Recommendation for an Art Easel for a Preschooler

My daughter just got the Step 2 Flip N' Doodle Easel. It was a little pricy ($60 on Amazon), but it;s great! When the top is down it looks like little desk and when it's up its an easel. The easel part is dry erase and just has a clip so you can use whatever type of paper you want. It comes with several (2 large and 4 small) bins to hold supplies and the back has a place to hold coloring books and such.
The only down side might be that it is not very easy to store as it does not fold at all.

We got one for my son from IKEA three years ago. Its really simple looking and made of natural (oak?) wood. Dry erase on one side and chalk board on the other. My son has had this thing for almost three years now and its still going, nothing is broken and its still in one piece (amazing, since its been beat to hell, tipped over, stood on and just generally treated roughly by him and his little friends over the years). I think we paid about $15 for it. Now that my son is in school, he likes to pretend he's his teacher and write on the chalk board. The dry erase board didn't stain over time, like some dry erase boards do. I can't remember if it came with accessories (erasers, chalk, markers, paper) but still, it was a great item for the little money that it cose. There's also a little try that holds all the markers/chalk/etc. Highly recommended.

if you want something inexpensive, but ver ystable, i got one at ikea for like $20 or less. it takes the paper roll, i would imagine as long as its the same width, it would take others. it only has one tray though so its not for storage, but for the price, and for the height, it was great. and if you need something that stores well, anything with storage is going to take up a bunch of room. its taller than the crayola easel, so my daughter who is almost 6 still has plenty of room left before it would be too short. chalk on one, whiteboard on the other. its wood, so its nice since its not babyish, like the plastic ones, so it will last the child, and it looks better than my plastic one in my kitchen.

it would be great to get that, then get one of those art kits with all the items, like chalk, pencils, crayons, paint, oil pastels. you open it up and all the stuff is on each side. they have some really elaborate ones, but they are great for storage, and they could still use them at the table when coloring.

if storage is a concern, i think the two pieces would be perfect for you. it really folds thinner than any other i have seen. there is nothing really to put together. you could also get a stick on thing, and add a clip to the one side that doesnt use the paper roll, so you can clip on smaller papers and paint them.

I got one at Ikea, and I believe it does not need to be put together. It is pretty cool...a blackboard on one side, a dry erase on teh other, and a little paper roll holder to cover up both sides and draw away, along with a little tray hold chalk and crayons and stuff. It is sturdy on carpet (don't know about hard surfaces). I am glad we got it, because it was cheap and gets heavily used, so worth the purchase. It is standing up to the wear and tear pretty good though (about a year).

I was just reading the other responses....isn't Ikea awesome? It's always a great place to look for that hard to find item.

I have to say, I really like the free-standing one that I got from IKEA. It has a chalkboard on one side (which we don't use), a whiteboard on the other, and accomodates a pretty wide range of paper rolls. There is a nice big tray for supplies.

The ONLY thing that I don't love is that it is a bit tall for a shorty like my daughter, but I fashioned a platform from a part of a desk that works well. She will be able to use it for many years and it folds quite flat and can hang on some hooks.

make sure you get one that folds up so it can be put out of the way when not in use.
we have this one it's well made and folds up into it's own case.
http://www.amazon.com/Rose-Art-49162UT-2-Smart-Easel/dp/B...

We have a small house, so we ended up with a wall mount easel from Guidecraft. We attached it to the wall with about 6 of the 3M Command Velcro strips(didn't want holes). It has worked well for several years. Alex also has one and there may be others.

I think Lil' Tykes makes a good standing one?

I have also bought a kid standing one at Michael's (the craft store) that was very good!