Art Easels are a must on a playground. 33% of children are visual learners, and children who make art read better and get better grades, so art should be an important activity outside as well, because the outdoor environment stimulates all kinds of sensations that children can’t get inside.

It’s well known that art develops hand and eye coordination, stimulates perception, allows exploration of ideas, encourages creative solutions, enhances critical thinking, provides a way to reflect on feelings, and allows children to be more self-aware and to express thoughts or emotions in new ways, so these Art Panels should play a critical role in your outdoor curriculum.

We have three very different Art Easels available: one has a clear acrylic, see through panel, one has a 2-sided magnetic chalkboard panel, and one has a 2-sided magnetic whiteboard panel (see large Magnetic Walls elsewhere in the store).

Painting directly on the washable, clear panel, or on paper attached to it, or drawing on the chalk or whiteboards, gives children a place to express themselves.

Because they can see the world through the clear panels, they pay more attention to, and will be challenged trying to capture, the outdoor world and the space that surrounds them. The other neat thing about the clear, see-through panels is that children can work on both sides which fosters cooperative and parallel play. They can also "trace” each other’s outlines, which is great fun while encouraging social interaction.

Clear Panels are made of acrylic, and the entire unit is completely washable, which makes cleanup simple.

Both Chalk and Whiteboard panels have a galvanealed metal core, which makes them MAGNETIC, so you might also want to consider adding the small loose parts package of various magnetic ramps and accessories kids can use to create paths for water, sand, balls, etc. The Small Magnetic Loose Parts Package contains 3 18" channels, 3 12" channels, 4 deflectors, 4 funnels, and 4 funnel holders (all with strong magnets that attach to the board).

Standard size Art Easels are a 2x3’, and they have a small shelf 12” off the ground.

If you want your Easel with feet, we now make them so all the ones with feet also have wheels, BUT the wheels can be easily removed if you want an easel on feet (without wheels).

If you’re using the easel with feet or wheels outside and it gets real windy, don’t forget that the easels will be like sails catching the wind, and they’ll blow over unless you move the easel close to the building, or lay it on the ground until the wind dies down!

Comes as a kit with complete, easy installation instructions.

Further notes regarding the clear and white panels:

Children can write directly on the panels with non-permanent/erasable markers or with water soluble finger paint.

Another option is to just use the panels as a backdrop on which you hang drawing/painting paper with masking tape.

Another option for the clear panel, is to get the architectural tracing paper (comes in white and buff, and it’s cheap). Because it’s translucent, if it’s taped to the clear panel, the kids can kind of see through the paper and “trace” objects they see on the other side or in the distance, or other children who are standing on the backside.

Or get some gel paper (that colored transparent material used for stage spotlights or similar) that can be cut into odd shapes and used to create a “stained glass” look.

Another option for the clear and whiteboard panels, is to mix up slurries of mud, say, or different colored liquid washable paints, and then use these as you would finger paint.

Another idea is to use different colored, small sticky notes to create collages.

And so on :)))