All you crafty clever ladies!!

[Jen D]

My 7 year old son is a wonderful artist. If I let him draw all day he would! My kids currently have a desk in my office where they can color.

I really want to give a place to grow and really develop his love of art. For Christmas my husband and I were talking about what kind of stuff we could get him... or how we could rearrange the office space as a present from Santa. I just can't buy a toy I know he will like for that day and toss. I would much rather spend my money in something I know he will love. My five year old daughter is following right behind him. So it might be a joint thing.

I would just love some creative ideas. I was thinking of getting him some type of portfolio thingy he could carry around if he wanted. Heck I would even be up to making it. I thought about my husband building some cubbies where we could put plastic containers holding all new supplies. All he really uses now is markers, crayons and color pencils.

I would love to hear your thoughts!!! I want something really fun and creative but I am hitting a wall

[digigrandma]

Sounds like your kids take after you, Jen!

Do you have space for and do you think he would like an artist's easel? If it is one that stands on the floor both kids could use it; one on each side of the easel. There are table top easels, too.

What about his own bulletin board to display his art work. He could be in charge of changing the display every so often; also he could make seasonal decorations it.

A set of labels with his name printed on them that could be attached to his art work. He could add the date.

A frame for framing art pieces of his choice.

[Britgirl]

make his art 3d - give him the chance to use clay, salt dough and then paint and varnish it. {trust me, those things will mean so much to YOU one day!}
show him new techniques - like using stickies under his main drawing to raise it up, smudging with charcoal {and then setting it with a quick blast of hairspray!} you know, lots of skills he could one day take forward..
sounds SO cool a gift! wish I was him!!!

[esther_a]

What about a project box that he can store all his works in progress, a display book he can put his favorite pieces in. Plastic drawers to store all his pencils, paints, papers.

[katrinak]

My thought was an easel too!

[quilter422]

another thing he might enjoy is an art class? jerry's artarama (there's one in englewood, co, but i don't know if you're near there) has a wonderful selection of classes for children on a number of topics. it's also a really fun place to putter and find all sorts of fun toys and art supplies.

i made fabric crayon rolls for the kids last year, they hold 24 crayons (each with it's own slot) and roll up so they can take a nice compact bundle with them. could be easily adapted to pencils. pm me if you want directions.

[iUma]

My SIL set up cork board panels all over one wall of the grandpeople's play room where they can "post" their pages as they make them.

[deanie]

My grandgirl has an easel as well, and uses it all the time. She likes to have little
notepads to take with her in the car to write on as well. She makes things for me everyday I am there and John has one of her drawings for his desktop. Makes for great conversation with his co-workers!

[Kayleigh]

Maybe if you don't have room for that cool corkboard idea, you could do a clothesline against the wall to hold the masterpieces. I think this is an awesome gift & I would have totally loved this too as a kid!

[esther_a]

We have a corkboard, and also a shelf to display their favorite 3D pieces.

[Jen D]

Thanks so much ladies! Loving all these ideas. Ironically we do have a giant cork wall in the play room and another when you enter the garage. My fridge just couldn't handle all the "masterpieces".

What about supplies... anybody know of a cool kid oriented place. I am going to get him some water color pencils and some more adult things like a sketch pad. But, I thought cool containers and bright and happy art supplies would be fun! I tried looking around and found the same old stuff I can find at Hobby Lobby. I was thinking out of the box kind of stuff. Any thoughts?

[maureenreynolds]

This is my one granddaughter. She has had her older sister's handmedown wooden table that I got at the Crate and Barrel outlet. Really sturdy. I also got the older one a good easle that is now mostly used by the younger one.

I would not look for children's supplies. Use those coupons from the craft stores and get him a nice set of Derwent watercolor pencils, Prismacolor pencils and an artist sketchbook e.g. There are all sorts of goodies for around $20-30 and with the 40% and 50% coupons, you can start building up a set of good things for him (them).

My dil has a couple of Ikea type frames 11x14 that hold actual pictures drawn by the two girls. They hang in the family room and get changed out periodically.

The last thing this set of grandchildren got was an iMac when the youngest was about 3 which was 4 years ago. She immediately found art sites, and did her own fashion designs etc. It didn't bother her hands on work but gave her another way to create. The iMac was THE Christmas present that year for all three of them (10, 7 and 3) that year. They had been using an old laptop but the Apple programs had them all doing their own thing...incl Garage Band.

What fun you must all have watching these two create!

[blkcow]

My first thought was an easel as well...and the clothesline is genius!!! I do know there is a kind of "blackboard" paint that you could paint the lower 1/2 of a wall where they could create. Lots of good ideas here!!

[Chris]

When she was young, I bought my granddaughter one of those large plastic fishing tackle boxes and filled all the nooks and crannies with all kinds of art and craft suppies - a lot from my own stash.

Her younger brother enjoyed her box too much so I bought a smaller one for him with stickers, crayons and other things. My daughter said they would go to these boxes a lot.

[quilter422]

love the tackle box idea, Chris!
I'm going to agree with Maureen - get supplies that any age can use. as a bonus, he'll feel more official.
if you don't have a michaels or the like near you, i know that dickblick.com has some great pricing on an astonishing assortment of art supplies. they have an entire children's easel section: http://www.dickblick.com/categories/childrenseasels/

[partsofme]

I transformed my son's room into an art studio. I hung a cool wall easel (this one is from Target), and used chalkboard paint to create a two-foot high border all the way around the room. He can draw, paint and write whenever he wants Also got white paint cans at Michaels, stenciled letters on them with Sharpie markers, and hung them on wall hooks to hold crayons, colored pencils and markers. Good Luck![IMG]http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/177-7354228-4138435?http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html...t_adv_XSG10001

[lisa.hinrichs]

I think there are so many great idea's here, and being able to expand his love into other media's is cool. Maybe get him a few art books too either how to or even coffee table book (sometimes you can find some great books in the bargain section at Barnes and Noble)

One other place that may have some different supplies than Hobby Lobby would be a Teacher's supply store.

[maureenreynolds]

I wanna be a kid again!

Oh yeah, I am cause I can scrap. ;-)

[artmidget]

What a great gift idea!!
You could get them custom artists aprons... canvas apron with their name embroidered on it. You could also get them various sizes of art canvas (you can get them as small as 2x2 inches) and some acrylic paints (Liquitex Basics is a good brand to start with, and are pretty reasonably priced). Also, for the supplies you could use gallon and quart sized paint cans from the hardware store, or you could use buckets. The Land of Nod has some really cute buckets, and they come in pastel colors as well.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by artmidget

Also, for the supplies you could use gallon and quart sized paint cans from the hardware store, or you could use buckets. The Land of Nod has some really cute buckets, and they come in pastel colors as well.

Thanks Erica for the link - these are cute! I usually buy cute outfits for the little grnd and grt grnd kids, for Christmas, and this year I think I'll use one of the buckets as a gift wrap, instead of the usual cardboard box.

[readstoomuch]

Jen ... this brings back sweet memories for me! When I was a child my parents let me have use of an entire section (1 door out of 8) of cabinet space in our family room for my "art" supplies. Daddy installed two rows of cup screws on the door for scissors, rulers, etc. I had my "Mini Studio" all set up there and I used it until I finished college. There was a card table set up in the room for Mother to play solitaire on and that was my drawing surface to share with the ever present deck of cards.

My point is that children love and thrive with a space of their own whether it be an entire room or just a small space ... they can adapt to what they are given! You will never be sorry that you encouraged their love of creating.

I love the idea of bulletin boards! We have given two of our grandchildren easels and/or small tables at various times. Gifts from us often are boxes of art supplies which they love. I took our budding five year old artist to a large art store to choose her birthday gift this summer. She chose a lazy susan type storage center (about 10" across), a pad of watercolor paper and a box of Derwent watercolor pencils! Six months later she still loves it all and has been frugal with the pad of paper.