Price can also be a determining factor, but usually they are all within a reasonable amount. You may be letting your child make the choice or getting it as a gift. If you are buying a child an easel as a gift, you may want to get an idea of what you think they would like.

What’s Available?

Choosing an easel for children means making a selection from all that is available. Of course in order to do that you would need to have some idea of what’s out there on the market for you to select from.

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Here’s a quick rundown of some of the basics out there:

• Activity Center – For smaller children who may not want a full size children’s easel, you can find one that is more of a tablet sized table top easel. These types of small easels are often made up of a surface that can easily be wiped clean so your little artist can draw over and over again. It may even have magnetic pieces for your child to use for play time, as well as crayons, markers, stencils and even paint brushes. They come complete with storage drawers to keep everything organized.

• Dry Erase and Chalk Board – You may have either a dry erase board or a chalk board and in some instances each side will have one or the other. This is the perfect way for your young aspiring artist to have hours of drawing fun, without worrying about ruining the carpet or walls. For younger kids, this can also be a great tool for parents to use to teach their kids about letters and numbers.

• Standard Easel – The classic children’s easel is usually constructed of a wooden frame with a drawer or opening for kids to keep their creative tools. One side usually has a place for the paper and the other will be a chalk board or dry erase board. The trays are there to hold paints and other supplies to prevent messy spills. Your child can use clips to keep the paper in place while drawing, coloring or painting for hours of creative fun play time.

Keep in mind that any easel for kids can also make great a teaching aid as parents can use it to help show their children numbers, letters and words. Use this for your child to write out first words and sentences. Make your child’s free play time more constructive with the perfect easel.

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If you want to be sure that there is always something for them to do, even on the most boring of days, here is a list of supplies you should always keep on hand:

• White glue
• Construction paper
• Colored paper
• White paper
• Colored pencils, crayons and markers
• Water paints and paint brushes
• Scissors (kids’ scissors with rounded ends for the little ones)
• Glitter (a variety of colors)
• Stickers
• Beads and rhinestones
• Other fun crafting items

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Fun Projects

Whether they are playing alone or with a group of friends, they will love working on a craft project. Here are some of the fun projects you can do with yours (or let them do on their own or with friends):

• Paper Dolls – These were popular long before Barbie ever hit the scene, and many little girls still love playing with paper dolls today. You can get books that have dolls and outfits that kids can cut out and play with or encourage them to draw their own figures and design clothing themselves. Not only will they have fun, but they will also be developing valuable skills they will need later in life.

• Decoupage – If you have paper, white glue and kids’ scissors, your kids can have fun with decoupage. This involves cutting out various shapes and pictures and gluing them onto other surfaces. Younger kids may need your help with the cutting part. This can get messy, so make sure that you have a drop cloth and plenty of towels to clean up with.

• Chinese Lanterns – These are really fun and easy to make, and they are a great rainy day project. Simply fold a piece of paper in half, and cut strips from the fold line to about a half an inch from the end. Unfold the paper and wrap it around something around, taping the ends together. The cut strips should be going up and down, and the fold will be along the center.

• Boats – By using simple Japanese origami techniques, your children can make boats that will actually float in water (at least until they get too wet). You can also use these same techniques to make fun pirate hats.

These are just a few of the paper crafts for kids that you can do. If you go online, you are sure to find hundreds of other fun ideas that yours will love. Any time they are bored, you can just whip out the supplies and they will find that there are plenty of fun things for them to do, even if they can’t go outside.

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Getting the Right Paint

You can’t just use any type to do this. For instance, regular acrylics or watercolors that kids use are not meant to be used on the skin. Even if they say “non-toxic”, it doesn’t mean that they are safe for use on the skin. It is best to stick with actual face paint that is made specifically for the skin. Never use any that contain metallic glitter, as it is not safe for use on the skin.

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Tips

Here are some tips that will help you to do some really cool face and body art:

• Always use clean tools, such as brushes and sponges. Clear water and a little bit of mild dish-detergent is the best thing for cleaning your tools. Rinse completely after cleaning. Make sure your hands are clean before you start working as well.
• Stick to simple designs at first. Unless you are really artistic and used to painting, it is best to stick with the easy stuff, like hearts, butterflies, etc. You can get stencils that will allow you to easily do more complicated designs, such as flowers, skulls, peace signs, animals and more.
• Cover large areas with your sponge. You will get a much smoother effect if you sponge larger areas with color rather than painting them with your brush.
• Use a fine brush for outlines. You don’t want your lines to be too thick, and a fine liner brush is ideal for doing this stage of face painting, and other small finishing touches and details.
• Use thin coats. If you put it on too heavy, it will look gloppy. Instead, start out with a thin coat, and if you want it darker, keep going over it with thin coats until you have achieved the color you want.
• Keep a stock of tissues or wipes on hand. You are going to make mistakes, especially in the beginning, so it is best to always have tissues or wipes nearby so you can “erase” the mistake and start over.

Once you have practiced on your own kids, you can start doing it for all of their friends and the rest of the neighborhood kids. Who knows… you may even end up doing using your face painting paints at kids’ parties, carnivals and other events, and make a bit of money doing it.

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For boys, most are going to start with wood, but there are others that they might enjoy as well. Leather crafts are another of the perennial favorites, especially when they go to camp or when they belong to the Scouts. They also like clay or plaster based projects simply because they are so messy. They might like learning how to make sand candles –where they have to dig a hole in the ground and then pour in the hot wax. Anything that involves nature as well as the elements of fire and science (a liquid becoming a solid) will keep them interested.

Another type that boys might enjoy starts with pine cones, seashells or smooth surfaced rocks. From these, they can make little animals or if they are very creative, little people. All it takes is a little glue, maybe a little bit of paint or some little glued on eyes and they have something they are going to be proud of and brace yourself, but something that is going to become a gift in a very short time.

They also enjoy working on projects that involve feeding the animals or growing plants so any project you choose for them should keep those in mind. For instance, they might like to paint a special planter and then fill it with either flowers, vegetables or herb plants, watching the items that they planted grow big and strong. They might like building a bird feeder or making a string of peanut butter and bird seed pinecones. They can even create these things and then sell them to make some extra money. They are not only helping the birds in the area but they are also learning a little about marketing and other skills while they are enjoying the craft activities for boys.

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In addition to buying some at a craft store, you can use items that you find. A great activity that you might want to use is a nature hike where you can find additional craft items. The kids will be excited to find pine cones and other items –they might find new uses for items that you had not thought of. There are dozens of craft projects that start with nothing more than a pine cone for instance. Another great item that can be found is feathers, but these should be washed carefully before they are used as craft items.

From discount stores and dollar stores, you can add in some items like glue, glitter glue and pipe cleaners. Of course, you will want to stock the box with things like markers and crayons and some really prefer using paint for the majority of their projects. If you live near a thrift store or you are a frequent yard sale shopper, you can find items that are half finished or are ready to be taken apart for the parts. You might even find things like boxes of wiggle eyes or pom-poms that can become bunny ears, doggy eyes or anything the child imagines them to be.

For an older child, balloons can be added to the craft box to be used for a number of different art projects, including making decoupage and other paper crafts. Balloons can also be used as the basis for hours of entertainment as they try to learn how to make them into familiar animals. In addition to those, you can also include a few books that will give them some project ideas as well. There is no limit to what you can do with a few simple items and some kids craft activities.

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In the years following that party, she goes through hundreds if not thousands of art pads, notebooks and even scraps of paper she has found laying around. Her technique improves with every new project. In high school, the girl is accepted into an art program usually reserved for students much older than she is. She finds an art program and is whisked away to Paris to study on a full scholarship. There is no stopping her and why would anyone want to? When she comes back, she is a much different girl; the shy girl who watched life from beneath a fringe of bangs is gone now. In her place is a woman who holds her head high with confidence and wears the latest fashions. She carries a fashionable bag, but always, beneath her arm is a portfolio, filled with her latest work and in the back, the cover from that long ago art pad, to remind her.

Finally, she gets her big break, a private, headlining showing in a local art gallery. The media buzzes around the event and art critics from all over are in attendance. One of her paintings, a favorite of hers, sells for more money then the girl would have ever dared to dream about. The next day, still giddy from her success, the girl goes for a walk stopping to window shop here and there. She sees a group of children in the playground of a local daycare and notices one little girl sitting all alone, watching the other kids play. She smiles a little and notices a hobby shop. She goes inside and buys several art pads for kids, taking them over to the day care center and asking that they be handed out to all of the little kids there.

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Of course, the kind of design that you are using is important, because the better the design, the more they will want it. Cartoon characters are always a big hit and if you are holding a fund raiser for a school, then the school colors or logo is an absolute must. Other good choices include the very simple to do rainbow, the smiley face or the kissy lips. Unless you have a good, reusable stencil or an artist in your group, try to steer clear of the really complex designs that will just frustrate everyone and leave the kid unsatisfied and weepy.

While it should go without saying, it is a must to steer clear of any kind of designs that might be considered controversial or offensive. For a fund raising event held inside of a public school, for example, religious subjects might be considered off limits. They should be easy to put on but you also want to be able to reassure the parents that they are going to be just as easy to come off. Using non-toxic and washable paints that are labeled for face use is a must, especially in a large group of children.

Keep the color choices fairly simple, making sure that you have plenty of the primary colors as well as black on hand. Remember, it is always better to have more and bring home the extras then to not have enough and have to turn children away. Setting up several stations with the face painting designs for kids, especially one on either end of a long room will ensure that you can paint the most children and that the parents will continue to flow through and shop for the items on hand.

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But there are plenty of kids who can amuse themselves for hours creating pictures, murals and other items that are destined for the refrigerator door. Free craft items are as close to your computer with several different sites offering coloring pages for them to color. All you have to do is choose the right ones and print them out. In addition to pictures, they can even find greeting cards to color and send to their relatives and projects that range from very simple to rather complex. There are often pages with their favorite cartoon characters and there are always pages with the various holidays as well.

If you have children who live with you or come to visit frequently, you can put together your own coloring craft box with just a few simple items from the store and items that you can gather from your own house. For instance, you can keep the pages from the junk mail to color on as well as pages of printer paper that are too crinkled to go through your printer without jamming. Add other items like crayons, safety scissors, washable markers and washable glue, feathers, beads and anything else that you think the kids might like to create with.

If you do not want to have a fridge wallpapered with art, buy a special frame and agree to hang one special picture while you store the others in a special box. Always have them sign their art work with their name and their age at the time so that they can look back and see how creative they were at this age or that age. You might even want to sit down and do a few projects because coloring crafts for kids are not always just for the kids.

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1. Paint kits are very common and normally include a wide assortment of paints and paper. Your child can choose from many colors as well as brush types. Some kits also include crayons or markers.

So your young artist has the flexibility to sketch, paint and create his or her masterpiece.

2. Other art kits may have all kinds of shaped paper, scissors, markers, crayons, and even fabric which can be glued or attached to the artwork. Some of them have beads, glitter, and lots of fun accessories.

3. There is a fun art kit which is perfect for parties. The children paint and decorate rings which they can wear after the party.

4. Other kits include leather working and a very popular kit is jewelry creation or beads. Kids love to create intricate necklaces or other decorative items using colored beads.

The beads can be plastic or shiny metal, and they come in all shapes and sizes. String and cutting tools are normally included.

5. If your child likes to create shapes, then a PlayDough kit is great. They can make interesting shapes with different colors of the modeling clay. This kind of kit can provide many hours of enjoyment for your kids.

The Internet is a great place to find just the kit you’re looking for. You can also check out an arts and craft store or toy store to find a wide assortment of art kits for kids. You’ll be happy and they’ll be even happier.