My kids are constantly creating inventions and works of art—from the minute they wake up until the late hours when they’re stalling before bedtime. We take advantage of the Christmas and birthdays to add to their art stash, and the kids are always thrilled to experiment with new art supplies.

So here, in four parts, I’ll share with you some ideas and favorite products, and hopefully you’ll find something for the little ones in your life.

Part 1
Setting Up a Space Where Kids Can Create and Display Art

1. If possible, set up your art station where your family spends a lot of time, so your kids will stop by often. If you have the room and budget for a table, you can pick up one from IKEA, Serena & Lily (pictured here), or our choice, the Carolina Craft Table from PB Kids (well worth our investment).

Or, if you live in 700 square feet, like we once did, hang an IKEA children’s easel right on the wall, or throw up a beautiful chalk board from SpellitOutdesigns (found via Design Crush).

2. Consider how messy your kids are likely to be, and consider your own mess-tolerance level. When my kids’ art station was over the carpet, they were free to cut and glue, but all painting was done in the kitchen. They still found hours of enjoyment. And with spring here, think of the possibilities for setting up an art station outside.

Splat mats are wonderful, wipable creations you can get at places like Land of Nod, and in store at PB Kids. But I love the collection at Serena & Lily (pictured here), where you can buy a matching Square Chair that comes in a machine washable (hooray!) slip cover. I love machine washable slip covers.

Check out this lovely circle splat mat from chalkydoodles and a sock monkey version from babysindulgence. Or try the reversible chalkboard message mat (also from chalkydoodle). Brilliant. So when your kids are done dripping art medium all over their mat, they can flip it over and draw right on the mat itself.

3. Have plenty of paper on hand (buy giant paper rolls for your kids art here). Teach your kids the balance between creating with no inhibitions and not being wasteful. Have a place for saving scraps so no supplies go to waste. Have a recycle bin.

A wall pocket (see the tutorial at Craft Apple) is perfect for catching pretty scraps and putting them on display so they’re remembered for the next project.

4. Make a place where kids can proudly display their art. Wrap thin fabric around an IKEA magnet strip (only $1, go IKEA!), screw a line of bulldog clips into a piece of molding, or buy a set of these beautiful cloth-covered mini pins from dozi.

5. Have a CD player or iPod dock handy. I would say this is optional, but that wouldn’t really be the truth. Good music or a good story in the background tends to relax kids and keep them focused and enjoying themselves for twice as long.

6. And finally, you’re going to need some inspiration. Here is my absolute favorite book for kids’ art, and my daughter hard at work on one of the projects.

The Big Messy Art Book: But Easy to Clean Up

WORD OF CAUTION: It’s best for parents pick out gifts of furniture for their own kids, along with anything that hangs on a wall, but the rest is free game for gifting!

coming soon
Part 2: Organizing Kids’ Art Supplies
Part 3: Atocking Your Kids’ Art Station (bring on the art supplies!)
Part 4: Stand-Alone Gifts of Art Awesomeness

Tags: gifts for preschool boys, gifts for preschool girls, gifts for toddlers, gifts that encourage creativity, the best books as gifts

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 7:42 am and is filed under Gift ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.