Hi everyone! I’m Katie, an artist and museum educator who works with families and school-age children at an art museum, sculpture garden and nature preserve. I’m a big believer in exploratory art-making for younger ages, or process-based art, while weaving in art vocabulary, new artists and techniques.

There are fantastic resources and blogs available online that share project ideas, invitations for creating, and new materials. Part of my job is to not only create my own art project ideas, but to dive into and test out inspirations I discover online through other art educators.

I’m going to share some of my favorite materials and blogs with you today in hopes that you’ll find something new to try to with your child, whether at their current age or in the future.

Favorite Blogs:

• Mericherry.com

o   Not only does Meri Cherry share projects based by age group in the right hand column of her site, she also has lists of favorite materials and a process art toolkit available for families to download.

• Artbarblog.

o   A visually appealing site, I love the graphic design and easy to read projects. The colors pop and she shares how to keep your children’s own paintings bright and vibrant (*hint* it has to do with white paint). For immediate access to a growing collection of 100 art prompts for ages 3- 12, follow her instagram account @100daysofartbar

• Tinkerlab.com

o   Not only host to art project, Tinkerlab shares many sensory explorations for younger ages. Even more so than her site, I highly recommend the book TinkerLab: A Hands On Guide for Little Inventors for activities such as homemade playdough, bubble prints and watercolor explorations with easy to read guidelines for grown-ups.

My newest favorite art material I recommend to all my friends with kids who like the idea of painting, but fear the mess: kwik stix.  Available on amazon, kwik stix are solid washable tempera paints in a closeable tube that dries in under 90 seconds! Imagine a glue stick, but filled with paint instead.

To complement the paint sticks, I usually buy a ream of white cardstock from staples.com to give the kids a bit of a more substantial weight to paint and draw upon.

Finally, if you love the idea of an art materials arriving at your door ready to go, kidartlit subscription boxes are a fantastic resource. You’ll receive a picture book, accompanying project ideas, all the materials needed (enough for 2 kids!)  and a perfect way to combine literacy and art making.

Please reach out to Katie via email at artistkatiehillman@gmail.com or her website artistkatiehillman.com for any further questions or comments!