As summer winds down and the back-to-school season picks up, parents start to feel that inevitable time crunch where all of the prep work has to happen. This in-between period can be overwhelming, especially with a little one in tow! But there’s a surefire way to both entertain and enrich your toddler in these end-of-summer days: an art easel from Little Partners.
Kids easels enable vibrant creativity at a pivotal point in their lives without having to move activities to the floor. Children get to explore their artistic side at their own pace, giving them the chance to hold a marker, play with paint, and develop important cognitive skills well before they step foot in the classroom.
The art easel you purchase should be high-quality, child-safe, and eco-friendly, so the only thing you have to worry about is making sure the smock stays on. It’s also important to shop with durability, manufacturing, and sustainability in mind since kids can be rough on their toys.
We’ve taken everything into account at Little Partners and designed six different easels that all support your Montessori learner while taking some of the load off of you as a busy parent! Here’s what to know about each of them when you’re looking for the perfect fit for your lifestyle and artist-in-training.
1. Deluxe Learn ‘N Play Art Center Easel
What it’s all about: The two-sided Deluxe Learn ‘N Play Art Center Easel offers lots of fun for curious toddlers. With a chalkboard on one side and a magnetic whiteboard face on the other, this two-sided easel is actually a 3-in-1 toy with a roll of paper that adds 18 inches of drawing space to the mix! Now your toddler can use chalk, markers, paint, crayons—pretty much any artistic medium their heart desires, neatly consolidated into a dynamic, two-sided easel. And because it’s made of beautiful and durable natural wood, it doubles as an attractive furniture item that holds up to hands-on play.
How to use it: Since this easel promotes group activities for several children at once, host an art show at home with your little one and their bestie(s). They can share and engage with each other during their projects and hang up their masterpieces to display once finished. Creative collaboration using kids easels prepares your toddler for school by facilitating teamwork and skill-building among their peers.
2. Peek-A-Boo Art Easel
What it’s all about: Both sleek and see-through, the Peek-A-Boo Art Easel stands apart for its dual-sided, transparent acrylic surface. Its adjustable height is especially helpful as children grow, and it withstands all the paint and dry-erase markers a toddler can throw at it, wiping clean within seconds. Our Peek-A-Boo Art Easel is also one of our easiest easels to assemble with just two screws and two fasteners.
How to use it: The Peek-A-Boo Art Easel’s plexiglass surface creates an interactive window. Parents can challenge their kiddo to draw an interesting hat or a silly expression on mom or dad by sitting on one side facing the board while their artist-in-the-making envisions fun doodles on the other. Pretty soon, you’ll have a photo-worthy marker makeover to giggle at as a family! That encouragement to push the boundaries of their imagination through sensory play will last a lifetime.
3. Learning Tower® Learn ‘N Share Easel
What it’s all about: Our Learning Tower® Learn ‘N Share Easel has a two-piece sliding design that allows for the most versatile and varied uses of any of our six signature easels. It’s designed with surfaces to expand your toddler’s horizons: felt, chalkboard, and a magnetic hybrid whiteboard/paint surface. The best part? This easel attaches to the original Little Partners Learning Tower® to revamp an already integral fixture in your household.
How to use it: Position your Learning Tower® in the kitchen and write out a dinner recipe for your toddler on the chalkboard or whiteboard surface, perhaps having them draw the final result. Then, you can bring them to counter height on the tower platform to take the recipe from easel to eating! After a quick hand wash at the sink, they can safely play sous chef as you prepare one of the dishes they drew (cookie dough, anyone?). Including them in everyday activities like this opens the door to more learning and exploring their environment, and builds confidence both artistically and around the house.
4. Contempo Art Easel
What it’s all about: Another two-sided chalkboard-and-whiteboard easel, the Contempo Art Easel differs from the Deluxe Learn ‘N Play Art Center Easel in that it’s larger and focuses more on area and less on storage, so if you’d rather have a bigger workspace for your child with minimal bells and whistles, this kids easel is for you. Alternatively, it’s similar to the Peek-A-Boo Art Easel, as the Contempo Art Easel assembles in less than ten minutes for instant fun and adjusts to your child’s height for long-lasting memories.
How to use it: See how well your toddler knows their colors by painting a collage of splotches in every color with them, turning a lesson into a cherished work of art. For added enrichment, take your easel outdoors for hassle-free crafting and have your child incorporate the colors around them in nature. A colorful, freestyled painting project like this contrasts the Contempo Art Easel’s minimalist aesthetic while teaching your child about the color wheel.
5. Artist EZ Easel
What it’s all about: An Artist EZ Easel provides all of the convenience and creativity of the Deluxe Learn ‘N Play Art Center Easel with more straightforward assembly and less fuss. The chalkboard/whiteboard Artist EZ Easel comes with all the tools needed to streamline your tiny tinkerer’s playtime, including trays to hold their supplies, side clips to display their work, and a lower shelf to keep things organized when fingerpainting isn’t on the agenda!
How to use it: Grab some fall foliage for this idea! After they pick out a handful of leaves, have your toddler paint them by carefully taping each one to the paper roll on their Artist EZ Easel and letting their imagination run wild. The result will be a colorful collage of leaves as well as a hand-drawn project, and they can be combined or decorated separately as well.
6. Tri-Sided Art Center
What it’s all about: Kids easels are more fun multiplied by three! Our Tri-Sided Art Center features three sides of different surfaces (felt, chalkboard, and magnetic whiteboard) to multiply the amusement. Its free-range style fits perfectly in any playroom and elevates the usability of a regular one- or two-sided easel. The height on all three sides is adjustable so that kids can grow and continue creating without missing a beat.
How to use it: A three-sided easel usually involves sharing with others, which is a great benefit of this popular kids easel, but you can also motivate your child to play independently with the Tri-Sided Art Center. With so many activities to choose from, toddlers may bounce from one side to another and end up using paint on the chalkboard or markers on the felt board, but with structured play sessions, they’ll learn to focus on one side at a time to get the most out of this easel.
Support Your Little Artist with Little Partners
Henri Matisse said, “Creativity takes courage.” The Montessori tradition was founded on the principle that our kids deserve to learn freely and kinetically, gaining the opportunity to find their own courage and express themselves accordingly. Whether your little one is a budding Botticelli or a potential Pollock, a Little Partners easel holds space for their creative endeavors without compromising on what matters.
And like everything we design, we go to great lengths to apply a Montessori approach to our products in an effort to preserve autonomous learning and productive play from an early age, prioritizing quality, safety, and environmental wellness. Little Partners easels teach just as much as they inspire. Gift your toddler one ahead of preschool and watch their creativity blossom!