Art Supplies for Kids That Do Not End Up Dried Out by February

The classic hundred-piece art case is a design failure: the markers dry out, the crayons snap, and the whole thing gets put away because it is too annoying to reassemble. Children draw more when the tools are already out and already working.

We tested a deliberately boring set of individual supplies against two large kits over six months, in a house where drawing happens most days.

How we chose

Durability and accessibility, in that order. If a tool fails at week three, it does not matter how many pieces came in the box.

• Does it still work after three months of use?
• Can a child get it out and put it back without help?
• Does it stain clothes beyond recovery?
• Is it refillable or replaceable individually?

What to buy instead of a kit

Coloured pencils you would use yourself

A decent set of artist-grade pencils costs about twenty dollars and lasts years. Cheap pencils have hard cores that scratch the paper and produce pale, frustrating lines.

Tempera sticks over liquid paint

Tempera sticks look like giant crayons and dry like paint. No water, no cups, no spills, and they work on paper, card and cardboard boxes.

Paper that is actually big enough

A3 sketch pads, not A5. Children draw bigger than adults expect, and small paper makes them draw small.

The bottom line

Buy a good set of coloured pencils, a pack of tempera sticks, a large sketch pad and a shallow caddy to keep it all in one place. That is roughly fifty dollars and it outperforms every kit we tested.