can also be cut to any smaller size, and can save children the laborious task of "covering all the paper."

Paint

There is no way of going around this. Kids love painting. A student set of water-based acrylic paints is probably the easiest thing to purchase. It’s easy to clean with a wet cloth, and is also easy to apply (unlike oil based paints). Ready-made tempera paints and poster paints are also great. Save any plastic trays or containers for using and mixing the paints. Old plates are also great for this. Brushes can be very cheap, so buy a couple of different sizes, and one or two extra to use only for gluing. Trays of watercolor paints are also really inexpensive, and often come with their own brushes. Save old canning jars to hold water to wash brushes.

Glue

Glue sticks are great, but craft glue is even better. PVA glue is a great permanent option, but it can be very difficult to clean once it has semi-set. Any type of wet glue is great for sticking paper and light collage materials, but you may need the thicker PVA type glue for things like buttons and beads.

Pencils, Markers and Crayons

Cheap as chips, grab 2 packs of each. They don’t need to be fancy, just make sure there's roughly 6 colors or more to choose from, and that the pencils are not too crumbly. It's worth getting a cheap sharpener as well.

Scissors

You can choose to include this in the art box itself for older kids, or you may decide to just have an "adult pair" that can be used only on request. If you do decide on scissors for your kids, look for short ones that have equal sized loops for the fingers and thumb (the scissors will work either way up), and a snub tip. Kids tend to be much rougher with "safety scissors" that only cut paper, as these types of scissors are very temperamental and kids can get very frustrated with them. For kids who are just learning how to use scissors, you can also buy ones with 2 loops on each handle, one pair of loops for your child and one for yourself to guide them.

Collage Stuff

Feathers, leaves, glitter, sequins, wool, threads, chopped up colored paper, wrappers, plastics, fabrics, buttons… basically any colorful remnants of stuff make excellent collage materials. These items are very cheap or often free, and your collage supply bag will keep stocking itself as you do more activities (off cuts, unwanted artwork, pretty wrappers, things you find and remember to put in the box). Often, the collage stuff works best when it is divided into similar items (all buttons, all blue things etc). Egg cartons or similar shaped containers are great for easy viewing and access when you're using the materials, whilst zip-lock bags are great for storage and keeping things separate and easily visible.

Newspaper

Handy for catching drips, and for anything else your child can think of. Junk mail is also great and best of all, free!Now you are set. You don't need lots of fancy, one-off supplies. Let your kids explore the stuff in the box (with supervision of course, especially where scissors are concerned), and you'll be amazed at what they'll do with this seemingly simple collection of basic art and craft supplies. Just be prepared for the mess they make!