40+ Homemade Art Materials for Kids

If you want to make art with the kids, how about whipping up some homemade art materials first?

I’m a self-proclaimed kids’ art fanatic and I collect art materials the way some women collect shoes. I just love art materials and have way more than we really need.

However, as much as I love buying and trying new kids’ art materials, I truly believe that oftentimes the best ones are those we make ourselves.

Why? They are fun to make, economical, and you know exactly what’s going into them.

40+ Homemade Art Materials for Kids

Note :: Some of these are from The Artful Parent, many are from other Rockin’ Art Moms. All are family tested and approved.

Paint Recipes to Use with Hands and Brushes 

(Clockwise from top left)

• How to make bathtub paint 
• Homemade finger paint using flour and water (on Tinkerlab)
• 2-ingredient homemade body paint (on Pink Stripey Socks)
• Pudding paint (on Babble Dabble Do)
• Salt paint
• Easy sidewalk paint recipe (on Art for Kids and Robots)
• Edible (yogurt-based) paint for babies and toddlers (on Meri Cherry)

More DIY Paint Recipes for Kids (to use with Brushes and Hands)

• Natural dye taste-safe paint recipe for babies and toddlers (on Fun at Home with Kids)
• How to make paint with sweetened condensed milk (on Tinkerlab)
• Homemade watercolor paints
• Kool-aid watercolor paints (on Learn Play Imagine)
• Make your own egg tempera paint (on Tinkerlab)
• Glossy corn syrup paint (on Pink Stripey Socks)
• How to make textured sand paint (on Learn Play Imagine)

Fun Paint Recipes for Squeezing, Dripping, etc 

• Make your own colored glue (on Picklebums)
• DIY puffy paint
• Kool-Aid sidewalk paint (on Fun at Home with Kids)
• Microwave puffy paint
• “Puffy” paint that dries hard and sparkly

DIY Drawing Materials

• Chalk rocks (on Babble Dabble Do)
• Easy, giant DIY scratchboard (on Pink Stripey Socks)
• DIY scratch art the easy way
• Spinning top marker (on Pink Stripey Socks)
• DIY chalk (on Babble Dabble Do)

Homemade Playdough for Kids

• Our favorite playdough recipe is cooked playdough
• The best no-cook playdough recipe (easier and quicker!)
• Easy 5-minute microwave playdough (on Fun at Home with Kids)
• Playdough in 3 fun flavors (chocolate, cotton candy, kool-aid) (on Mama Miss)
• Edible gluten-free no-cook playdough (on Fun at Home with Kids)
• Edible peanut butter playdough recipe

Other Homemade Doughs

• Homemade air dry clay
• Basic salt dough recipe and instructions (plus lots of ideas for salt dough ornaments)
• Cloud dough (on Tinkerlab)

Make Your Own Stamps

• How to make your own abstract stamps (on Dabble Babble Do)
• Make stamp pictures with foam sheets (on Mama Miss)
• DIY silly face stamps (on Mer Mag)
• How to make nature stampers for playdough 
• DIY roller printers with foam stickers

More Homemade Art Materials for Kids’ Art

• How to dye pasta for arts and crafts
• How to make colored salt for salt art (on Buggy and Buddy)
• Homemade Rangoli powder (on Kids Play Box)

Plus here’s a DIY paper bag art portfolio to put all the art in, of course! (on Art Bar Blog)

How about you? Do you make your own art materials? What supplies do you prefer to make versus buy?

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