I would love to know what everyone’s favorite brands of art supplies are. As we are venturing into art with 4 kiddos, it is crazy how much we can spend on supplies. We need 5 of everything so I can do it with them. That means 5 sets of brushes, 5 sets of oil pastels, 5 sets of chalk pastels and so on.
What supplies can you skimp on and what ones are you better off paying more for? We are using Michaels and JoAnn’s coupons on as much as we can, but is still adding up fast. Would love to know favorites on the following and anything else you want to add:
Tempera
Acrylics
Brushes
Watercolors
Chalk Pastels
Oil Pastels
Also for anyone interested, Michaels has a lot of their art paper 3 for 1 this week (watercolor, Bristol etc.) which is a really good deal. If they are out, try and get a rain check! Feel free to add any money saving tips you have for art.
Thanks everyone!
We purchased our oil pastels and chalk pastels at Walmart and they are both the Daler Rowney "Simply . . . " brand (25 pc. set of oil pastels and 12 pc. set of chalk pastels). I think each ran us around $5 at the time? It has been awhile though . . .
We purchased Neocolor II Watercolor Crayons by Caran D’Ache (the kind you color with and then paint with water over to turn it into watercolor) and the kids have really enjoyed those and they’ve worked really well.
Another great art supply that we love are our watercolor pencils which function in the same way as the watercolor crayons. These are actually from my days of stamping/paper crafting and I purchased these from the Stampin’ Up! company years and years ago. They are a set of 24 watercolor pencils that can be used as colored pencils or can be then painted over with water and turned into watercolors on the paper. I LOVE these pencils. Unlike traditional colored pencils, they DON’T break when you sharpen them (this frustrates me to no end with normal colored pencils!).
I don’t have any advice on paints of any kind, we haven’t gotten into much with those yet. I hope this helps!
Most of our art supplies are Crayola. They are inexpensive and great for little kids (unless you need something more professional). Except for the watercolors, I wouldn’t purchase a set for each child. We use to share the paint and most of the supplies. I have some trays like this to put just the needed amount of paint, any paint is wasted.
Other of my kids favorites are fingerpaints (Crayola) and Do-a-dot markers.
Hi there! Just wanted to share with you a link to where I purchased all of our art supplies. It is Blick Art :
http://www.dickblick.com
I actually found out about it while following a Art Supplies list by DeepSpaceSparkle. The link will take you to where I think the PDF file is for download:
It helped me to simplify my purchases and to know what to buy.
I bought mostly one set of each thing except for the Crayola watercolor trays of 16, those I purchased one for each child and labeled with their names. But all else should be more than enough for many children. I have 6! And it has lasted us two years so far and looks like it will last many more. I’m talking about the pastels, tempera, etc. No need for a set for each on those items. Check out that post, it’s incredibly helpful in this area!
Thanks for all the tips!
Forchristandkids - Our Walmart has downsized the arts/craft section to almost nothing so no luck there… WE did get some Crayola watercolor pencils, so I am excited to try those!
Elizabeth - we have those same trays! We do share what we can, but it’s nice for them to have their own pastels and things like that. Otherwise if we are all doing one project we are always waiting for someone to finish up. 
GC123 - Thanks for reminding me of DickBlick. I have avoided them thinking they were more expensive. But they are one of the few places that carry the Crayola Temperas in all the colors I need, and the prices were reasonable. Wish shipping wasn’t so much but I can live with that. Loved reading her thoughts and recommendations at DeepSpaceSparkle too.
Thanks again - I really treasure this community. Being new to art - it is overwhelming when you hit the art supply aisle!!! It’s so great to know we aren’t alone in our journey and can reach out!
We purchased our oil pastels from amazon, pentel brand, and they were $5.28 for a set of 50. I purchase tempera paints from oriental trading, we also found some really fun sparkly sun catcher paint from them. We also buy our acrylic, watercolors and canvases from amazon. Even with coupons I find Joann’s can’t beat their prices. Have fun creating!