It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! And if you have a budding artist in the family, or are a grandparent/aunt/uncle looking for a truly inspiring gift, art supplies are always a brilliant choice.
One of our parents recently asked for advice on what art supplies to buy for their child—and we wanted to share our professional recommendations with all of you! We spend all year testing and using these materials, so we know what works for young creatives.
Read on for our go-to list for stocking fillers, big presents, and quality art materials that will truly inspire.
The Ultimate Creative Gift: An Art Workshop Voucher
Before we dive into the supplies, we have to mention the gift that keeps on giving: an art and craft experience!
Our workshops make the perfect stocking filler or present from family members. Not only does your creative get a unique art experience, but the parents get a whole day to themselves—and we clean up the mess!
🖌️ Our Top Recommendations for Arty Presents
To get a young artist started, we recommend focusing on quantity and mid-quality. This means paints that blend well and paper that holds up, but without the high price tag of professional supplies.
- Acrylic Paints (Our Classroom Favourites)
We are huge fans of mixing primary colours and white to make a whole spectrum of colours in class—it’s great for resilience and learning colour theory!
- Chromacryl: This is a good quality paint for students. Look for a set with the primary colours (Red, Blue, Yellow) plus White.
- Starter Set Option: Chromacryl Premium Students Acrylic Set – Cool 5 Pack
- Individual Tubes: Chromacryl tubes are usually around $4.80 each at Officeworks, or check out other good tube brands like Reeves.
- Budget Option: The Officeworks Born range is cheaper quality but perfectly fine for starting out! Born Acrylic Paint Set 40 Pieces
- Watercolour Discs and Crayons
Watercolours are fun, forgiving, and easy to clean up!
- Student Watercolour Discs: We have used these durable sets for years and they are excellent student quality.
- Recommended Set: Koh-I-Noor Watercolour Discs 48 Pack
- Fun Alternative: Kids love paint sticks! They’re like lipstick and they dry quickly. Great for mess-free creativity.
- Recommended Set: Kadink Paint Sticks Bright 12 Pack
- Paint Markers (The Real Christmas Treat!)
Paint markers are a must-have for adding details, lines, and patterns over dried paint (not for colouring in—that’s what the paint is for!).
- Posca Markers: These are our go-to! They are a real Christmas treat.
- Starter Set: Posca PC-5M Paint Markers Assorted 16 Pack
- Tip: You can buy Posca pens individually as great pocket money items, allowing your artist to build their collection over time!
- Budget Alternative: Posca markers can be pricey. We have found these acrylic markers from Kmart to be a good alternative that works well.
- Alternative: 24 Pack Dual Tip Acrylic Paint Markers (link to Kmart)]
- Brushes and Paper
Don’t spend a fortune on brushes—kids tend to wreck them!
- Brushes: Go cheap, but look for soft brushes, not hard bristle ones.
- Recommended Set: 10 Piece Artist Brush Set
- Paper: Look for quality paper that can handle both watercolours and acrylics without soaking through.
- Watercolour/Acrylic Paper: A4 Watercolour Artist Pad Officeworks also sells good, large pads for painting. (They will also bring home their art journal at the end of term for drawing!)
📍 Where to Buy Your Supplies in Perth
Art Stores Strength Heroes relies on for Quality & Advice
For older kids, the staff in these stores are lovely and can really help you choose the right supplies. I rely on them to help guide me when I have to decide on the right art supply for a kids art project.
- Oxlades in Osborne Park.
- Educational Art Supplies in Nedlands
Convenience & Budget
- Officeworks: Great for convenience and mid-range quality. You can order online, and they often offer free delivery over a certain amount.
- Kmart: A great first place to start for art supplies.
Happy gifting! We can’t wait to see what your little artist creates with their new stash.
We offer messy kids art workshops in Perth for your creatives to explore their creativity. We provide everything and have a great variety of projects during the term and school holidays. Check out our Upcoming workshops here.
