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Preschoolers are fun, aren’t they? And messy! They are also carefree (usually) and have quite the imagination. I loved working with preschoolers when I taught art. I currently have two of my own preschoolers at home. While its a little bit of a set up for us to get all the art supplies out, I’ve found that having just a few basics on hand can make for easy set and clean up and less time spent trying to think of a craft for them. Just set out the supplies and let them create! These are just some of my favorite BASICS for preschoolers to have on hand and invite little hands to create!
Strathmore Paint Pad This is a good multipurpose paper because it can be used with watercolors, poster paints (or any kind of thicker paint), and even markers. It is definitely worth getting paper that will work well with watercolor if your kids like to paint with watercolors.
Crayola Washable Kids Paint I LOVE the washable Crayola paints. The colors are bright and I have not had any problems so far with clean up and washing paint out of clothes.
Crayola Washable Watercolors Again, I love Crayola washable paints. Some brands have really dull colors, but Crayola watercolors are bright! Now, preschoolers will require some supervision with watercolors just because of the process of rinsing your paintbrush and loading it with water before trying to pick up the color with a brush. If your preschooler forgets to rinse off the previous color, these wipe up pretty easily with a paper towel.
Artist Apron If you’re worried about messy clothes, an apron is the way to go. Aprons with sleeves are great because they protect little arms that tend to reach across the table or wet paper and smear paint on their arm.
Crayola Marker pack The Crayola Ultra-Washable markers are well worth the extra money (there are some Crayola markers that don’t say ultra-washable). They wipe right off with a wet wipe and this big set has so many pretty colors.
Crayons So much color variety and ultra-washable.
Dot Markers If you haven’t let your kids try dot markers yet, these are a must. When I taught art, pretty much every elementary grade level loved these. These are pretty much bingo daubers. They are easy to use for the little ones.
Construction Paper Sturdy construction paper for paper crafts or to paint on.
Safety Scissors My go-to brand when I taught art. Training scissors that won’t cut fingers and help little hands get the hang of using scissors.
**Added Bonus: I like to use stick glue for the preschoolers because they tend to pour out way to much liquid glue. In kindergarten, I would teach them to say “dot, dot, not a lot” with liquid glue so they learn to only use a couple dots of glue. With glue sticks, they just have to push a little harder so the glue actually comes off onto the paper.
Hopefully these basic art supplies will get you on a creative path with your preschooler!
