Looking for gift inspiration for a kiddo in your life? From art supplies to craft kits to building toys, we’ve got you covered with this list of our favorite gift ideas for creative kids.
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While they have different interests and use their imaginations in different ways, both of my kiddos are super creative and prefer to spend their free time making, building, or planning another project.
Through the years I’ve come across lots of fun ideas that foster creativity, spark imagination, and simply keep my kids stocked with the supplies needed to keep creating. And that’s where this list of gift ideas for creative kids comes into the picture.
Creative Kids Gift Guide
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This Creative Kids Gift List is also on Amazon! I’ve got all of these gift ideas for creative kids — and several more! — listed on my Amazon page to make it easier to shop and compare. That also makes it super easy to save to your own wishlists and cart.
1. Art Supplies
Art supplies are a great place to start when looking for gifts that inspire creativity. You can check out this list of go-to art supplies for ideas, but here are a few that make particularly nice gifts for creative kids.
- Ultimate Crayola Set – With 152 colors and a practical crayon caddy, this set is a great one if you’re looking for a nice crayon set to pair with a stash of new coloring pages.
- Sidewalk chalk – A new box of chalk is a fun way to take the creativity outside!
- Window markers – These are such a fun outside-the-box way to add some color and creativity to your days.
- Prismacolor Colored Pencils – There are few things that make my creative kiddos smile like a new tin of Prismacolors!
- Sketch pads – You’ve got to have a place to work out those ideas, right? That’s where sketch pads, mixed media journals, and LCD doodle pads save the day.
2. Art Inspiration
Art supplies are great (and always welcomed by my own kids), but gifts that focus on specific creative techniques can also be lots of fun.
- Spirograph kit – As an old millennial, this blend of geometry and art brings all the nostalgia. Because of that, it’s super cool to share it with a new generation of kids.
- Rangoli sand art kit – My kids and I LOVED this mandala kit. It comes with sand, glue, and 4 fun templates.
- Origami kit – Origami is such a fun hands-on art activity and it’s one that lots of kids love to explore.
- Flower press kit – You can certainly opt for a heavy-duty press, but this one makes a great gift for creative kids because it includes supplies for making bookmarks, greeting cards, cute boxes.
Books are also great for providing inspiration for creative kids. The Girls’ Doodle Book, The Boys’ Doodle Book, Adventure Girls! and Adventure Boys! are good places to start.
3. Fun with STEAM
Science, technology, engineering, art, and math make a great team. That’s why we love these creative STEAM ideas.
- Terrarium Kit – This fun terrarium kit allows creative kiddos to decorate and grow an ecosystem to care for and observe.
- Crayola Color Chemistry Set – My youngest kiddo LOVED all of these projects. They were a super fun way to experiment with the science of color and offered lots of creative exploration.
- Elmer’s Slime Kit – This kit includes everything needed to make glow-in-the-dark slime, confetti slime, and metallic slime. Better yet, you can mix and match ingredients to create fun slime varieties.
- DIY Thinking Putty Kit – It may be similar to slime, but anyone who’s experienced Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty knows why the opportunity to create your own Thinking Putty mix is so cool!
4. Gifts for Creative Little Ones
Need some ideas that are made for younger kiddos? This wooden stamp kit, these Created by Me crafts, and this tabletop easel — all made by Melissa & Doug — are great options to consider.
5. Craft Kits
Beginner kits can be a fantastic way to introduce kids to new crafts and give them opportunities to learn the foundations needed for skillbuilding. Here are some kits to keep in mind:
- Friendship bracelets – Friendship bracelets are perfect for sharing; that means this kind of kit is a gift that keeps on giving.
- Sewing kits – A Little Monsters Beginners Sewing Kit? Yes, please! We’re also fans of this fun kit featuring patterns for owls, trees, and hearts.
- Rock painting – This kit includes instructions, rocks, paint, and everything you need to get started with rock painting.
- Perler bead kits – I loved creating with Perler beads when I was a kid and I love that I’m now sharing them with my creative kiddos. In fact, I recently ordered this Legend of Zelda Perler Kit to give as a Christmas gift!
- String art – There’s lots to love about string art because there are limitless ways to express creativity through this medium.
6. Open-ended Gifts
Open-ended kits also provide lots of room for creativity to flow. From craft supply kits to coloring kits to Lulu Jr.’s DIY book kits, these are all perfectly packaged for gifting and storing and are good for giving kids lots of creative tools that can be used however they wish.
7. KiwiCo Boxes
We are big fans of KiwiCo and think their lines provide lots of hands-on opportunities for creative kids. All of their subscription options are awesome, but these are especially worth consideration if you’re looking to keep the creativity flowing:
- Kiwi Crates – ages 5-8
- Atlas Crates – ages 6-11
- Doodle Crates – ages 9-16+
- Maker Crates – ages 14+
One of the coolest things about KiwiCo is that you can purchase individual crates. That makes it super helpful when you want to piece together your own KiwiCo plans rather than choose one line and subscribe.
Take a look at the KiwiCo store to see all the options, but the paper bowls kit, the DIY bath bombs, and the Draw and Grow Planter have all been hits in our home.
8. Building toys
From magnetic building tiles to fort building to LEGO bricks, building toys always make great gifts for creative kids. After all, there’s nothing quite like building, tearing apart, and then rebuilding.
Speaking of LEGO bricks, the LEGO DOTS line is a fun mix of crafting and LEGO. They have kits for pencil holders, desk organizers, and secret boxes.
Looking for more gift ideas for your kiddos? Here are some other lists to help you out: