Do you have toddlers at home that love arts and crafts? These DIY kids art easel plans will give you the designs to build a great art station for your kids! It includes two drawing boards (chalk or dry erase), room to store plenty of markers and chalk, and even has a place for a roll of 18″ craft paper for an endless supply of artistic fun.

This kids art easel design is light enough to allow it to be easily moved from room to room, or inside to out. Take it where creativity strikes! One of the things I really like about this design as opposed to ones with craft paper on top is that by having the roll low and inside of the legs, it is more stable thanks to the lower center of gravity. This really helps when you’re moving the kids art easel around, but also provides a safer environment for your kids when they are playing.

Shopping List

• 4 – 1×3 @ 8′
• 2 – 1″x1/4″ flat trim @ 6′
• 1 – 1×8 & 4′
• 1 – 1×4 @ 4′
• 1 – 3/4″ dowel @ 24″
• 1 – 2×4 chalkboard / whiteboard combo

Tools Needed

• Miter saw
• Drill / driver & screws
• Nail Gun & nails
• Kreg jig, biscuit joiner, or doweling jig (all optional)
• Wood glue
• Sandpaper

Step 1: Build the legs

The legs for this kids art easel consist of four 1x3s, cut to 48″ each, with a 15 degree angle on each end. Make certain the cuts on opposite ends of the legs are parallel to each other. The top plate is a 1×4 cut to 26″ in length.

The legs should be attached so the outside of the legs are flush with the outer edges of the top plate. Use wood glue and any of the below methods to attach the legs to the top plate:

• Kreg jig and pocket holes up through the inside of the legs
• Wood dowels or biscuits
• Wood screws down through the top plate into the legs

Step 2: Attach the boards and trim

These designs call for making this kids art easel with one side being a chalk board and one side being a white eraser board. You can obviously do whatever configuration you feel best suits your tots. Luckily the big box stores typically sell 2’x4′ sheets that are dual sided – one side with chalk board, one side with the marker board. So you can just cut one in half and choose which sides to use.

The trim in this design is 1″ wide by 1/4″ thin strips that are designed to simply hide the edges of the board. Start by attaching the top strip 1/2″ down from the top plate of the legs – you’ll use this 1/2″ gap to pull the craft paper up and through. There should also be a 1″ gap between the end of the top trim and the outside of each leg. Use wood glue and brad nails to hold the trim board in place.

Next attach the chalk board, centered directly below the top trim. Again, use wood glue on the outside edges and brad nails through the corners. Last attach the remaining three pieces of trim in a similar fashion.

Step 3: Build and attach the tray

The supplies tray is arguably the most difficult part of this kids art easel – and it too is fairly simple if you break it down into smaller steps. Start by making the individual trays themselves. Cut four pieces of 1×3 to 19 1/2″ in length, and then cut your two 1×8 pieces to 19 1/2″ as well. Now glue and brad nail the 1x3s to the out edges of the 1/8 pieces. Alternatively, you could use wood screws from the outside, or pocket hole screws from the bottom side of the 1×8.

Now, cut your two 26″ side pieces and your two 20″ side supports. The side supports require a 15 degree cut on each end – but these are not parallel to each other. Note – the 20″ length is the longer side edge of the side supports.

Once you have all four side pieces cut, tape them all together ensuring they are centered to each other. Now you can drill a 3/4″ hole through all four pieces at one time, ensuring the hole lines up through all four pieces.

Attach the two 26″ sides to the trays using the same method you used to attach the 19 1/2″ boards to the 1x8s. For the two 20″ pieces, you’ll want to attach them to the legs first – here I recommend using pocket screws from the inside so they’ll be hidden. Alternatively, you could screw or nail through the front of the legs into the ends of the 1x3s. Remember to use wood glue for a strong, long lasting connection.

Now that you have your tray built and the side supports attached to the legs, align the holes and insert your 3/4″ dowel through all four holes. This will ensure they are aligned when you attach the tray to the legs. Use wood glue and brad nails to secure the sides of the tray to the side support while also ensuring to put a few nails from inside the tray into the legs for extra support.

Now your kids art easel is complete! Time to put on some paint or stain, put in a roll of craft paper, and let your kids get to doing some art!

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