OUR FIVE FAVE ART SUPPLIES FOR KIDS

Welcome to The School of Saint-Leger's Blog Spot. The School of Saint-Leger has been in the business of public education for over twenty years. We are a reliable and credible source for art educators, parents and children. We advocate for art education in schools, and host studio art classes and community art events for children and families.

Parents have asked us how they can support their artistically inclined children's skills outside of school. Enrolling your child in an art enrichment program is one possible solution, but with inflation and household expenses on the rise, budgeting for art enrichment beyond the school day can be a challenge for families. So, what is a parent to do?

We recommend creating a safe and exclusive space at home so children can create works of art at their leisure. We will talk more about ideal safe space's later, but for now we wanted to focus on what art materials parents can stock up on at home. In this month's blog, we rate our top five best art materials to purchase for little artists.

Fave #1: Sakura Cray-Pas Junior Oil Pastels

Instead of using oil paint, allow your children to experiment with Sakura Cray-Pas Junior Oil Pastels. These pastels must be the BEST oil pastels on the market. These blendable pastels can be used to create art on paper, cardboard, and canvas. Your children will enjoy blending colors which makes these pastels an excellent medium to teach the principles of color theory! One benefit of Sakura Cray-Pas Junior Oil Pastels is that you can get the effect of oil paint minus the smell and toxicity. The pastels come in a variety of sizes to adapt to grasps, preschool to school age.

Fave #2: Mod Podge

Mod Podge is an absolute must have for young artists. Mod Podge is an all-in-one glue that can be used as a sealant. Whether you are creating a decoupage (collage) or want to use Mod Podge as a high gloss finish, Mod Podge is the only and best choice for art and crafts. Mod Podge will typically dry within 20 minutes but this will depend on the type of surface it is being applied to. One of our favorite ways to use Mod Podge is for the papier-mache process. It has a glue-like consistency that easily attaches newspaper to surfaces and will seal and prepare surfaces for the application of paint.

Fave #3: Crayola Model Magic

Crayola Model Magic is by far the best clay for children to work with. It is non-toxic, lightweight, and does not stick to little hands or surfaces. Modeling clay will crumble and start to dry out during the artmaking process, but this is not te case with Model Magic. It adheres smoothly to any surface, and once dried provides a nice surface for young artists to paint on. The best part about Crayola's Model Magic is how fast it dries. We personally use this brand of clay in our children's art classes because it does not require kiln firing and will dry in usually 24 hours. So, if you want your child to experiment and sculpt 3-D creations, Crayola's Model Magic is a great art modeling material to keep at home.

Fave #4: Prang Watercolor Kits

In our 23 years plus in art education, we have had the opportunity to use a variety of watercolor kits and out of all the brands our students have used, Prang's watercolor kits are by far the most vibrant and fluid. We give the quality of Prang's watercolor two thumbs up. Crayola and Blick are both tied for second place as both of these brand do offer an excellent watercolor paint, but Prang's watercolor is superior in consistency.

Fave #5: Canson XL Series Mixed Media Paper

What is artmaking without a surface to draw and paint on? Canson's mixed media paper is a heavyweight paper for wet or dry media. The XL Media Paper is ideal for markers, pastels, colored pencils, watercolor and acrylic paint, charcoal, and pen & ink. No matter what your child's preferred medium is, we recommend purchasing a pad of Canson's XL Series 98 Pound and up. Canson's XL Mixed Media paper will be able to accommodate the blending, erasing, and paint applied to the paper's surface. Strathmore pads for mixed media paper tend to be of a slightly better quality, however, you will get so much more for your money with the Canson's XL Series Mixed Media Paper, as many as 60-120 sheets per pad at an incredibly competitive price!

BONUS SUPPLY LIST

Richeson Tempera Cakes

The quality of these tempera cakes are superior and vibrant. If you want to avoid paint spills and dried out bottles of tempera paint, Richeson Tempera Cakes are the way to go!

Black Sharpies

We love Black Sharpies! You can use bold or thin tipped Sharpies to add detail to finished works of art. Sharpies come in a variety of colors, but we tend to get more use out of the black ones in our studio space.

Leave a comment below to share your experiences and thoughts.