Over the years you’ve probably scraped together a stash of kids’ art materials.  This collection will evolve as your kids grow (thick crayons for littlies, thin textas for pre-schoolers) or as their capacities and interests develop. It may also change as materials run out or dry up. You’ll probably know that annoying feeling of discovering dry uncapped textas or a hardened paint tube, or tried holding off ‘til birthdays to replenish some shaggy paintbrushes. As with most shopping these days, the choices of art materials available can seem overwhelming.

Don’t feel pressured… keep things simple. It’s always worth remembering that creativity occurred long, long before the invention of glitter pens and hot glueguns. Creativity can occur anywhere, anytime, and with the most minimal of materials - think cave paintings or sand drawings.

Some non-toxic and washable paints are super handy to have in your child’s art kit. Don’t feel like you have to offer a whole rainbow of colours - sometimes less is more, and it’s nice to offer just one or two colours plus white.

With this in mind, it can be fun to let the kids explore unorthodox tools to apply paint. Paintbrushes are wonderful, but not mandatory for painting - here are some alternative ideas for getting down and painty using the simplest everyday household objects:

Coffee cups & bottle caps

Personally I can’t wait for the reintroduction of keepcups for coffee, and I’m really uncomfortable with the waste caused by takeaway coffee. During quarantine I’ve amassed a small but guilty pile of takeaway coffee cups. It’s a good thing they are great to stamp paint with. If your child’s little hands cannot manage the size of a coffee cup, try stamping with a bottle lid such as those from a bottle of milk. Show them how to dip one end into a splodge of paint, and use it to stamp rings and circles. Encourage them to twist and overlap, and make some messy patterns.

Scraping with cards

Palette knives are tools commonly used by artists to apply paint in textured ways. Plastic cards make sturdy awesome paint scrapers and are fun to apply paint with. Cardboard business cards are good for this too, plus their edges can easily be cut into profiles that make great textures.

Toilet rolls

Goodness, how useful are these overlooked items? Great for construction, but equally handy for painting projects. Use scissors to cut slits into one end to create a splayed fringe, then use it to stamp the most fabulous shapes. Are they flowers or fireworks? Experiment with cutting slits in different widths.

Fruit & veg stamping

Got a spud beginning to shoot? Or a bruised apple? Well bingo... you’re halfway to some cool printing.

Most hard fruits or vegetables can be used for printing. Experiment with apples, pears, turnips or eggplant. Did you know that the cut end of a bunch of celery prints a fabulous rosette? Don’t waste the good edible stuff, but if that celery stump is on its way to compost, offer it to your budding artist, along with a splodge of paint and a pile of paper. 

Simply cut the fruit or veg to expose a flat surface, and pat it dry on paper towel (or the paint won’t adhere well to the surface). Spread some paint onto an old plastic lid, then dip in the cut surface. Use it to stamp onto paper (anything from envelopes to magazines will do).

Fingers

The very best brushes of all are those on the end of your child’s hand. Do you remember the deliciously sensory slippery feeling of fingerpainting? What’s that? No?? Then I heartily recommend you try it today! Your kids will be delighted.

Have fun!