Nothing inspires creativity like new art supplies! Artterro recently sent us their gorgeous art journal kits, and the kids have been drawing every since – even fourteen-month-old Anna – special thanks to Artterro for including her in our package! There is something incredibly inviting about blank sheets of white paper, especially art-quality paper!
My kids have all started drawing long before they could wall – it is a very-much-loved pastime in our home!
These particular art journals come with decorative paper in the front, which seven-year-old Emma and four-year-old Lily have been using to decorate the cover. Minimalist Lily went for large blocks of solid color:
Emma went for a more complex collage look. I enjoyed watching her go through the various print pages included in the book, selecting the ones that she felt would work best together:
Five-year-old Johnny ignored the color and print paper entirely, opting instead to draw dramatic scenes on the covers of his notebook! So did Anna, although her faint pen lines don’t photograph very well.
It is such a joy to see their creativity! From one-year-old Anna:
To four-year-old Lily, who has always adored abstract artwork – the red and brown bit looks a bit like a bird of paradise to me, but she has a policy of not explaining her artwork:
To five-year-old Johnny’s incredibly emotive and action-filled artwork:
And seven-year-old Emma’s gentle horse. Emma’s drawings always have a story behind them!
Do you have a budding artist who could use a beautiful new art journal? Artterro is giving away two of these lovely journals to one reader of this blog with a US shipping address! Just fill out the simple form below to enter the giveaway – good luck!
This giveaway has now ended. Congratulations, Johanna!
Do your kids love to draw? What is your own favorite form of creative expression? I enjoy pretty much any creative art form – even the ones I’m not very “good” at!
Many thanks to Artterro for sending us these art notebooks, and providing two for a giveaway winner! All opinions and ideas are, as always, my own. Thank you for reading my blog!
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
My 4 year old daughter would love this. She already walks around with a small notebook and pencil constantly scribbling sketches with hearts being the latest craze. She would love this!
Lovely! “Having a habit of not explaining her art…” Ha! Love it!
Love using quality art materials . Makes all the difference.
It really does! It completely changes the way my kids approach the project, I find – and how invested in it they are.
I would give these to my kids. They would love them!
I would give these to my kids. They would just love these!
I’d give them to two of my older kids and then would need to purchase one for my third so he wouldn’t be left out! And maybe for my toddler too… I agree with you that nice art supplies can really encourage kids to be creative!
I truly appreciate quality papers, pencils and pens versus conventional brands they sell at drugstores. The colors are much more vibrant. The difference cannot be ignored. I agree with Nina, that kids deserve quality art supplies.
I like art journals because you don’t have to collect and archive different sizes of individual papers. You can store them as notebooks and mark the childname/month/year on it. Such an easier way to archive kids’ artwork.
I heard somewhere that we really should be giving kids “real” art supplies instead of the kiddie versions of it. When they know their art and craft is worth the real deal, they tend to take themselves more seriously. Of course it has to be age appropriate—I wouldn’t give a toddler acrylic paints haha—but a real brush vs a plastic one, or real sketch books vs kiddie ones sends the message that they truly are artists!
I love seeing the difference between your kids’ drawings!
I love that they each have their own unique style.
I would give the art journals to my littles, who are 1 and 3 and love to draw.
I love how your children’s personalities shine through in their art. I’m definitely not great at giving my kids high quality art materials – I recently saw a lovely art pad in a bookstore and remembered getting my first “grown up” art pad as a kid. You are right – great materials do inspire creativity. The price tag of those sorts of materials here is just so outrageous. Thank you for the reminder to stock up the next time we are in the States.
We are definitely very fortunate to live in a part of the world where high quality materials are incredibly affordable.
Emma’s collage is very impressive. I love all their art, and your photographs! Michael draws and draws and draws… similar to Johnny, with lots of action! The Ed Emberley book he got last Christmas set his creativity free. Nikki draws happy scenes, most often containing herself and the person she is drawing for. Vi fills her page with colour, just pure colour, and David makes minimalist marks that end up looking really great (at least to me). My creativity is in writing and photography and figuring out how to make things pleasant, while constantly improving.
I think creativity, in whatever medium, is very important! And I would really love to get our kids together, someday!
I would give them to my 4-year-old daughter. She has a notebook now, but not nearly as nice as these! :)
Love their masterpieces! If we received the journals, I would give one to my preschooler. She would fill it with her stories and wonderful people with their large eyes. I would give the other one to my toddler to fill with his sticky masterpieces, and probably nibble a bit too :)
Arterro journal is beautiful. We had one, and my then 6 year old loved it even though she is not super crafty. By the way, I love your kids drawing – they reflect both their ages and their personalities!
They really make a gorgeous art journal, don’t they! I agree on their drawings – it makes it so fun to see what they create!
I love that Lily won’t explain her art!! All your children are so talented! I love all their drawings. And little Anna is holding a marker so well!!
Thanks! Fine motor skills seem to come very naturally to my kids – and they certainly put in a lot of hours of practice!
I would give it to my 8 year old son Cruz…Who loves to
Leave sweet little art notes for us.
I’d give them to my 4- and 6-year-old daughters.
My kids!
I’d give it to my 3yo daughter Anna, who loves to draw and cut and paste collages. I’d love to see how it would inspire her. :)
I would give one to each of my 3 children. They all love to draw and create. They would love these journals.
Both of my daughters love to draw and I was just thinking about getting them some kind of book so all their drawings could be found in one place. Love that these journals are part of the art themselves. I love that the prize is a 2-pack, so if we win, I would give one to each of my girls.
I would give it to my daughter