I won’t pretend I’ve got parenting all figured out, but I do think our toddler art setup is pretty dialed in. Easy access for him, minimal mess for us. Here’s what we do:
Tabletop drawing station
Stabilo Multi-Talented Pencils Woody 3-in-1 Duo
These have rich color, don’t require much pressure to make nice marks, and are a good thickness for a toddler’s grip. The dual colors can make some fun effects. And best of all, they’re water soluble, so if some stray marks find their way off the paper, they come right off after a quick wipe with a wet rag. The one downside is they need to be sharpened, but it’s a quick and easy task with the included pencil sharpener.
A great, durable paintbrush with its own water reservoir. Works well to spread around the color of the aforementioned water soluble colored pencils, so the baby likes to smear it around whatever’s already been drawn just to see what happens. We never let him dip it in actual paint so I have no fear that he’s about to permanently paint up our furniture or walls.
IKEA MÅLA Paper Roll Holder + IKEA MÅLA Paper Roll
We have this out on our coffee table at all times, ready for drawing. Very easy to use, no blades, super cheap. Feels infinite. Love that you can make the paper so long/large that there’s little danger of a clumsy toddler accidentally drawing off the edge. Plus there’s plenty of room to draw anything you want.
Washi tape is great because it’s so easy to unstick. Great for securing the end of the butcher paper roll without damaging the table. They also make so many cute ones that work amazingly as stickers! There’s so much per roll that I can give pieces out liberally with no stress about running out.
I enjoy getting any kind of sticker for Sol, but in particular, a set of puffy doggy stickers have been the biggest hit. The 3d nature makes them really easy for his tiny fingers to handle, and we’ve been able to unstick and reuse them across multiple pieces of paper and other surfaces. I found our set at Dainobu and can't seem to find an online listing, but the link above points to other stickers of the same type.
Whiteboard drawing station
Magnetic fridge whiteboard + Dry erase marker set
Admittedly this one is less perfect as the toddler isn’t able to re-cap the markers himself, but he sure is obsessed with drawing here. We put the whiteboard on the fridge at his height. He goes Pollock mode, starts making dense little spiral-ish scribbles, and can be perfectly happy for 30 min without getting bored. Stray dry erase marks are super easy to wipe off the fridge and floor, and when he gets marks on himself they come right off under the sink faucet.
And that’s our setup! Both stations are used multiple times per day. In terms of actual activities, there’s basically 2 modes: unstructured free scribbling, and the toddler commanding me to draw whatever’s on his mind (usually various vehicles, cellos, animals, or fruits/veggies.) In this way, I’ve now drawn a few things I’d never have thought of on my own—a shark playing the cello, a basketball that’s also a helicopter, a fox bus, and who knows what other delightful requests are coming. Every time we draw together is a true pleasure and I hope neither of us ever gets tired of it!