Susan Schwake - Little Learning Labs: Art for Kids, abridged paperback edition: 26 Adventures in Drawing, Painting, Mixed Media and More; Activities for STEAM Learners

A creative place for making art is best fashioned in a comfortable environment, a place free from worry about making a mess. Making art can be stressful for some peoplemany think it means making a mess or creating havoc. Worry no more! As with so many things in life, preparation is the key to success, and a deeper understanding of a situation is a powerful tool.

The following is a list of items, from simple furnishings to basic materials, to help you build your artmaking space. Collecting these supplies over time is the easiest and most cost-effective way to gather them; however, you might already have many of these items. Keep them in labeled boxes on shelves for easy storage.

1. Natural light or good overhead lighting. Task lighting, such as a clip-on lamp on a desk or table, is useful in smaller group situations.

2. A sturdy table with chairs set at the appropriate height for the student. The height of the table should be approximately at the students waist, and, when seated, the students feet should be on the floor.

3. A plastic table covering to protect the surface. Secure it with strong tape to keep it from slipping around.

4. A nearby water source. The best situation is a sink in the room, but buckets of water can work well, with some empty buckets available for dumping dirty water. A plastic tarp or tablecloth under the buckets helps protect the floor.

5. Small plastic containersround and rectangular, small and largefor holding water.

6. Newspapers, good for just about everything in the mess-control business.

7. Boxes, totes, or shelves for holding supplies. Label them to make finding things easier.

8. Plexiglas or Perspex sheets, about 8" x 10" (20 x 25 cm) in size, one for each student, to use as a palette for painting, printmaking, and drawing. They last forever and are easy to clean.

9. Wax paper and aluminum foil.

10. Fiberboard or Masonite for holding paper securely for drawing or painting.

11. Rolls of clear tape, masking tape, and duct tape.

12. Smocks for protecting the artist. Large mens shirts work well for this, as do old T-shirts.

13. Paper of all sorts: 24-lb. copy paper, 80-lb. sketching paper, 90- or 140-lb. watercolor paper, heavy cardstock, and a collection of fancy colored papers of your choice.

14. Markers of all colors and thicknesses, as well as black permanent markers, crayons, oil pastels, soft pastels, pencils in a variety of hardness, vine charcoal, colored pencils, kneaded erasers, white plastic erasers, and pencil sharpeners.

15. Watercolor pan paints, acrylic paints (both liquid and heavy bodied), tempera paint, gouache, and India ink.

16. Water-based printmaking ink in black and colors.

17. Brayers for printmaking and mixed-media work.

18. Soft-haired brushes for watercolor and ink and nylon or bristle brushes for acrylic, in a variety of sizes and shapes.

19. Recycled items, including magazines, greeting cards, candy wrappers, old letters, graph paper, colored wrapping paper, maps, old photographs, discarded artwork, discarded books, stickers, stamp pads, balls of string and yarn, embroidery floss, embroidery hoops, small fabric scraps, buttons, textile trims, carded wool, old mats and frames, and poly-foam filling.