6 Best Watercolor Painting Books For Kids

Any kid or beginner requires good watercolor instruction books to start becoming a watercolor artist. For kids, it is very helpful to gain perspective by painting in illustrated watercolor books. This way, they can work on their watercolor techniques before moving on to landscape painting or portrait painting.

Hence, here are some of the best watercolor books available today.

Best Watercolor Painting Books

1. Melissa & Doug Watercolor Painting Book With Activities - Best Overall

The Melissa & Doug watercolor painting book is a three-pack water-coloring book, with each painting book featuring adorable animations on the front cover: a jungle scene, barn animals, and underwater ocean scenes. Hence, this is a perfect book for children to enjoy and learn watercolor painting and coloring. 

The most special feature of these books is that they include watercolor paint palettes inside on each page! This means you just need a watercolor paintbrush and a jar of water, and you are all set to paint. There is no mess-up and no cleaning required since the paints are already included in the book. This makes it an excellent painting book to give to budding artists as an introduction to watercolor painting. 

 However, you will require actual watercolor paints to fill in all the drawings in spite of the watercolor palette provided. This is because the quantity of paint provided is very less and they are not really vibrant or pigmented either. Nonetheless, it can be a fun activity to do with a kid. 

2. Ghantoy Pocket Watercolor Painting Book - Best Pocket-Friendly Book

This Ghantoy watercolor painting book is pocket-friendly and an excellent option for a small watercolor painting book. Being made of high-quality wood pulp, the paper is very durable and sturdy. 

The book contains 20 different patterns to fill in with watercolor paints. The 20 thin cards can be used to create an entire beautiful painting. Additionally, you can also use each painted card as a charming bookmark. Hence, this watercolor painting book is perfect for not just kids, but also any beginners wanting to get into watercolor painting and learn new techniques.  

Apart from showcasing a cute illustration, each page also includes a watercolor paint palette. So, all you need is some water and a watercolor paintbrush to get started. This means mess-free paintings and no cleaning required. This makes the watercolor painting book perfect for young aspiring artists looking to learn to paint. 

3. Bamugoo Pocket Watercolor Painting Book - Best For Beginners

This Bamagoo set is a collection of 4 watercolor books in a budget-friendly pack. Each painting book contains 20 different drawings and 2 swatches. The two swatch cards can be used to improve painting techniques and encourage the creative process of young watercolor artists.  

Since this is also a pocket-friendly watercolor book, you can use the small cards to create a big watercolor painting. Additionally, you can also use each card separately as a bookmark. 

Each page also contains a watercolor paint palette. You can activate the paints using a little amount of water, and you are ready to start painting with the included handy paintbrush. 

This particular set has a biological theme, consisting of animals and oceanic life. However, you can also get this same painting book in other themes like gardens, fantasy, and holidays. 

4. Kawaqiwa Watercolor Painting Book - Best For Heavy-Weight Paper

The Kawaqiwa watercolor coloring and painting book is a handy and spiral-bound painting book. The book contains 20 different illustrations to fill in with watercolor pigments. The illustrations are very beginner and kid-friendly, perfect for learning texture techniques and sample paintings. 

Each page contains six squares of dried watercolor paint, which can be activated using just a little amount of water. Hence, you don’t need to worry about the storage or cleaning of leftover paint, making the painting process very easy and mess-free. Moreover, the paint pigments are odorless and non-toxic, making this painting book safe for children. 

Additionally, the paper is also quite heavy-weight, not allowing the watercolor paintings to bleed through. Also, the paper shows minimal warping or buckling, making it a perfect everyday watercolor book. 

5. Pureadee Pocket Watercolor Painting Book - Best Themes

This is a set of five Pureadee watercolor painting books, each book made out of the high-quality wood pulp. These watercolor books are not just good for kids but also for beginners to start painting watercolors. 

Each page included a watercolor paint palette, which is easy to activate with just a little bit of water and ready to use immediately with a paintbrush. Additionally, each book contains 20 drawings, each drawing is unique to practice your watercolor techniques. 

All 5 watercolor books have a different theme: World Adventure, Wonderful Holiday, Fairytale Dream, Wonderful Forest, and Enchanted Garden. Thus, this is a great modern watercolor book set for creative watercolor art and practicing basic techniques. 

6. Avitorry Pocket Watercolor Painting Book - Best Value For Money

This is also an affordable set of 5 Avitorry pocket watercolor painting books. Made from high-quality wood pulp, the watercolor book is very safe and durable for any kid or complete beginner to use. 

Each watercolor painting book contains 20 different illustrations, with the small size making each card a perfect bookmark. Additionally, you can also combine all the small, painted cards to create a big watercolor painting. This way, you can work on your common watercolor mistakes and create stunning paintings. 

Moreover, each page also has its own watercolor paint palette. All the dried paint squares require just a little amount of water for their activation. You can use the included paintbrushes to practice brush techniques and improve your artistic skills. 

Quick Comparisons Of The Top Watercolor Painting Book For Kids

Buying Guide To Watercolor Painting Books For Kids

Whether you are buying watercolor paints or watercolor books, you should always know what features to look for to make an informed purchase. This is especially true for watercolor painting books for kids since you need to check the paper's quality and safety standards. Hence, this handy buyer’s guide! Hopefully, this will help you make your decision. 

1. Safety Standards

When buying something for kids, safety should be the utmost priority. This also stands true for watercolor painting books since the paper quality and paint pigments can cause harm to a child. So, before you buy a watercolor book for your kids, make sure that the paper is made from high-quality wood pulp. This will ensure its durability and non-toxicity. 

As for the included paint palettes, check that the quality of the paint pigments meets the American standards for toy safety. High-quality paint pigments also mean high vibrancy and lightfastness. This way, you and your kid can enjoy and start to paint watercolor paintings. 

2. Types Of Illustrations

When buying a watercolor painting book for a child, you need to consider the kid’s choices and preferences. Maybe they would like a space-themed watercolor painting book or an animal-themed watercolor painting book. So, before you go splurging your money on a pack of watercolor painting books, keep your child’s preferences in mind. 

Choosing the child's preferred illustrations and drawings will also motivate them to paint more. This way, they can move on to complex techniques after practicing all the fundamentals. 

3. Watercolor Book Size

The size of your watercolor painting book is important. When buying a watercolor book for your child, you need to take into account many different factors. If your child attends art classes, you need to make sure that all the art supplies fit perfectly in an art backpack, including the watercolor book. 

As you read, many of the watercolor books on this list are pocket-friendly. The reason for that is that these watercolor books are perfect for beginners and art students since they can carry around the watercolor book easily. Additionally, these books are perfect options for plein-air painting. 

4. Paint Quality

All of the watercolor painting books mentioned on this list include a paint palette on each page, meaning you get all the essential tools for painting right in the book. The paint palette is a few squares of dried paint stuck right on the top of each drawing. All you need is a little bit of water to activate the dried watercolor paint. This makes watercolor painting so simple, even for an absolute beginner. 

But you should keep in mind that the watercolor paint palette provided will not contain high-quality pigments or be very vibrant. You can also expect the quantity to be quite less. So, you will need to keep the basic tools handy in case the provided watercolor palette does not have enough paint. 

5. Age Group

Most of the watercolor books mentioned on this list have a recommended age between 3 to 10 years. So, these books are focused on helping kids to begin their journey to becoming advanced artists. Additionally, you can also use these watercolor books for beginners. Complete beginners will benefit from the practice and can use the book as warm-up exercises. 

FAQs Related To Watercolor Painting Books

Can I do mixed media painting on watercolor books?

Yes, you can. Apart from watercolor work, you can also use other art mediums to paint on these books. You can color the illustrations using acrylic paints, oil paints, watercolor pencils, colored pencils, gouache, ink, etc. Thus, these books can support a broad range of dry and wet mediums. 

How can my children improve their watercolor painting skills?

The watercolor books provided in this list are a perfect introduction to the world of watercolor painting. Since the illustrations are already provided, all a child needs to do is wet the paints provided and practice different painting techniques, like wet-on-wet painting, wet-on-dry painting, layering, etc. Slowly, after achieving an eye for the basic techniques, they can move on to advanced techniques. 

With more experience and knowledge, you will start to notice improvements in your child’s paintings. Since these books are already illustrated, you might need to get another plain watercolor painting book so that your child can start practicing painting landscapes and trying to imitate nature. 

Start with simple and small stuff like a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or a plant before moving on to more complicated concept art. 

Additionally, your child can take inspiration from popular watercolor artists like Gordon MacKenzie, Cathay Johnson, Jenna Rainey, Matthew Palmer, Leslie Frontz, Jean Haines, and Ray Hendershot. 

Can I paint en plein air using a watercolor painting book?

A watercolor painting notebook is very handy and easy to carry, especially a pocket-friendly one. Additionally, they even have a paint palette provided inside. This makes them exceptionally good options for plein air painting. All you need to do is carry a jar of water and a paintbrush to start painting en plein air. 

Are the paints provided in the watercolor book enough?

To be completely truthful, no, they are not. You can expect the paints to be low in quantity as well as quality. They will not be very vibrant or pigmented and will also have a low lightfastness rating. Hence, it would be helpful if you kept some good quality watercolor paints around. Only with good watercolors can you really improve your painting skill. 

What is some basic knowledge I need to have to begin watercolor painting?

You don’t need to have complete knowledge about paints to start painting compositions with watercolors if you are painting just as a hobby.  But additional information can never go to waste. So, you can get a complete guide to watercolor painting and learn about color theory, different watercolor techniques, and different lightfastness ratings to improve your skill level. 

Verdict

Coming to the end of this article, it is time to talk about the top watercolor books. The Melissa & Doug watercolor book is the best on this list due to its endearing illustrations, watercolor paint palette, and exceptionally adorable front cover.

If you are looking for pocket-friendly options, you can buy the Ghantoy watercolor painting book or the Bamugoo pocket watercolor painting book because of their travel-friendly size.

Hopefully, this article helped you find the best beginner watercolor book for your kid or for yourself. Here’s to becoming a watercolor artist soon!