Children's Paintbrush Set - 10 Brushes

Ten brushes, ten sizes: who uses which

The pack holds 10 paintbrushes, and no two are the same size. That spread is the whole point: the way a child paints changes a great deal between the ages of two and eight, and the brush has to keep up.

From 2 years, hand over the widest brushes first. A toddler paints with the whole arm, moving from the shoulder, and a broad brush rewards that movement with a thick band of colour straight away. The narrow ones tend to frustrate at this age, because the mark is too faint to show what the hand has just done.

Around three or four, when recognisable shapes start to appear (a sun, a house, a face), the middle sizes come into their own. The finest brushes wait for the child who wants to add eyes, whiskers or the letters of a name. Older children often use the full range in a single picture: wide for the sky, medium for the hills, fine for the birds.

Gouache, watercolour and other paints to use them with

These are brushes for the water-based paints children use at home and at school. With a thick liquid paint such as our Children's Liquid Gouache Paint, the larger sizes pick up plenty of colour and cover a sheet quickly. Used as gouache paint brushes, the small ones are handy for going back over a dry background to add a second colour on top.

With a watercolour palette the routine is different, and worth showing once: dip the brush in water, stroke it over the colour, paint, then rinse before changing shade. Medium and fine sizes work well here, since they hold less water and leave fewer puddles on the paper.

The set contains brushes only, so paint and paper are to be added separately.

Free painting, craft afternoons and several children at once

Picture a wet Sunday, newspaper spread over the kitchen table and two children who both want the red. With ten brushes nobody waits for a turn, and there are enough left over for a friend who has come round to play.

A tip we give every parent who buys kids paint brushes for the first time: put one brush in each pot of colour and leave it there. Young children do not rinse between colours, and a single shared brush turns every pot brown within ten minutes. One brush per pot keeps the yellow yellow, and the child simply swaps brushes instead of washing.

The same set earns its place in a school bag or on a nursery craft table, where sizes for different ages are needed at once. The brushes also work for spreading glue on a collage, or for painting with plain water on a patio or a slate on a warm day, which is a mess-free way to let a two-year-old practise the movement.

Rinsing and drying so the brushes last

Rinse each brush in clean water as soon as painting is over, before the colour dries in. Press it gently on a cloth, reshape the tip with your fingers, then leave it to dry lying flat or standing head up in a pot. The one habit to avoid is leaving brushes head down in the water jar: the tip bends and stays bent.

Washing up can be part of the activity. A bowl of water, a cloth and a pot to stand the brushes in are all a small child needs to do the job alone, in the spirit of the Montessori toys and materials found across the shop.

Questions about the set of 10 brushes

What age are these kids paint brushes for?

They are for children from 2 years. Start a two-year-old on the widest sizes and bring in the finer ones as control improves; older children will use all ten.

How many brushes are in the set?

There are 10 paintbrushes in the pack, each in a different size.

Which paints can children use with these brushes?

Water-based children's paints: liquid or ready-mixed gouache and watercolour are the usual choices. Paint is not included in the set.

How do you clean children's paint brushes?

Rinse them in clean water straight after use until the water runs clear, blot on a cloth and dry them flat or head up. Do not leave them soaking on their tips.

Details

• Contents: 10 paintbrushes in different sizes
• Age: 2+ years
• Weight of the set: 50 g
• 2-year guarantee