List of Basic Craft Supplies

• Paints and brushes are useful for a multitude of crafting activities. Steve Allen/Stockbyte/Getty Images

  Every house with children needs a crafting box. With a few basic supplies and a little creativity, a rainy afternoon can become a creative wonderland of glitter, glue and paint. Make sure to keep a few basic supplies on hand so you're always ready to get crafty with the kids.

Paper

• Having a variety of paper available for crafting makes it possible to create any number of DIY projects at home. Use construction paper for covering surfaces and also to collage scenes by cutting different shapes. Crepe paper is best for pointillism projects and gives texture to any craft because of its grainy quality. White computer paper can be used for watercolor painting or simple drawing.

Colors

• Any at-home crafter needs to have a wide range of paint and coloring supplies on hand. Watercolors and acrylic paints are good for children of all ages for abstract or paint-by-numbers crafts. Wax crayons, colored pencils and markers are good for drawing and detailing crafts. Fabric paints are useful for older children who are ready to make felt-based crafts or for decorating t-shirts.

Tools

• Basic crafting tools should include scissors for cutting fabric and paper, as well as safety scissors with rounded edges for small children. Patterned-edge scissors are useful for adding a decorative edge to crafts like cards and photo frames; they are available in shapes like waves, scallops and zip-zag. You will also need a variety of paint brushes that are appropriate for painting large areas and for detail work. Brushes are also practical for applying liquid glue on a large surface area. Crafters should also have pencils, permanent markers, staplers and rulers.

Glue

• Home crafters will need to have glue of all consistencies and textures available. Glue sticks are good for young children, while liquid glue is a stronger adhesive but requires supervision for kids under five. For intense crafts with heavy materials, hot glue is the best option, but children should never use a hot glue gun unsupervised. Rubber cement is useful for small crafts with heavy materials and has a very strong adhesive, but again, must be used under supervision.

Miscellaneous

• Have some miscellaneous materials on hand for art projects, including popsicle sticks, chenille stems (pipe cleaners), hole-punchers, beads of all sizes, glitter, yarn and pom-poms.