Art Games and Puzzles for an Enrichment Center

I have a bookshelf in my classroom that students can go to when they are done with their class assignments.  I also have free choice days where students can select from a wide range of activities.  Since students finish at all different times it is a good idea to have art enrichment activities for them to do.  I like to have low mess activities with little extra guidance needed for those students that finish early.  Here are some of the options.

1.  Make another one or a variation of whatever we are working on.
2.  Free draw in sketchbook
3.  Help someone else.
4.  Clean and organize the art room.
5.  Read an art book.
6.  Grab any of the papers from the paper shelf and make a collage.
7.  Sometimes I will have an extra special project ongoing.
8.  Go to the Art Games & Puzzle Center to explore.

What is in this center? you might ask.  These are the options that are currently in the center.  I rotate things out as I find new activities.  (Affiliate links below.  Thanks for supporting my blog!)

Magnetic Tiles These tiles are a bit pricey, but they are awesome!  There are so many ways the kids can use these to build.  We have some at home and my own kids have used them a LOT to build houses for their figures and mini stuffed animals, storage areas for cars and more.  These building tiles are perfect for an architecture unit and to spark imaginative play.

ZoLo Playsculpture Toys— There are several different sets of these that can be combined together to create all sorts of interesting sculptures. The kids love to make cute aliens from them. They have such vivid patterns and are fun to draw.  I ended up buying a complete set off of Zulilly.com one time when they had a discount sale on them.  They are expensive otherwise.

Wooden blocks of all shapes and sizes.  I found an awesome large box of standard sized wooden blocks on Craigslist for a cheap price and I purchased some colorful wooden blocks.

These are the Roylco Straws and Connectors Building Kit, which have been super popular with my students.  They love to build large structures that they can actually fit inside of.

LEGOs.  Really, you can’t go wrong with Legos.

These are the color puzzles from the Target dollar spot which art teachers were raving about online.  The kids have already played with these extensively.  Unfortunately, you can’t buy them online as far as I can tell.   I did buy a larger Pottery Barn color wheel puzzle off Ebay too.

Romero Britto floor puzzle,  Hodge Podge drawing game, Eric Carle puzzle I found at a garage sale, Spot It, and Pick n Draw art game.

Blokus Game, another find at a garage sale.  Some of the younger kids don’t even know how to play the game, they can just enjoy arranging the shapes.

This is a math book with manipulatives that the math department was discarding at one point.

Any other suggestions for puzzles or games for an art center?

One final note… don’t feel you have to build up your art library or centers all when you first start teaching.  I’ve been teaching for over 13 years so I have accumulated a lot of art books and resources.  Buy one or two at a time, hit up lots of garage sales and thrift stores, check Ebay and Craigslist, put things on a wishlist at school, try Donors Choose and eventually you’ll have a nice selection of resources for teaching.