Hi, Amy!
Here are the brands of the "staple" supplies that I can not live without.
You mentioned that you have money in your budget to pick and choose. Some of
these supplies are not for teachers on a "shoestring":
First, (as a painter, myself, I tend to do a lot of painting with the kids,
so I'm picky about paint and brushes), I only order Sax Ultra Plus liquid
tempera. (page 23 in the Sax catalogue..hey, LOL...I sound like Judy
Nagel...miss Judy!) For years I used Crayola, but I absolutely LOVE the way Sax's brand
keeps a nice flowing consistancy. The Crayola has great colors, as well,
but sometimes they thicken up and need to be diluted. This does not happen
with the Sax brand and the colors are gorgeous jewel tone! Thanks to Bunki for
converting me to Sax brand tempera.
And here's a very important NEW product I can't live without...Sax Tempera
Varnish..I love it, love it, love it! It's like Modge Podge, but with no
odor. I really haven't yet used it over tempera on 2-d work. But, I like it
best over oil pastels to seal and look like oil paint. I do use it over 3-d
work. For example, when my kids paint their papier mache sculptures in tempera,
the Sax Tempera Varnish makes the whole painted surface of the sculpture
look beautifully finished! And, it goes a long way. I tell my little ones it's
"Magic Shine" and they love it too!
Pang (and ONLY Prang) semi-moist water colors. (the regular- NOT the
washables, as the colors are not as intense in washable) If your budget permits,
get the oval pan set 16.
Brushes...good water color brushes...not camel hair (don't hold their shape)
but something with taklon. I like my Trueflow Tripoint Water Color Brushes
(Sax). I love #8's and #16's for the kids! LOL...I sound like a commercial
for Sax... I also love the Taklon Oval Wash brushes and the Golden Taklon
Flat Wash brush sets.
Oil Pastels: I prefer the Craypas Sakura Expressionist Oil Pastels. I order
the set of 16, but they come in 3 smaller sets. I love them because the
jumbo size allows my little ones to use them without breaking. The colors are
fabuloius, with extra whites in the set.
Scissors: I love the Fiskars for Kids Blunt Tip for my k-2 classes and my
3-5 classes use the 5" Fiskars with the orange handles and blunt tips. I also
have a set of 7" Fiskars scissors for the older kids to cut cardboard, for
example.
Pens: I can't live without black Sharpies, in fine and ultra fine points.
This year I order a few sets of the new Sharpies in the 29 color sets-
WOW!!!! The colors are unbelievable and the kids love them!
Crayons..m-mmmm, for some reason I have an adversion to crayons. There's
something unfinished and unsatisfying to me about that scribbled,
crayon-colored look to art. But, wait, come to think of it, I do have a big bin of
crayons put away for when my kids do texture collages with squares of tissue paper
and crayons. On a beautiful spring day they do enjoy making rubbings outside
with those crayons. But, I haven't ordered crayons in years.
Paper: Tru-ray construction paper, finger painting paper-GREAT to paint on
with water colors, as well as water color paper. I even love to have my kids
paint on colored construction paper.
Glue and paste: Avery Permanent Glue sticks is the only brand I use. I
haven't found another brand that really works. Has anyone found another brand
that really works? I love art paste- any brand works fine-School Smart brand
is what I have this year. I love Yes glue and Elmer's. But the past two year
I've been having a terrible time with Elmer's clogging!!! I've tried the
special caps and they make the glue come out a little drop at a time. Does
anyone have glue suggestions?
