Rag or Paper Towels: To dry your brushes after you wash them.

A Cup of Water: To rinse your brushes when switching colors.

You’ll also want it for color blocking projects.

Masking Tape: If you’d like, you can create a border on your canvas by blocking off the rim of it with masking tape.

If you’re planning on trying out several of the ideas below, consider purchasing a multi-pack.

Canvas: Canvasses can be purchased in all shapes and sizes.

Palette: You’ll need a palette to mix and combine colors.

Beginners often prefer brushes with synthetic bristles, rather than natural, because they hold up well to acrylics and are more budget-friendly. You’ll use larger brushes for backgrounds, medium-sized brushes for shapes and objects, and the smallest brushes for detail work.

Paintbrushes: You’ll want several paintbrushes in a variety of shapes-such as flat, round, and pointed round-and sizes.

Either way, choose smaller sized tubes or jars-a little acrylic paint goes a long way. You can either buy a simple set with primary colors, black, and white (which can all be mixed together to create any color you can imagine!) or opt for a set with many colors, which is a quicker way to get started if you’re not familiar with color mixing.

Acrylic Paint: Paints typically come in “student quality” and “artist quality.” Many beginners opt for the former, which are less expensive, then invest in the latter once they’ve gotten a feel for the craft.

While some of the tutorials below require specialty materials, you can make most easy acrylic paintings with a few basic supplies: To rest assured the paints don’t have harmful/toxic ingredients in them you can look out for the AP (Approved Product) Seal by ACMI ( The Art & Creative Materials Institute).Set up your workspace with acrylic paints, brushes, a canvas, a palette, and masking tape.īefore you dive into your first project, you’ll want to gather your materials.

The pigments in some high end acrylic paints can contain some chemicals (like lead, cobalt, chromium, cadmium, and manganese). It’s also important to make sure the paints you use are safe for kids. You’ll want to make sure they use them responsibly, and don’t in-jest it/ inhale them. A few of them are listed below.Īcrylic paints / art supplies can be safe to use, but it’s best to still supervise kids (especially young kids). Kids can use a variety of surfaces with acrylics. Kids can use the brushes to make different marks and get creative with them. You can get a variety pack with different shapes and sizes. The best of of brushes to use with acrylics is synthetic brushes. Once mixed with the pouring medium the paints become fluid and kids can tilt their canvases to move the paint in different designs. Use acrylics paints or washable paints mixed with a pouring medium to make fluid paint. Fluid Paints: Kids can make some messy and fun pour paintings with a more fluid type of paint.You can use food coloring to create ice paints, DIY sidewalk chalk/paint, bath paints, use in salt paintings and even create some safe edible paints. Food Coloring / DIY Paints, Food coloring is another cheap/easy item that can be used in kid-friendly paint recipes (below).If water touches any dried paint, the paint will reactivate, unlike acrylics which are permanent once dried. Both acrylic and watercolor are water soluble, however watercolors are not permanent. Watercolors are transparent while acrylics are opaque. Watercolor paints are quite different in nature compared to acrylics/tempera.

Some brands like Crayola carry a line of paints that are both designed for kids and are washable. Use tempera paints for cheap projects where the longevity of the colors doesn’t matter. It dries matte and fades in color over time compared to acrylic that dries glossy and doesn’t fade as much. Very similar to acrylic paint but is washable in nature. Keep in mind that acrylic paints are permanent so once dried they don’t wash off. This is the most popular choice as it’s easy to use with a variety of projects.

Simple paint canvas ideas