Art supplies should be an integral part of growing up. Kids are naturally creative and should be given safe, beautiful supplies to work with. Natural art supplies that are safe for little hands and safe for the planet are easy to find online and make great birthday or holiday gifts.
What to Look For in Green Art Supplies
- Renewable or sustainable resources
- Plant or vegetable based dyes
- Recycled using post consumer waste (PCW)
- 100% recycled or 100% post consumer waste is ideal, but sometimes hard to find
Some of the Most Popular Green Art Supplies
Crayons
Stockmar Beeswax crayons are made in Germany out of vegetable dyes and beeswax. They come in block style or the typical crayon style.
Prang makes both soy and wax crayons. The soy crayons are made from renewable soybean oil as a binder and safe, all natural pigments.
Earth Friendly Pencils
Faber-Castell makes EcoPencils and, according to their website, they are FSC certified: a warranty that the wood used is obtained from renewable and sustainable sources, contributing to the preservation of the environment. They have many colored pencil options, some in jumbo sizes for preschoolers, and some with a triangular grip for beginning writers.
Green Earth Office Supply offers pencils made from 20-33% recycled denim jeans! The rest comes from recycled post consumer paper.
Recycled Papers
There are many options for recycled art paper, including sketch pads, drawing paper and even rolls of easel paper. According to Greenlinepaper.com most recycled paper products contain very little PCW paper and instead are made up of wood chips and mill scraps. Only recycled paper made with PCW paper can help stop deforestation and reduce landfill waste. It is important to look for the PCW term on the recycled paper package.
Hemp paper is now becoming more available. Greenfieldpaper.com sells Hemp Heritage paper that is made with 25% hemp fibers and 75% post consumer recycled paper, using no chlorine bleach in the process. According to NAIHC.org hemp can yield 3-8 dry tons of fiber per acre. This is four times what an average forest can yield. The long fibers in hemp allow the paper to be recycled several times more than wood based paper.
Ecojot is a Canadian company that uses only 100% recycled paper from 100% post-consumer waste. They use no new trees in their process at all. Their product line includes adorable graphic notebooks of all sizes, file folders and many other paper products.
Play dough
Play dough is an easy, fun craft to make at home with safe ingredients that are already in the pantry. This edible recipe is great for younger kids that may end up with more of it in their mouths.
Edible Fun Dough
Ingredients:
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup oatmeal
- ¾ cup powdered milk
- ½ cup honey
Directions:
Mix together. Play!
Must be stored in an airtight container.
Art supplies are vital in developing creativity in children and, in an ideal world, would be available to them in unlimited supplies. Finding materials that are also good for the environment is not only a bonus, but a great way to teach kids about recycling and caring for our planet.
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