Natural Art Supplies and Stubby Pencil Studio Giveaway

The winner of the giveaway is hannahw who said, "Bunny just got, as in 4 hours ago, a Glob paint set from her Nana!! " Congratulations! Please e-mail me with you mailing address. 

To start off our month-long exploration into toddler art, I thought I would begin with art materials. There is no better place to start talking about art, then the materials used to create it. The world of toddler and preschool art materials is dominated by Crayola, Rose Art and Elmer's. But there is also a whole new movement of natural materials that work well, are good for the environment and are kid friendly. As an artist myself, my first concern was the ingredients in the art materials my kids would use because almost all of the paints that I have/had before Sofia was born have cadmium in them. Not good for baby. As a photographer who loved to develop her own film D-76 was the last thing I was going to have in my house with a toddler about. The list just goes on and on of art materials that weren't safe to have around. So I began to search for products that were safe in case they were ingested, smelled good, and didn't cost a fortune. 

Here are a few of our art bin basics:

beeswax crayons -no better smell then that of real beeswax crayons, ours are covered in baby teeth marks! 

soy rock crayons
large water colors
homemade play dough
food based chalk

Glob It On paint pigments

homemade flour paint -tutorial coming up soon! 

We use all of these on a weekly basis. We also have a range of recycled paper to color and paint on as well as toddler safe scissors (that only cut paper!) stamps, glue, popsicle sticks,  pipe cleaners, pom pom balls, and painters tape. Some other great materials that can be found at home are sponges, dish soap, food coloring, aluminum foil (for molding and making holes)

For toddlers just about anything that will make a mark will do and every surface is a good surface even if that means their tummies or your hallway wall! I keep our beeswax crayons in a mason jar on Sofia's work table along with a piece of paper taped down with painters tape so that when the opportunity strikes there is a place for her to let that creativity out. I use painters tape because it is easy to tear and comes off every surface! It also makes for a great removable art material.

I like homemade materials as they usually involve edible ingredients, ie. flour and water and food coloring because I don't have to worry about it getting taste tested. I like this plant based food coloring, thought it is a bit pricey.

However, there are a few things like scissors and watercolors that I can't really make on my own. So I turn to my favorite online store Stubby Pencil Studio. They have a great collection of eco friendly art supplies and stationary. The owner Katie Rosenthal started the shop up in 2006 after wanting to find natural art supplies for her twin daughters. As a long time customer of Stubby Pencil Studio I can say that they are great company who cares about the products they sell and their customers. Plus they always throw in little extras when you buy from them, like a note card you can color on! 

I sent Kate an email telling her about this month of toddler art and she agreed to giveaway one set of the preschool watercolors! 

Here's the description from the website:
This jumbo watercolor set is designed for preschool age children to explore color and make their first steps toward future achievements in fine art. The extra large, easy-to-reach cakes are perfect for little hands that lack the ability and control to focus on small areas. Set includes 6 colors (green, yellow, brown, red, black and blue) and a #6 paint brush. Non-toxic, made in Germany by FineTec.


I bought these watercolors a few months ago and we love them. They produce a really lovely color and they are easy for Sofia to dip her brush in. Plus with the limited color palette it doesn't turn completely mucky brown. 

Now on to the good part! Here are the rules below. Check out the Facebook page here and you can follow them on twitter @stubbypencils. 


             -----------------------------------------------Giveaway Rule---------------------------------------------

• Entries are open to the US and Canada only
• There are three ways to enter, (that means if you do all three you'll have your name in the bag three times!) first visit the website and then leave a comment here tell us your favorite item, second like them on Facebook and leave me a comment tell me you did, third subscribe to Stubby Pencil blog and let me know you did. 
• Comment will close April 9th at 8pm. I will announce the winner selected via random number generator shortly their after.