The best list of art supplies for kids: To help you free up more time for what is important {free printable}

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Preview: Craft and art supplies for kids list will help you to gather everything you need to have on hand for better planing creative time with your kids. Ideal for toddlers and preschoolers.

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I often get asked where I get my supplies or what practically I use for our crafts. I get many of my craft supplies at Dollar Store or Walmart and if I think ahead, I order through Amazon as ad-on items while doing my personal purchases (I just started Amazon Prime 30 day free trial which includes free 2-day shipping so I wont be have to worry about that any more).
I also get some of specific art supplies for kids at (usually with ) but in general avoid craft stores as they can be pricey.

I made a list that includes links to each of the most common craft supplies, plus nature objects and household items that can be used for crafts, including up-cycling materials.

Download FREE printable List of craft and art supplies for kids.

But before we start, my favourite craft projects are the ones that we build entirely on our own using boxes and items we find at home. These are cheap household items or materials from recycle bin. I also included those items although I’m sure you already have most of this things already, but it is worth to check if you are missing something.

At the end you will find the list of materials needed for big craft projects. So far we have made few BIG craft projects of carton that took up to several hours to few days to build; Pirate ship, Digger, Play house and our next one we plan to make is a rocket ship.

If you are curious and looking for an inspiration, peek in to my DIY Kids Pinterest board where I save mostly those big ideas that could be made of cardboard or DIY toys that are easy to build. We also made some little one cardboard toys, like washing machine, stove (before we bought little Ikea play kitchen) and one of the most entertaining was actually huge empty books for drawing. Yes, my daughter would sit inside with oil pastels and scrabbled for a half an hour at a time.

So let’s start with my favourite craft and art supplies for kids that are ideal for toddler and preschooler:

Up-cycled materials:

Egg carton boxes
Bubble wrap
Paper roles (towels and toilet papers)
Empty carton boxes (Tissue paper, Cereal, Mailing/Delivery boxes)
Milk Caps (Related: How to make paint palette out of milk caps)
Paper plates
Paper cups
Paper Lunch Bags
Paper grocery bags

Household items you can use for crafts:

Aluminium foil
Coffee Filters
Cupcake Liners
Sponges
Zip-lock bags
Food Dye
Straws
Toothpicks
Q-tips
Cornstarch
Hair Gel
Shaving cream
Jars
Small plastic containers (yogurt, pudding…)

Common craft supplies:

Popsicle sticks

Wooden sticks

Wooden beads

Plastic beads

Pom Poms

Feathers

Pipe Cleaners

Foam Sheets

Foam sticks

Googly Eyes

Non-toxic glitter

Colours and paints:

Coloured pencils

Crayons

Oil pastels (Jumbo size – 336 pack of 12 colours)

Coloured chalk

Markers (for mommy only and kids 5+)

Washable markers

Water colours

Tempera paint

Acrylic paint

Do a Dot art paint

Kids washable paint

Paper supplies:

Construction paper

Clear Contact Paper (nice to have but not necessity)

Colourful rolls of tape

Card stock (variety colours)

Crepe paper

Copy paper

Tissue paper

Paper role

Paper role tabletop dispenser (not a necessity but nice to have)

Textiles:

Yarn
Felt sheets and felt scraps
Thread
Embroidery floss
Muslin
Burlap
Buttons
Ribbons

Download FREE printable List of craft and art supplies for kids.

Modeling :

Homemade play dough (we use Danielle’s recipe without cream of tartar and simple ingredients from kitchen)

Polymer Clay

Clay

Glues:

Glitter Glue

Clear glue

Glue sticks

Mod Podge (also not necessity but great to have for some craft projects)

Felt glue

Craft and art supplies for kids from nature:

Leaves
Sticks and small branches
Driftwood
Rocks and stones
Pine cones
Acorns
Flowers
Seeds & seed pods
Wood slices

Craft Tools:

Paint brushes

Sharpener

Safety scissors

Creative craft scissors (different patterns)

Hole puncher (round)

Round Head Paper Fastener

Eyelets

For bigger craft projects, like DIY craft toys, you will need:

Moving boxes

Permanent markers

Spray paint ( I use Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch spray paint which is available in variety of colours)

Duck Tape (also available in variety of colours)

Scalpel

Good scissors ( I use Jamie Oliver’s kitchen scissors)

Double sided tape

Hot glue gun

Download FREE printable List of craft and art supplies for kids.

And that would be it my friend. If you caught that something is missing in this list and you find it super useful to have for kids crafts please let me know and if you liked it please be so kind and share it on social media with your friends.

Now, all you need it is gather art supplies for kids and start planning your next arts and crafts projects. For inspiring ideas follow my Pinterest boards: Toddler Activities, Preschool Activities and Waldorf & Nature Activities.