RESOURCES FOR THE NEW PLAYROOM E-Guide
Shops | Products | Activities | Design
Art Supplies
Favorite Places to Shop
- Local Independent art stores
- Discount School Supply
- Amazon
- Blick
- Jerrys Artarama
Favorite Brands For High Quality At Affordable Prices
Faber-Castell, Colorations, Crayola (for tempera paint), Strathmore (for paper), Royal & Langnickel (for brushes)
…..
(Some of the resources on this page include affiliate links, thanks for your support!)
Furniture
Favorite Places To Shop
Storage Units
- Ikea
- Target
- Crate and Kids
- West Elm
- Pottery Barn Kids
- CB2
- Second Hand: Craigslist, Thrift Stores, Garage Sales
Play Tables & Chairs
- Crate and Kids
- Pottery Barn Kids
- Restoration Hardware Baby & Child
- Serena & Lily
- Second Hand: Craigslist, Thrift Stores, Garage Sales
Containers/Organizers
Resources for DIY table
(see The New Playroom guide, pg.18 for instructions)
Table Tops
- Ikea
- The Container Store
- Local lumber yard or hardware store (Ace, home depot, Lowes, etc.) Have them cut a wide board of Pine down to your desired length.
Table Legs
- Etsy
- Local hardware store (Ace, home depot, Lowes, etc.)
- Search “Table legs” online via your favorite search engine
- There are a range of leg styles and materials that can be found these days. It’s easy to find legs with styles like mid century modern, traditional, shaker, country, contemporary, etc. You can even find adjustable legs.
- When you purchase table legs, make sure you check how they are secured into the tabletop incase you need to purchase any hardware.
Additional Organizers
Rolling Cart
Art carts from art stores
Kitchen carts from kitchen stores
Desk Top/Shelf Organizers
Baskets
Buckets
Jars
Spice rack for do-dads
Easels
Favorite Places To Shop & DIY
Favorite Easels
Melissa & Doug Deluxe Standing Easel
KidKraft Deluxe Wood Easel
Ikea (can’t beat the price!)
The Fundamentals (solid wood, naturally varnished, and adjustable from toddler height to young adults- use with 16” paper roll only)
DIY Wall Easel Resources
(See DIY Wall Easel in The New Playroom Guide, pg. 23)
Shallow shelf (To store paint cups under panel. Small shelf is good for panel sized for one child, large shelf is good for panel sized for two children, side by side.)
Art clips (The largest clips, at 3″ wide, work best for wall easels)
Art Activity Resources
Favorite Books & Blogs
Favorite Books
These are my favorite art activity books because they focus on the creative process. They offer instructions for many art techniques, but also leave plenty of room for creative exploration.
Favorite Blogs for Art Activities
There are so many great blogs about children and creativity. I have chosen my favorite blogs for process-oriented art, nature-based art and play, as well as blogs with cool crafts and instructional learning for older kids.
Design
Resources For The Design Process
Getting Started On Pinterest
Sign up for Pinterest here: Pinterest.com
Install the “Pin it button” to your browser and add the Pinterest App to your mobile device. You can do both here.
The Pin-it button makes it super easy to add content/products that you find around the web to your Pinterest boards.
How to create a mood board
1) Choose a design software. I use Canva, an online design platform. They offer a free version and I highly recommend it!
2) Decide which Images you want to include in your mood board. Open the corresponding pin from Pinterest (or image from another tool) and then drag and drop the image into a folder on your computer.
3) Start with a blank page (on your design software) and add photos to create a mood board.
Tip
On Canva, I start with a blank US letter document (8.5″x11″) so that it’s the right size if I want to print it out.
Mood Board Samples
Additional Resources
Setting Up/Installing Your Art Space
Task Rabbit is available in many US cities as well as internationally in Canada and some European countries. It can be helpful for outsourcing errands and other household tasks. All of the information you’ll need is right here.
Updates
- This resource page will be kept updated, so come back whenever you need to be pointed in the right direction.
- If you have questions that you would like to see answered on this resource page, please contact us here.