What to do When Crayons Won't Cut It Anymore: Art Supplies for Older Kids
Growing up, it was my sister who took art classes while I played all the sports, so I thought as adults I would have the sporty kids and she would have the artsy ones.
As it turns out, the opposite is true.
While she’s now trying to navigate the world of being a soccer mom, I’m constantly searching for ways to keep my two little artists busy, constantly wishing I would've paid more attention in art class.
When my boys were little, feeding their passion for art was pretty easy. I just threw out some crayons, colored pencils, paints, and play-doh, and we had heaps of fun making a mess together. But not too long ago, I bought a brand-new box of 96 crayons, and they sat unused for months and months.
This was my boys’ way of letting me know they weren’t interested in crayons anymore. They needed something a little more advanced.
So, I did what all desire-led homeschool mamas love to do - I went to Hobby Lobby, scoured the shelves at Michael's, and hopped online to find out what it looks like to go to the next level of art supplies.
Here's what I found.
These are the best art supplies according to my teen and tween boys:
#1 - Woodburning kit
We've made our own dice, story cubes, and secret decoders with a basic woodburning kit. Here's the kit we bought and love.
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#2 - Wood carving supplies
We've made ducks, gnomes, trolls, and more with a basic whittling and chip carving kit and a few packs of carving wood. Here's the carving kit and carving wood we bought and love.
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#3 - Higher grade color pencils
We've done tracing, sketching, and adult coloring book projects with these, and they impress us every time. Here's the set we bought and love.
#4 - Fancy sketch pads
While I'm pretty happy with regular old printer paper, my boys always amaze me with what they come up with for their sketchbook projects. Here's the sketchbook we bought and love.
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#5 - Watercolor Pens & Flip Book
This one was totally my idea since I've been begging my boys to get into nature journaling all year and wanting to try out watercolors for months now. Here's the watercolor pen set and flip book style journals we bought and love.
#6 - Sculpey Clay
My little guy has been creating his own figures out of Sculpey clay for as long as I can remember, and now that he's older, he buys bigger packs and goes for more intricate figures. Here's the set that's our go-to when our Sculpey supply runs low.
#7 - Tracing Paper
A few years back, a new friend of ours gave our boys two simple pads of tracing paper, and it created a tracing phenomenon in our house. Now we have a whole wall of Calvin and Hobbes strips traced as well as loads of characters from other favorite books. Here's the pad that started it all.
#8 - Drawing/Coloring Books
When my boys run out of things to draw from their own creativity, we pick up an adult drawing or coloring book to give them ideas. Here are a few of our favorites.
BONUS: Art Classes
When this mama runs low on project suggestions and supply ideas (which happens often), we reach out to professional artists, and every time we do, we find creativity we never knew we had and are off again. To connect to these professionals, we typically do 3 things:
#1 - Visit our local art studio. (Here's our favorite one from when we lived in the Florida Keys for a few months.)
#2 - Hop on Outschool for an online art class.
#3 - Find a new art class resource like this one - 2 months of free access to SkillShare. (We're loving it!)
What are your favorite art supplies?
Come on over to the email group and join the discussion!
P.S. Have more questions about homeschool?
Check out these posts for more info:
The 3-Step Strategy for Successfully Homeschooling Any Subject
A Day in the Life: Desire-Led Worldschooling with 12 and 14-year-old boys (while working from home)
Or, hop into our email group and send me a message.
I'd love to talk homeschooling with you!