art supplies

Some hints for art with toddlers:
Most libraries have good sections for daycare providers with art ideas that are super cheap.
My toddler gets loads of use out of a huge piece of pressboard that we tape newsprint to - much cheaper than an easel, and you can drag it anywhere to paint or color on. The pressboard also makes a decent ramp for hotwheels. I bought ours at an education/art supply store.

Funny thing... my two-year-old son doesn't like getting his hands dirty! (Unless he's at the beach or helping me garden, it seems.) So finger painting doesn't do much for him. I found these great paint pots at Imaginarium, and I'm sure they have similar products elsewhere. The set has four plastic containers that are about pint-sized, with red, blue, green and yellow tops that have a built-in funnel. You can use paint brushes and the funnel keeps the pots basically spill-proof and (added bonus) also takes excess paint off the brush.

Another fun product I found (same store) were washable paints in small, fist-friendly "markers." I think it's a set of six or eight, and they're really nice little paints in bright colors. My son loves these, and they make less of a mess than regular paints.

Of course, the hands-down winner is Crayola's Washable crayons. We do go through a lot of these between my son and his friends. Hint: keep broken crayons in a jar; when you've accumulated enough of them, use them with an old candy mold to make fun-shaped multicolor crayons.

I want my 14 mo. old to start learning hand-eye coordination thru drawing, but he's still too young to understand the concept of staying on the paper. The solution? Bath tub crayons. These are essentially soap in crayon form. He can draw on the tub, the tile walls, himself, and when bath time is over, it all just washes away with water. The downside is that there isn't any way to save his artworks and hang them on the fridge.

I got a catalog from Discount School Supply, and they have great deals on all kinds of art supplies. Most of it is sold in bulk (who really needs 1 pound of foam shapes?), but I split orders with other moms. We get great stuff that I wouldn't have thought of using otherwise. Plus the catalog includes ideas for art projects for young children. www.discountschoolsupply.com to request a catalog.