Top 5 Favorite Preschool Classroom Art Materials

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As a preschool teacher I wish someone had told me about these amazing art materials for my preschool classroom sooner. After I learned about them I tried to use them in about every lesson I could. And that is the beauty of art is you can use all of these art materials in many different subjects. Plus kids just love getting creative and messy.

Liquid Watercolors

First on my top 5 favorite preschool classroom art materials are these amazing liquid watercolors. I have been only using them for about 3 years, but I use them for everything. You can use them as is for a great vibrant color, or add some water to make them last longer. Add them to vinegar when doing vinegar and baking soda exploration for a fun splash of color. I highly recommend using them on watercolor paper since it is a thicker paper.

Tempera Paint Sticks

This art material is a game changer for the preschool classroom. If you love the look of the vibrancy that paint gives you but hate the mess that it can make you need these tempera paint sticks in your classroom. We would use them for paper plate crafts, coloring our directive drawings, and so much more!

India Ink

This stark black India ink is amazing for creating directive drawings that really pop! I as loved using it to create large coloring banners each theme for the my students to color, with tempera paint sticks of course. You will need something like these refillable dauber bottles to use the ink.

Dot Stickers

Next is this simple, yet oh so versatile, art material for your preschool classroom. Dot stickers! First using stickers is a great way to build up those fine motor skills that are so important in young children. Second, they can be used for so many fun activities. Switch out dot markers for dot stickers when doing dot papers, use them as a matching game on worksheets or create a fun art project. You can add them to blank dice to create the kind of dice you need in your classroom, and just peel them off when you are done.

BioColor Paint

I wish I hade know about BioColor paint earlier in my career! Once I found out about it I used it as much as I could. Look how our polka dotted presents turned out! One of the magics of this paint is that it won’t just mix when you are painting. So we added out polka dots to our presents then added a different color and used an old gift card to spread the paint down over the present without messing up our polka dots! I will say less paint is better, because otherwise you do get a little mixing of colors. Also you can add glitter, hay, sequence, or whatever you like and it doesn’t flake off like regular paint! Like I said this paint is AMAZING!

Plastic Trays

BONUS! This bonus item is not an art material for your preschool classroom, but these simple plastic trays will help so much when it comes to cleaning up art messes. I used these for everything, as drying racks, for beading to help beads stay off the floor, for leggo play, when making slime, and the list can go on and on. I made sure I had a classroom set for when we were ding whole group projects so each child could keep their supplies or mess in one space and not all over the table.

I found my trays at Target years ago, but these are the closest I could find on Amazon.

There you have it, 5 amazing art materials for your preschool classroom! I hope that you use them and some me!