Essentials for Every Art Room: A Guide to the Must Have Materials for Your Art Room

As an art teacher, having the right materials is essential for a successful art program. By providing students with a variety of tools, they can experiment with different styles, techniques, and mediums, allowing their creativity to flourish. Here are some staple art materials that every art room should have to promote a sustainable and engaging art program.

Acrylic Paints: Vibrant and versatile, acrylic paints are perfect for both beginners and advanced artists. Their easy application and fast drying time make them ideal for various surfaces and techniques. Acrylics encourage continuous learning as there’s always something new to discover such as colour mixing, creating textures or painting artworks in layers.

Oil Pastels: Rich and creamy, oil pastels offer bold colours for expressive artworks. Their effortless blending capabilities make them perfect for creating stunning masterpieces while developing drawing skills. Pair oil pastels with watercolours for unique effects or use them with acrylic paints to create scratch back techniques.

Coloured Pencils: Coloured pencils are essential for building fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and dexterity. Cost-effective and portable, they’re perfect for drawing, colouring, and blending techniques. These are a staple for any art room and a good quality coloured pencil can go a long way.

Grey Lead Pencils: A must-have for sketching and drawing, grey lead pencils come in various grades to create a range of tones. They help students develop basic techniques and encourage experimentation without fear of mistakes.

Coloured Paper: Ideal for collages, origami, and mixed media artworks, coloured paper promotes fine motor skills and spatial awareness. Coloured paper can be used for both 2D and 3D artworks and has a wide variety of applications.

Watercolour Paints: Fluid and expressive, watercolours are perfect for exploring personal style and creativity. They can be used for a variety of techniques to create differnet effects such as wet on dry, wet on wet, reisst effects and dry brushing.

Brushes: From synthetic to natural hair, brushes offer unique applications for various mediums. Taklon brushes provide a smooth and resilient experience, while hog hair brushes are stiff and durable, ideal for textured strokes.

Thick Paper: A versatile staple for any art room, thick cartridge paper accommodates heavier mediums while maintaining a budget-friendly approach. A 200gsm weight is suitable for light watercolour paints, eliminating the need for costly watercolour paper. Additionally, acrylic painting can be done on thicker cartridge paper, with any warping easily flattened after the drying process.

Varieties of Glue: Having an assortment of adhesives, such as PVA glue, glue sticks, and tacky glue, ensures that projects can be completed easily and with less mess. PVA glue can be used for range of materials, including paper, cardboard, fabric, and wood. Ideal for techniques like decoupage, papier-mâché, and mixed media projects. Glue Sticks are user-friendly, non-toxic, and quick-drying, these are perfect for younger students or speedy bonding tasks. They provide a mess-free and efficient solution for paper-based crafts. Tacky Glue is a thick, fast-grabbing adhesive for heavier materials or embellishments like beads, sequins, and ribbons. Its robust bonding properties make it an excellent choice for mixed media projects requiring a stronger adhesive.

With these essential art materials in your art room, you’ll be well-equipped to explore a variety of art making techniques with your students while also staying within tight budgets. It is important to provide students with a range of opportunities to create unique artworks and these materials can help them develop their artistic skills.