Easels: Expressing Their Creativity in School

a boy learning how to paint
Photo by Ivan Samkov on Pexels.com
Encouraging art is a good move in classrooms, no matter the age of the students. Creativity seems to come naturally for children, and allowing them to express it in a healthy way is a good thing. Easels are helpful items to have in a classroom, as they can make it easy for children to paint or draw. Of course, like any other type of classroom furniture, there are plenty of options when it comes to easels.


If you have children of different heights and ages in your classroom, such as in a preschool, you might find easels with adjustable heights to be invaluable. In fact, such easels usually have two sides, and each one can be set at different heights. Some easels even feature up to four sides of different heights. This makes it easy to allow four children of different ages or heights to draw or paint simultaneously. This type of easel has hinges that easily lock into place when you find the right height.
 
Many easels feature not only a blank paper canvas, but also a large chalkboard. In fact, some include a whiteboard, too, as well as space to store erasers, markers, and chalk. Of course, you can also attach plain white paper to this type of easel so that kids can use it to draw or paint. Such easels allow children several ways to express their imagination. If they enjoy playing with chalk or child-friendly dry erase markers, they have the opportunity to do so, but can also quickly switch to paint or regular markers when you add paper to the easel.
 
Some specialty easels include certain extras that you might find appealing. For example, some include much more storage space than most, with several shelves underneath that are big enough to fit small bins or buckets of supplies. Keeping all the art supplies in one place makes this type of easel a great piece of classroom furniture. Other easels attempt to encourage more creativity than ever in kids by including a certain theme. Some look like fire engines, police cars, or ambulances, which are especially appealing to toddlers who enjoy bright, recognizable themes.
 
Before you choose an easel for your classroom, think about the ages, heights, and interests of kids in your class. If you have a specific art time, it makes sense to get several easels that have adjustable heights so that many kids can paint or draw at once. However, you may simply have one easel available for play time. Either way, this type of classroom furniture can encourage kids to get creative.
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