Our Top 10 Favorite Art Supplies for 2 Year Olds

In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful

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Today we’re talking about exploring art with our toddlers! It’s magical, it’s messy and there are so many benefits for making the time to dive right in with our little ones. Art can be very fun for us parents and also our children but it can also be very stressful. So today, we’re going to talk about both sides of it – of course we’re going to talk about 10 of our favorite art supplies and what we love about them but we’re definitely not going to glaze over the potential for frustration along with the three main sources of stress during art time.. So we’re going to talk about how to make it a little more manageable.

I think most of the stress we might experience around doing art with our little one’s come from one of three sources:

1. Figuring out the right materials and the right amount of said materials.  
2. Containing the creative explosions.
3. Trying to get our toddler to create a Pinterest-worthy masterpiece!

Before diving into anything too specific, I think we do ourselves a huge favor when we prepare ourselves ahead of time to not only acknowledge but even embrace that art is inevitably messy. It is part of the creative exploration, it’s part of the learning and it’s part of the fun. With that said though, also rest assured that there are ways in which you can manage the mess a bit.

Part of managing that mess (and addressing stress factor #1), we have to be mindful of what materials we are providing during art time. Try to choose things that aren’t going to make a huge mess. Don’t give your little one’s art supplies that are going to drive you crazy the entire time. Another part of this is not offering too much of a variety at a single sitting. Only offer a few different types of material at a time. 

Moving onto stress factor #2, it’s super important that we create clear boundaries when it comes to arts and crafts time. This includes with regards to how each of the materials are to be worked with and also creating physical boundaries within which this artistic experience will take place. Choose a specific space for you and your child to do your artwork and keep it in that space.

Finally, stress factor #3, we have to get comfortable with process art vs product art. When we create, we tend to have this expectation of perfection…or at least great. There are definitely benefits to occasionally including a “product art” project but for the most part, try to focus on enjoying the process. All of this is new to your toddler and they’re soaking it all in. Let them go wild and have fun with it.

By managing these three things, I think we might be able to lean into the fun a bit more and focus less on the stress. Without further adieu, let’s jump into 10 of Our Favorite Art Materials for Toddlers:

1. Do-a-dot markers

Dot markers were actually among the very first art supplies we introduced to my son and he still loves them. They are really easy to use – nice and chunky for little hands. I try to keep most of our art open ended but they also have coloring books and things like that specifically for dot markers.

2. Large Crayola crayons

We’ve tried a variety of crayons! Our 2 favorites so far are definitely the large crayola crayons and the little rock crayons. I like the melissa and doug triangular crayons as well but I find them a little less sturdy. Crayons are so versatile – squiggles, shapes, coloring pages and everything in between.

3. Washable paint with jumbo paint brushes

We love painting! We use jumbo paint brushes, sponges, random tools and our fingers! These little no-spill paint cups can come in handy too! I want to try some watercolor with my son but so far, we’ve only explored with the washable crayola paint. I recommend sticking to one or two tools and one or two colors for getting started. That helps minimize excessive mess and it prevents overwhelm as well.

4. Paper plates

Paper plates are fun for making all sorts of different things. You can simply draw on them, you can use one to make a mask, etc… There are so many simple and fun crafts you can do with a paper plate. We’ve used it to make a tiger. a lamb and we’re planning on making a hot air balloon soon. My son loved making these things and he enjoys playing with something that he made.

5. Safety Scissors

We only recently introduced scissors and my son is loving learning this new skill. We got wescott blunt scissors and I found some cool squiggly cut scissors that I picked up as well. Since it’s a new skill for him, he’s still working on being able to open the scissors more than just a tiny bit…but he still finds so much joy in it!

6. Popsicle sticks

There’s so many cool things you can do with Popsicle sticks! I try to keep a couple different kinds – the natural colored thin ones, the natural colored wide ones and of course some colorful sticks as well! My son loves stacking them up. He makes bridges and roads. We’ve built a boat. Glue them together, color them. The possibilities are really endless.

7. Stickers

I specifically love the colored dot markers and the reusable melissa and doug sticker sets. We’ve also enjoyed these stickers where you actually build a sticker of your own..sort of. But my son loves all kinds of stickers. You can use stickers to create stories, you can put a sticker on cardboard, cut it out and stick it on a popsicle stick. But honestly, my kiddo has so much fun just sticking them on a sheet of paper any and every which way.

8. Googly eyes, pompoms and feathers

While these specific items are probably my favorite “misc items”, number 8 is basically just that – all the little miscellaneous art add-ons that just make everything a little more fun and give it that little extra pizazz. These are great for sensory exploration and expanding our child’s imagination.

9. Jumbo glue sticks

I have found that sometimes you’ll just need to use liquid glue…but my toddler loves the independence he gains when using the jumbo glue sticks! We had so much fun ripping up a random piece of construction paper and creating a mosaic by gluing all those little pieces on. It’s sticky, it’s fun and it helps build those little hand muscles that are so important for your child.

10. Various paper options

Paper is a bit obvious I guess but I wanted to include it because it’s definitely pretty important but also to highlight the variety of “paper products” out there. We’ve experimented with a few different “kinds of paper”. We most often have and use construction paper, printer paper, a brown roll of paper, index cards and little brown paper bags. This is a way to throw in some variety that I think people may overlook..

That concludes our list of 10 art supplies we love to keep on hand and explore with our toddler. I try my best to stick to materials that are open-ended, sturdy, and it definitely gets an extra point if it can be fun for me too. I enjoy encouraging my son to join me in making “product art” and coming up with cute organized crafts… but I try to keep us focused on process art 80% of the time where my son is just exploring colors, textures, the variety of tools at his fingertips and what he can do with all of that! I hope that you have maybe found a new material to explore or a way to repurpose an old favorite.

Question for the comments: How often do you do art with your little one?

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