As many of you know, I've just retired from a 35 year teaching career as a K-8th Grade Art Specialist. Over the course of those many years spent with children I've learned what supplies do and do not work well. Let's face it, kids are hard on art supplies, brushes in particular. I continually reminded them to not GRIND their brushes into the paint, do not leave their brushes lying in water, when cleaning the brushes remember to clean them completely, and my personal favorite... do not tap your paint brush on the tub of water after cleaning or before. Any ideas why that was my personal favorite? After my go rounds of tears from kids who were either splattered with paint, or their projects were splattered with paint I learned early on that was one of the Golden Rules of painting in the art room. I bet even today I have students who have graduated from High School and moved on to their own careers but will remember Mrs. Hartman harping on them about that. I also always used washable paint with my very youngest students.
Let's talk a little about some of my personal favorite supplies. Yes, these also happen to be affiliate links to Amazon and if you click on them and purchase through the link then I get credit and hopefully someday will make a little extra money. However they are also here for your convenience. I always wanted my own personal shopper and who wouldn't like to have someone break down what does or does not work well for children, especially aspiring young artists.
This is an excellent set of paints, particularly for the child who does not GRIND their brush into the paint. It is a very good quality paint set which is a step just below tube watercolors but will give your child a wonderfully rich palette of colors to begin with and will last for a very long time. I used these with my students from the 5th grades on up through middle school. However younger children can use them easily.
Tube watercolors are a great option for the child who is ready to take care of their paints and ready for the next step in watercolor. These are a good quality paint to begin your child's watercolor journey. You will notice that you get 12 paints instead of 24 in the Grumbacher set. Your child should have an understanding or an interest in developing an understanding of color mixing at this stage.
Cake Tempera is a wonderful option for young children who want to paint a lot and are not quite ready for the investment of a watercolor set!!! These are incredibly economical, will last for years and give that watercolor look in a paint set that fits most parents budgets. They can also be used for school projects that come home as homework. I used these with all of my students up through 5th grade and occasionally with middle school. This set even comes with the palette. I actually used this brand with my students and it is of very good quality.
Let's talk about brushes: I recommend that kids only use a round brush. At some point in time the serious student will want to explore a variety of shapes and sizes of brushes but for most children the round should be the starter go to brush. Buy different sized rounds so they have a variety to work with. A round brush helps them learn brush control.
In my classroom, my go to brushes were these Dynasty Eye of the Tiger Brushes, they have an acrylic handle and are EXTREMELY durable. I had a set this size and it lasted for over 10 years before I had to begin replacing brushes. I did not allow the primary age students K-2 to use these. I began letting the 3rd graders use these all the way up through middle school. These stand up to kids very nicely and still give superb performance. Why an acrylic handle? Some children and adults do not like how a wood handle feels in their hands, especially if the finish on the handle begins to crack and peel.
I realize that most of you will not want to purchase a class set of brushes, this is a good option instead. The problem with this set is that you do not get larger round brushes.
Royal Brushes are a good option for children, I had many of these in my classroom and they also held up really well to the tortures that children put them through. These do come on larger sizes, this is the basic set.
Here is another excellent brush for adults and kids. These are also Dynasty Brushes, Black Gold is an amazing quality synthetic brush for a fantastic price. I've listed a number of sizes that I prefer and use in my own artwork whether I'm using acrylics or watercolors. These are more of an investment and have a wood handle but the wood handle stands up well to kid use.
I've had many students over the years both privately and in my classroom and I always try to find the best quality materials that I could afford or I felt that my students could afford. That is a good rule of thumb for any aspiring artist whether you are a parent buying for a child or buying for yourself. I've tried to give you a number of good options that I personally can recommend and have used both myself and as a teacher.
I'm planning to do a number of these posts and wonder what would you like to see me compare next?
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