6 Best Art Supply Sets For Gift Giving That Grow With an Artist

You see your child hunched over the kitchen table, completely absorbed in drawing with a worn-down crayon. A spark of genuine interest is there, and you want to fan that flame. But a quick search for "art sets" unleashes a tidal wave of options, from cheap plastic cases to intimidatingly professional kits, leaving you wondering how to support them without wasting money on something they’ll outgrow or abandon. The goal isn’t just to buy supplies; it’s to invest wisely in a tool that can grow right alongside their budding passion.

Choosing Art Sets That Nurture Creative Growth

When your child shows a new interest, the instinct can be to either buy the cheapest introductory kit or, fearing that’s not good enough, overspend on a professional set. The sweet spot is in the middle. The right art set meets them where they are developmentally while leaving room for their skills to expand.

Think of it less as a one-time purchase and more as a foundational investment. A good starter set shouldn’t be a dead end. It should be the core of a toolkit that can be built upon as their abilities and interests mature. You want tools that are good enough to prevent frustration but not so complex they cause intimidation.

The key is to match the medium to their motor skills and creative goals. A toddler needs tools for big, expressive movements, while a teen trying to master manga needs precision instruments. The best gifts are those that honor their current stage and provide a clear path to the next one.

Melissa & Doug Easel: A Foundation for Toddlers

You’ve found drawings on scrap paper, the back of a receipt, and maybe even a wall. For toddlers and preschoolers (ages 2-5), the creative impulse is huge, but their physical control is still developing. They need a dedicated space to create, not just a set of crayons.

The Melissa & Doug Standing Art Easel is a classic for a reason. It’s more of an art station than a simple supply kit. With a chalkboard on one side, a dry-erase board on the other, and a roll of paper up top, it invites creation without being restrictive. This isn’t about fine detail; it’s about the joy of making marks, developing gross motor skills in their arms and shoulders, and learning that art has its own special place.

This easel grows with a child through multiple developmental stages. What starts as a scribbling station for a two-year-old becomes a place to practice letters and numbers for a kindergartener. It can be used for years, and its sturdy construction means it can easily be passed down to a younger sibling, making it a truly smart, long-term investment in creative play.

Faber-Castell Essentials for Young Grade-Schoolers

Your grade-schooler (ages 6-9) has moved beyond scribbles. They’re trying to draw a specific cat, a detailed rocket ship, or a portrait of the family. The waxy, translucent crayons that worked for preschool are now a source of frustration because they can’t produce the vibrant, specific results the child sees in their head.

This is the perfect time for a quality all-in-one essentials kit, and Faber-Castell’s "Young Artist" series is a fantastic step up. These sets often include a mix of media—oil pastels, watercolor pencils, markers, and higher-pigment colored pencils—all housed in a convenient case. The quality is noticeably better than typical children’s supplies; the colors are richer, and the tools offer more control, which is crucial as their fine motor skills are rapidly improving.

A set like this grows with them by exposing them to different ways of making art. They might discover a love for the way oil pastels smudge and blend, or the control they get from a watercolor pencil. It’s an exploratory kit that helps them find their preferred medium, and the skills they learn—like layering colors or mixing water—are foundational for any artistic path they choose to follow.

Staedtler Mars Lumograph for Detailed Sketching

You notice your older child (ages 9-12) is spending hours trying to get the shading on a portrait just right with a standard #2 school pencil. They are ready for tools that match their growing observational skills. This is the moment to introduce them to the world of graphite.

A set of Staedtler Mars Lumograph drawing pencils is a game-changer. It’s a professional-quality tool that isn’t intimidatingly expensive. Giving a child a set with a range of hardnesses—from a hard, light 2H to a soft, dark 6B—is like giving a musician more notes to play. They can suddenly create depth, shadow, and texture in a way that simply wasn’t possible before.

This is a set that an artist never outgrows. A professional illustrator or fine artist uses these same pencils. It’s a core component of any artist’s toolkit that will serve them through middle school, high school, and beyond. You start with a basic set of 6 or 12, and they can add specialty pencils or charcoal sticks to their collection over time.

Winsor & Newton Cotman for Aspiring Painters

The cheap, chalky watercolor pans from the craft store have served their purpose, but now your budding painter (ages 10+) is getting serious. They’re trying to blend colors smoothly and are getting frustrated when everything turns to mud. It’s the tools, not their talent, holding them back.

The Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolour Sketchers’ Pocket Box is the perfect next step. Cotman is a "student-grade" line from a top-tier professional brand, offering a brilliant balance of quality and affordability. The pigments are rich and transparent, allowing for beautiful layering and mixing techniques that are impossible with low-quality paints.

This set is designed for growth. The small, portable case is perfect for painting anywhere, and the individual half-pans of color can be popped out and replaced as they’re used up. This teaches an important lesson in maintaining one’s tools. They can start with this curated palette and later add individual pans of their favorite colors, effectively customizing their toolkit as their skills and preferences evolve.

Liquitex BASICS Acrylics for Versatile Projects

Your middle or high schooler wants to do more than just paint on paper. They’re talking about painting on a canvas, a wooden box, or maybe even a pair of canvas shoes. They need a versatile, opaque paint that can handle a variety of surfaces.

A starter set of Liquitex BASICS Acrylics is the answer. Acrylics are the workhorses of the art world. They can be thinned with water to act like watercolor or applied thickly for texture like oil paint. The BASICS line provides reliable quality and good pigment load without the high cost of professional heavy-body acrylics.

Growth with this set comes from knowledge, not just more tubes. A starter set with primary colors (red, yellow, blue) plus black and white is all an artist needs to learn to mix virtually any color. As they advance, they can add specific colors they use frequently or experiment with acrylic mediums that change the paint’s texture, finish, and drying time, opening up a whole new world of creative possibilities.

Copic Ciao Markers: A Set for Dedicated Teens

If you have a teen who is deeply passionate about illustration, cartooning, or manga, you’ve likely heard them mention Copic markers. This is a significant investment, reserved for a child who has demonstrated a real and sustained commitment. These are not your average school markers.

Copic Ciao markers are professional-quality tools. They are alcohol-based, which allows for the seamless, streak-free blending you see in professional illustrations. They are also dual-tipped (with a flexible brush nib and a chisel nib), refillable, and have replaceable nibs. This is a true "buy it for life" system.

The key to gifting Copics is to start small and specific. Don’t buy a massive, random set. Instead, choose a small, curated set of 5 or 6 that focuses on a specific need, like grayscale tones for shading or a range of skin tones for character art. From that small foundation, the artist can add markers one by one over the years, slowly building a personalized, professional collection that is perfectly suited to their unique style.

Expanding Your Artist’s Toolkit Over Time

Remember, the goal is to build a collection of quality tools, not to buy one giant kit that tries to do everything poorly. The best art supply sets provide a strong foundation in one medium. From there, you can help your child thoughtfully expand their toolkit as their skills and interests dictate.

Once they have a good set of drawing pencils, the next gift can be a high-quality sketchbook with paper designed for graphite. If they fall in love with their Cotman watercolor set, you can add a set of better brushes or a block of 100% cotton watercolor paper for their birthday. This approach is more economical, reduces waste, and teaches the young artist to value and understand their specific tools.

Supporting your child’s creative journey is a marathon, not a sprint. By choosing a quality, foundational set that can be expanded upon, you are giving them more than just supplies. You are giving them the respect of good tools and a clear path for growth, allowing their passion and their toolkit to mature together.

Ultimately, the best gift you can give a young artist isn’t the most expensive set or the biggest box of supplies. It’s the thoughtful choice of a tool that says, "I see your interest, I believe in your potential, and I’m here to support you on the next step of your journey."