From the official Sharpie® people, this set has (20) fade-, water- and smear-resistant markers: (10) fine point in blue, green, yellow, neon yellow, tangerine, both neon and leg-warmer orange, hot pink, red and brown; plus (10) ultra-fine point markers in black, navy, techno and nano blue, aqua, green, orange and optic orange, magenta and jellie pink. They’re for coloring the 12-page aquatic-themed coloring book. (Be assured that when it’s all filled in you’re permitted to color non-ichthyological things indefinitely with the same markers.)

No need to limit the numbers you paint by. These kits all include 8” x 6” canvases, (6) acrylic paint pots, a #2 brush, color key and guide, plus tips for blending colors--a major improvement in the paint-by-numbers game. Packaging is also an easel, and becomes a self-adhesive hanger, which gives you a big leg up on the original artists. You pick: Van Gogh’s Starry Night, Sunflowers or Monet’s The Japanese Footbridge.

From Creativity for Kids®, these DIY kits call for assembly and decoration, and have everything you need, including glue, paint and brushes. You pick: the Bitty Bobble Duo is a pair of 3” tall bobbleheads, a kitty and puppy, for kids age 6+; the wooden Pirate Ship has a Jolly Roger sail and will be about 6-1/2” long when done, for ages 5+; the Shrinky Fairies are a trio of 4-1/2” tall fairies with a birds and flowers backdrop, and is for ages 7+ with adult supervision for the shrinky baking.

Everything’s better in a can (or on a stick) and this creativity kit proves it. You’ll get over (50) pieces of, well, assorted stuff to create whole new creatures. Includes hunks of clay, chenilles, feathers, pompons, googly eyes, cardboard body parts, foam tape, Styrofoam, glue and a little wind-up walking mechanism so your creations can be mobile.

The original Spirograph® company presents more spirographing than you can shake a pencil at with this jam-packed shapes kit. Includes (2) 24-page hexagonal pads; square, triangular and circular rings at 5-1/4”; fine-line pens in red, blue and green; assorted wheels including ellipse, hexagon, pentagon, square, star, heart, barrel, shield, egg, teardrop and trapezoid; plus a 14-page design guide. Could tie a geometrically inclined kid up for years.

Sunprints (or cyanotypes, or photograms) are everyone's favorite photo-sensitivity experiment, from third-graders to graphic artists and fine artists. You pick: The Sunprinters are a dozen 3-15/16" square sheets of photosensitive paper, an acrylic backing sheet and instructions. The large Sunprint Kit has (15) sheets of 12" x 7-3/4" photosensitive paper plus a clear acrylic sheet of the same size. Great for classroom demonstrations, and can be used to make prints from photo negatives as well as interesting effects from opaque or translucent objects. All you add is sunshine and water.

If you've got a smart phone, you can be a director. This fold-out, 14-3/8" x 7" x 7" tall stage comes with (5) backdrops, including one blank, a cardboard camera (phone) stand, (8) 2" bricks of assorted color clay and various punch-out props. Includes an 18-page booklet on making claymation, stop-action movies, with additional apps available online. This is how Spielberg would have started if he were 11 years old today.

The Spirograph® lives! Think of it as doodling for people who like perfect geometric shapes. From Spirograph® comes this die-cast collector’s set of (9) spiro wheels, (1) ring, (2) pens, spiro putty with case, a storage tin and (6) design cards. Spiro putty, by the bye, holds the paper down so your perfect designs won’t have any ugly holes in them.

It’s a combo gardening and art set for the princess in your family. Comes with a 9” plastic dish, potting soil, (10) paint pots, (2) brushes, some pebbles, (2) resin mushrooms and the mandatory fairy house. Includes wheatgrass seed and beans, fabric flowers, glitter, purple pellets, plastic marbles, gems and a genuine poly-resin garden fairy. For royalty ages 7+.

It’s a STEAM kit. That’s Science, Technology Engineering and Math (STEM), with Art stuck in the middle (STEAM). From the Smithsonian’s Sparklab™ series, it’s an invitation for budding STEAMpunks ages 8+ to create a solar 3-LED lamp. Includes frosted plastic polygons, spiral pattern sheet, assorted glow-in-the-dark designs, cardboard sticks, holographic foils, prints and cellophane sheets, foam gears, glue, foil, tape, scissors, thread, needle and official doodads. Plus a 14-page guide.