With a few exceptions (felt, some strings, and less expensive beads) I try to shop outside the kiddie aisle. Don’t buy into the narrative that children can only use markers and crayons, though I do love a fresh box of Crayolas ;) Buy them some oil and chalk pastels! Put some watercolor paper out! You never know which medium they’ll enjoy most, but exploring different options is fun as a child. They’re worth the investment and often those items aren’t even more expensive than the curated craft kits…

Which brings me to my next point: Another big reason I stay away from the kids’ section is because it is INUNDATED with craft kits. This has officially become my soapbox. With every design and consulting project I find more and more reasons to dislike them!

They pigeonhole creativity

Are they good for instruction following? Yes. But if you have a really creative child, I think it does them more harm than good.

They don’t facilitate process-oriented learning

This type of learning and play emphasize process over the product, believing that growth happens through figuring things out and that unanticipated obstacles lead to flourishing. A product-oriented art project is the classic hand turkey at Thanksgiving. All of the final products look more or less the same and there’s not much room for individuality. Process art is responsive and fluid, and kids are GOOD at this! Some adults have a hard time without a prompt, but most kids are up for that kind of challenge :)

They’re filled with low quality materials

I’ll always recommend buying individual packs of crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc. over an art kit. Cleanup’s easier when you don’t have to fit everything back into their tiny plastic slots. However, beware, your kids WILL want the kit, and honestly, I get it, I wanted to the kit. Stay strong.

They don’t allow your child to shine through their art

You’ll cherish the things your kids make because you’ll see them in it. My mom had five pieces of art framed in our front hall for years. The art? When my brother was learning his letters, he became obsessed with writing the alphabet over and over again. He would do it on lined paper and switch the color of his pencils occasionally and hide words and names in the sequence like code. “Nish” is written in various colors of pen. Our immediate family’s names are included, as well as his kindergarten crush and buddies. That tells us so much more about who he was was at five years old than a scented chapstick. Let them create :)