So you want to put together a craft kit for your children, but you’re not sure what to put in it and you don’t want to spend tonnes of cash. You’ve come to the right place, I’m here to help you! Trust me when I say you don’t need to break the bank in order to get creative with your children. I’m all about living as frugally as possible, and I recommend for your first children’s craft kit, you stick to the absolute essentials. This way, you’ll have everything you could possible need to make 99.9% of kids crafts you see on Pinterest, you don’t need to re-organise your home in order to try and squeeze in a massive box full of supplies and you will have enough cash at the end of it all to buy yourself a nice bottle of wine. Wine is optional, but recommended; sometimes crafting with kids gets a bit…crazy.

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Where To Buy Children’s Craft Supplies

I can’t stress how important it is to shop around if you want to try and save as much money as possible. You may think that the pound shop is going to be your be all and end all, but sometimes you’ll find that things work out cheaper from other shops or even online. I mean, you could spend £1 on a bottle of paint in Poundland, or you could pop into the shop next door and by two bottles of the same brand for £1.50.

Retailers and Sales

Keep your eye out for sales, crafting mega brands like Paperchase and Hobbycraft often have huge sales on crafting supplies. Other stores, like Wilko, almost always have sales on, especially when it comes up to a “key” event or holiday, such as Easter or Christmas. There are also online retailers, like Amazon*, which provide you with a huge list of quality rated products at great prices.

Unless I need something immediately, I usually buy my crafting materials from Amazon as I like to read the reviews about the products and often find that you can buy them in bulk and save yourself a few quid. The downside to that is, of course, having to wait for delivery – however, that’s not a problem if you’re an Amazon Prime member!

Savvy Bumper Packs

Be savvy when it comes to bumper packs. Often these do work out cheaper and come fully loaded with all the bits and bobs you need to get you started on your creative journey, however, I have noticed that some of the more expensive brands don’t tend to offer anything extra/more impressive in their bumper packs compared to the cheaper retailers. If you see a bumper pack bursting with goodies that you think would be perfect for your children’s craft kit and it’s reasonably priced, I’d say go ahead and buy it.

What Must Have Items Should I Buy For My Children’s Craft Kit?

Now you know where to buy your crafty items, you need to work out what essentials you’re going to be needing. I’ve put together this handy check list of materials and products I think are absolutely essential for your first craft kit.

You can also download the children’s essential craft kit check list and print it out for free!

This list features the bear essentials – that means no frills and fancy embellishments, just plain and simple items that you will need at the beginning of your crafting journey. I’ve linked to a few of the items I love using – I’ve linked them because they’re exactly the same ones I have and come from the same retailers, therefore, I can personally recommend them!

Glue Stick and PVA Glue*

Sticky tape and Washi tape*

Washable Paint* and Paint Brushes

A4 white paper and A4 coloured paper

Tissue paper*

Contact paper*

Glitter, sequins and pompoms

Sharpies, felt-tips* and pencils

Stickers

Wooden sticks/straws

Children’s scissors

House Hold Craft Items You Probably Already Have

Don’t worry about buying craft tubes, save up your empty toilet roll inserts. You’d be amazed at all the creations you can make using these.

While on the cardboard theme – tissue boxes, cardboard boxes, cereal boxes and paper plates all make excellent additions to the craft box.

Cutting up car/washing up sponges into cool shapes (stars, hearts, diamonds) makes for an excellent stamp making activity. Try using your home made paint stamps to make your own wrapping paper or gift cards.

Plastic drink bottles bottles, milk bottles, juices boxes and paper bags can all be upcycled and turned into masterpieces.

Where and How To Store Your Children’s Craft Kit

Now you’ve bought all your craft supplies, where do you put them? I adopt the less sophisticated storage box* method myself. Previously, I’ve had plastic boxes with lids that slide under Luke’s bed. Now we have a Kallax unit from IKEA in his bedroom, so we’re using IKEA storage cubes that fit perfectly and come in loads of different designs. Ultimately, it’s up to you how you chose to store the craft supplies. What works with your budget, your home life and your tastes?

Get Crafting

I hope that this post has come in handy and given you some inspiration and confidence to get crafting with the children. Crafting with the kids can seem a bit daunting at first, but the less ‘control freak’ you are about it, the more fun everyone will have. Mess is inevitable I’m afraid, so just sit back and let them do what their imaginations want to do; if you’re trying hard to keep everything super contained, you’ll end up with a mess anyway, so you might as well let go. Always make sure you lay something down to protect your floor or table tops though. I use my fabulous starry messy mat, but you can also get away with using a cheap shower curtain or, go old school and whip the newspaper out.

Most importantly, have fun!