Art 101 72-Piece Children's Art Kit Review: A Budget Kit With Real Trade-Offs

Introduction

Children’s art kits are everywhere, and their appeal is obvious: a large number of supplies in one case at a low price. The Art 101 72-piece children’s art kit, sold at Walmart for around $14 to $15, promises markers, colored pencils, crayons, watercolor, and paper all in one package. On paper, that sounds like a great starter kit. In practice, this set turns out to be one of the most disappointing budget art kits we have looked at, with problems in nearly every category. Here is an honest breakdown of what works, what does not, and who might still find it useful.

What You Get in the Box

The kit contains 72 pieces: markers, colored pencils, crayons, watercolor pans, and paper. The first red flag is the paper. Instead of usable drawing sheets, the set includes very small rectangles that appear to be cut-down printer paper. They are far too small for a child to draw on comfortably, and it is hard not to suspect they exist mainly to inflate the piece count without adding real value.

Crayons: Soft Wax and Heavy Flaking

The crayons are shorter and thinner than standard ones, which makes them more prone to breakage. The paper wrappers do not even reach the top of the crayon. The names are charming, with shades like Hot Chocolate and Carrot, but performance matters more. The wax is noticeably soft, giving the crayons a dull, chewed-up look next to a standard box of Crayola. In use, they feel scratchy and clumpy and leave flakes and chunks scattered across the page, sometimes even on areas drawn with other supplies. Compared with a cheaper pack of Crayola crayons, these are messy and underwhelming.

Colored Pencils: The Best of a Weak Set

The colored pencils are the strongest item in the kit, though they are half-size and on the thin side. Colors are mostly accurate: the black is black and the blue is blue, and they perform in a similar way to entry-level Crayola pencils. One odd flaw stands out: the yellow is oddly neon. Yellow is a primary color that cannot be mixed from anything else, so getting it wrong signals a lack of understanding of what a basic palette needs. Still, if you only need one usable item from this kit, this is it.

Markers: Streaky and Fragile

The markers are streaky next to a standard Crayola marker, which lays down smooth, even color. The ridged caps are uncomfortable to remove and tend to grip the skin. Worse, while drawing, the red marker’s internal sponge tip shot up into the barrel and had to be retrieved, after which the only way to use it was painting ink onto a brush. Some children’s kits use water-activated markers that seem dry without water, but this set does not require that step, so the poor performance stands on its own.

Watercolor: The Weakest Link

The included brush is too large for its slot, so the bristles are permanently bent and effectively unusable, which is a problem since the brush is the only one in the kit. The paints themselves do not behave like watercolor at all. They sit on top of the paper rather than soaking in, more like gouache, and dry with a flaky white crust. During swatching, small floating particles appeared in the rinse water and across the swatches, with some colors drying to a sandy, grainy texture. Whether it is chalk, unmixed pigment, or contamination is unclear, but it makes the paints unpredictable.

Things to Consider Before Buying

Every element of this kit was difficult to work with: paints with foreign particles, markers that failed mid-stroke, crayons that flake everywhere, and paper too small for real drawing. A child would likely struggle even more, since young artists lack the experience to work around failing tools. At $14 to $15 it is cheap, but a basic pack of Crayola crayons costs a fraction of this kit and performs far better, which makes the value argument hard to defend.

Buying Advice

If you simply need a large, cheap box of assorted supplies for very casual craft time, this kit technically covers the basics, and the colored pencils are acceptable. For anyone buying supplies to actually encourage drawing and painting, spending the same amount on separate basics, such as a standard crayon pack and a small sketchbook, will deliver a far better experience. Parents on a tight budget have better options than this.

Conclusion

The Art 101 72-piece children’s art kit is a case where the piece count hides the quality. Scratchy crayons, fragile markers, grainy watercolor, a bent brush, and microscopic paper add up to one of the weakest budget art kits available. If a low price is your only priority and expectations are minimal, it will function as a disposable craft kit. For everyone else, better budget alternatives exist.