Best Supplies To Start With

There’s something about fall and the back-to-school season that makes you reevaluate and take inventory of your work, study areas and processes. Don’t you just love it? So let me share my favorite materials so you can start off fresh. I think your classroom or teaching space should get the same treatment—starting with an Art Shelf! In this blog, I’m going to share 10 common shelf art supplies to stage that I think every classroom should have around.

If you’ve never had an art shelf in your classroom, I’d like to encourage you to designate a space specifically for art supplies and projects. This can go a long way in supporting art literacy and creating a good foundation of basic art skills. The basic idea is to keep everything your students need to get creative in one easy-to-reach place.

Easy Set Up Ideas

Setting up an art shelf really isn’t all that difficult. Fill it up with a few basic art supplies and keep it stocked and refreshed throughout the year. Here are the 10 items I’d recommend for you to include as you set it up for the new school year. If you want to learn more about organizing and understanding how art can be engaging, head over to my How To Stage An Art Shelf training.

In this blog, I want to focus on 10 Common Shelf Art Supplies you should have around that support independence and art literacy. If you want to learn more about the area of art I recommend, be sure to get my early childhood or elementary Art Guides. Check out these guides to learn the best ways to stage an art shelf with art supplies.

Just by staging these art supplies on a shelf, you can jump-start your students exploring and give them autonomy in creating. Plus you can also find all these art mediums at my online store.

1. Baskets of Paper On the Shelf

This will be the foundation for the majority of your students’ artwork. Stock up on plenty of uncoated paper. Include white, uncoated, smooth drawing paper, and thick, absorbent watercolor paper for painting. Also, include colored craft paper for cutting, folding, and collaging. A large roll of butcher paper for younger students is great. For special painting activities, have some type of canvas fabric. Cardboard types of paper are also great for crafting and gluing. Have plenty of scrap paper for inventive ideas. Children love coming up with paper art ideas. Watch my tip video on the sizes I recommend for children here.

2. Painting – Paints + Brushes

Art programming should include some painting activities. You can teach both early childhood and elementary students basic painting skills. Stage different types of paints: watercolor, tempera paint, or student-grade acrylic. You should include a variety of different-sized paintbrushes. Plus, include painting tools to experiment with, such as sponges, paint droppers, and items to make textures (download my painting checklist HERE). If you want to learn more about different children’s paints, check out my book called Kids Painting HERE, Kids Painting Curriculum, or Painting Work Art Album.

3. Drawing & Doodling Supplies

• Crayons
• Colored pencils
• Oil pastels
• Soft pastels
• Tempera sticks
• Sketching pencils

And all these tools are not as messy as paint!

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Children’s Drawing Tools For Elementary Grades

4. Common Crafting Supplies

Crafting offers many areas for children to explore. There are numerous art supplies that can be used in this area. I would try different projects from time to time. Whether a student wants to use buttons for eyes on their clay figurine, or glue a bunch of seeds to accent their collage, small accessories can give them freedom to add some oomph to their projects. I recommend children explore. Bring these things in once and awhile. Here are some of the basics:

• Glue, glue dots, low-temp glue gun
• Tape, masking tape, or washi tape
• Scissors
• String, yarn, thread
• Sewing needles
• Small embellishments like buttons, googly eyes, beads, gems
• Small fabric, felt, recycled fabric scraps
• Small wood scraps
• Popsicle sticks
• Styrofoam pieces
• Pipe cleaners
• Pom poms
• Seeds, beans
• Twigs, seashells, seed pods

5. Modeling Clay

Clay is very common for teaching many essential fine-motor movements. I recommend that all art programming for children include some type of clay modeling. Clays come in many forms, from quick-drying to non-hardening. While students will enjoy molding the clay with their hands, providing items like shape cutters (or cookie cutters!), rolling pins, textured plates, and modeling wood tools will allow them to create even more. Clay can be easily placed on an art shelf in containers, or on trays. If you would like to learn more about why clay is important, read Clay Play Theory or check out my Clay Modeling Curriculum HERE.

• Clay tools
• Cookie cutters
• Earth clay
• Air-dry clay
• Sculpey clay
• Plastilina clay – non-hardening
• Beeswax

6. Stamps + Stencils

Stencils are so much fun to use and great to include in your art shelf. Children love tracing them and coloring inside them. Stencils come in many shapes and sizes. Great for tracing and building hand dexterity.  Stamps also are fun to press in clay and use on ink pads. Surprise your students and put some on the shelf!

7. Seasonal Inspiration

While you want most of these supplies to remain on your art shelf year-round, you’ll find that students will respond creatively to new tools or inspiration. Rotate out your stencils or offer a still life props (like bright flowers in the spring, or gourds in the fall) to reflect the season. Professional Development – How To Stage An Art Shelf Training

8. Art & Clip Boards

Drawing boards can help stabilize paper in place while moving around the classroom. They’re also good for laying down on the carpet. If you can’t get custom drawing boards, you can use a clipboard. A drawing board can even be used outside when there is no table to sit and draw on.

9. Art Story Books

Having fun storybooks that inspire art-making can be something you change from week to week. You can put them on the top of a shelf or in a basket. Some of my favorite books are The Dot, Lines That Wiggle, and Mouse Paint. Learn more about how I love to use storybooks to support art lessons by reading this blog or watching this free training.

10 . Recycled Scraps

I always include a box or basket of scraps of collaging or building. This is a great way to get children excited about the possibilities of thinking outside of the box. I’m always amazed by the ideas children come up with.

I hope these 10 Common Shelf Art Supplies give you some ideas for staging an art shelf! What do you have on your art shelf? Share your go-to supplies in the comments below and send me photos of your new art shelf by tagging me on Instagram (@nature.of.art.for.kids)!

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