Art Gifts for Creative Kids, Ages 8-13

Black Friday and the Christmas season are upon us! I wrote this gift guide two years ago when I had about 10 readers, so I’m reposting for you now. 🙂

Here is an art gift guide for your creative kids who love art! I was specifically thinking of art gifts for kids, middle schoolers, tweens, and upper elementary kiddos, ages 8-13. For more gift guides for teens, check out these two posts: Quality Art Supplies for Teens who Love Art and Manga and Art Gifts for Teens.

To come up with this list of art gifts for kids, I channeled me as a 10 year old. I wish I had a picture scanned of me so you could see my bright red jeans and looney tunes shirt, my red glasses covering half my face, and my big and tall ball of hair-sprayed bangs. You can imagine. It was glorious. These are the things I loved or would have loved.

Fun Art Gifts for Kids:

Magnetic Tile Art – Make your own magnet! Ceramic tiles with paint and magnet backings. I would have LOVED this as a middle schooler.
Melissa & Doug Deluxe Combo Scratch Art Set – Scratch art is so fun! I did it with my 3rd-5th graders as a teacher although we made our own scratch paper with crayon and tempera paint. I probably wouldn’t give this to anyone younger than maybe 8 or they’ll soar through all the paper in about 5 minutes. (Here’s a stocking stuffer version! Melissa & Doug Rainbow Mini Scratch Art Notes)
Tandy Leather Factory Basic Leather Craft Set – I said before that I am basically making these gift guides for me when I was young. When I was in maybe the 5th grade, someone from the Tandy leather company came to my school and taught us some leather craft stuff. I somehow ended up with some leather crafting supplies, and I have such fond memories of playing with the leather kit at home and making designs in the leather and making stuff. This one is purely on here for me, but if you have a little mini-me (always making stuff, always drawing, always tinkering) in your house, they would love this. I can’t wait until my daughter is old enough for this. She is definitely a mini-me. She is over at her art table gluing beads to stuff as I type. Thanks for listening to me ramble down memory lane. I’m tempted just to buy this for myself.
Perler Beads 6,000 Count Bucket – Another thing I LOVED when I was little. I don’t think my mom ever let me do the ironing part. I just did the designs and then dumped it out and did more. You can also get some tweezers to go with it. (They also make a “BIGGIE” version for the little kids.)
Kassa Chalkboard Contact Paper with Chalk – I would’ve put this up on my wall next to my tiger beat posters and written “I love Jonathan Taylor Thomas on it.”
Original Buddha Board – I had one of these when I was young, and it was so fun! And bonus, you can practice the brushstrokes in the Chinese brush painting we learned about last month. 🙂 (Here’s a stocking stuffer version! Mini Buddha Board – Red)
Mark Kistler’s Draw Squad – I can’t believe this is still in print! I lived for this book. I probably should look for stuff not popular in 1988, but whatever. I’m having fun remembering my childhood today. 🙂
Crayola Inspiration Art Case – I love the idea of art kits like this, but I’m usually not impressed with the quality of the materials. I was happy to see that Crayola makes one. We can trust Crayola quality! It’s of course cheaper to just buy the stuff separately, but I think a kid would like having these all in a kit they can easily take from room to room or to Grandma’s house.
Plastic Pony Bead Mega Critters Bucket – I like this suggest things that are a little more open-ended, but I can’t deny that my 10yo self would have loved making these bead keychains!
Sculpey III Polymer Clay, Multicolor – Sculpey is SO FUN. You make little colorful sculptures (or just white and paint them) and bake them in the oven. I remember making a hot dog with a bun that I just loved. I kept it for a long time.