You might be at the point in this stay-at-home pandemic where you need to switch up your kid’s art supplies a bit. Maybe they’ve already blown through every piece of construction paper in the house, or maybe you’re tired of Magic-Erasing surfaces where markers have bled through too-thin paper. If so, it’s time to pull out the big guns, by which we mean “give your kids a crapload of cardstock.”
Writer and mother Kate Flaim explains the hack in this very smart tweet:
Flaim’s words are wise. Cardstock is the perfect paper for kids to draw on or create with. It’s not flimsy: it won’t tear and will withstand even the most saturating of markers. Also, it stacks easily and neatly in a pile after several sheets have been strewn about the living room throughout the day.
Cardstock’s sturdiness also makes it a good candidate for use in a variety of creative ways: It can serve as the “Stay Out!” sign propped in front of their pillow fort. It can form the numbered squares they tape to the floor for their indoor hopscotch game. It can be cut into any number of play props: a sun to hang up for your indoor picnic, a sword for a sibling duel or business cards for the new “store” or “art gallery” they’re opening up in their bedroom.
Flaim links to this listing on Amazon (currently $12.29 for 300 white sheets), but you can find it online at any office supply store in a variety of colors. “Heavy-weight cardstock,” the description reads, “for everyday and special occasion use.”
Does a pandemic count as a special occasion? You know it does.
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