Yes, Hole Punchers Are an Amazing Kids’ Art Supply
- Jun 6
- 7 min read
Why a humble office supply became one of my favorite creative tools for kids.
Why hole punchers rule (at a glance)
Low mess, high creativity
Great for independent art making
Builds fine motor skills
Helps kids explore color relationships
Introduces major art concepts
Encourages flexible thinking
Grows with kids over time
This Simple Tool Brings a Big PUNCH of Learning!
Okay, I’m sorry about the pun. I simply could not help myself. Hole punchers as an art supply make me GIDDY.
I first started using them completely by accident while trying to create a “bite mark” signature for my preschool counting book, Digit Chomps to 10. After unsuccessfully googling “bite mark tool” and attempting to cut jagged shapes by hand, I finally had a realization:
A flower-shaped hole puncher.
It worked perfectly.
Later, when I started calling the hole puncher a “chomper” with my preschool students, the kids went absolutely nuts for it. We did counting and chomping, coloring and chomping, chomp necklaces, chomps out of socks, and more.
That’s when I realized what a surprisingly charismatic art supply the humble hole puncher really is.
Since then, the humble little circle hole puncher has become a staple in my creative pantry both at home and in the classroom.
Here’s why I think it belongs in yours too.
Hole Punchers Let Kids Create Independently
Probably the coolest thing about hole punchers is how kids can make a big impact without much help. True, younger kids sometimes need help to actually press the puncher closed. I have found however that if you help them a handful of times, they get the hang of it.
Kids can just grab a piece of paper, their puncher, and go to town without help or supervision.
Hole Punchers Encourage Real World Problem Solving
Despite being such a simple tool, hole punchers actually offer a lot of physical problems for kids to solve.
How do they exert enough force to actually punch through the paper?
Or hold the handle?
Where does the paper get inserted?
For such a tiny tool, hole punchers give kids a surprisingly rich way to interact with the 3D world. That is quite a lift for an affordable, simple, easy-to-find art supply.
Hole Punchers are a Relatively Low Mess Art Supply
There has only ever been one time when hole punches made a truly annoying mess for me to deal with.
I brought a bunch of them into my Creative Coloring class and had neglected to empty out the tops of the hole punchers from a previous use. One of my students figured out how to open the top and pour out all the little circles on the table. It took just one, “Hey you guys, look!” for all the other kids to follow suit.
Spending the better part of an hour hunched over extracting 136 tiny circles from a school district carpet taught me my lesson!
Now, whenever I use hole punchers in the classroom I make sure they are already empty.
When at home with just my kids and I, I have never even had this problem.
In a world where watercolor paint, clay and glue exist, hole punchers offer a pretty low-risk type of mess. Also, the trade off is high creative independence for kids.
In the world of kids’ art supplies, that’s a winning risk-to-reward balance.
Hole Punchers are the Perfect Bridge Tool for Teaching Kids about Sneak Attack Art Supplies
Even though I first fell in love with DECORATIVE hole punchers, I now mostly use regular old circle hole punchers.
Why? They’re cheaper and more flexible.
Stars, hearts and seahorses are harder to imagine as other objects. A circle however can become a sun, a pepperoni, a nostril or a wheel.
Decorative hole punchers are useful however for one important cognitive switch.
When we use a hole puncher, we usually think: “office supply.”
The hero of the story is the paper.
The hole punch itself is just trash.
Or is it?
As artists, part of our job is learning to see objects differently. The truth is that hole punches can become colorful accents, embellishments, and mark makers just waiting to be used.
When children realize the little dots spilling out of the puncher are “the good part” too, a whole world of creative thinking opens up. Suddenly they start asking:“What other pieces of trash are actually art supplies hiding in plain sight?”
Hole Punchers Support MAJOR Art Learning
Here’s something wild. When kids use hole punchers they are dipping their toe in some of the most important and challenging of early art concepts. Here are just a few.
#1: Negative space
Negative space is hard to understand because it basically describes everything that is not there. If you draw a flower in the center of a piece of paper, the flower is the positive space. The negative space is everything AROUND the flower. It’s what you did not do.
When we punch a hole in a piece of paper, the hole becomes negative space. Or, if the hole punch is the art work, the PAPER becomes the negative space.
If this seems abstract and complex, that’s because it is!
And yet, hole punchers help kids start to be able to understand this very challenging concept.
#2: Understanding Adhesives
Working with adhesives has got to be one of the most challenging fine motor skills in early art.
Tape is hard to pull off of the dispenser. It sticks to itself like crazy. Glue makes our fingers sticky and leaves dirty streaks if fingers are covered in other art supplies.
How to get them out of the bottle, how to apply them onto the paper- however you slice it, adhesives are a big challenge.
And challenges can make kids FRUSTRATED.
For some reason though, this frustration seems to be less intense when kids go to town learning how to attach hole punches to paper.
I don’t know if it’s how adorable the little circles are. Maybe it’s that the whole shape from coloring to punching it out is purely their creation.
Whatever it is, hole punchers are a great tool to help kids tinker with adhesives.
#3: Color Relationships
Let’s just say it: Color mixing is hard.
Paint, markers, crayons and clay all require kids to learn how colors physically MIX together.
At the same time, they are also trying to understand which colors actually LOOK good together. That’s a lot to learn at once.
This is where our adorable little hole punches come in.
By coloring paper, punching out circles, and collaging them together, kids can experiment with color relationships without worrying about paint brushes, water ratios, or muddy mixes.
They get to simply explore: Which colors feel fresh? Which combinations vibrate? Which ones blend beautifully together?
It’s a simple, low-pressure way to build real artistic instincts.
Hole Punchers Allow Kids to Discover Wonderful Little Moments of Magic
One other artistic skill kids learn from using hole punchers is more of a soft skill.
How to think more loosely about what art is.
When we sit down to draw a sunflower, most of us will do our best to faithfully draw a sunflower. We can be rigid in our lines and timid in our decision making because we are so tightly focused on doing a “good job”.
If you then take a hole punchers to your sunflower drawing, you suddenly find that every work of art is nothing more than a collection of itty bitty moments.
A smudge of vivid green here, a blob of glitter glue there. Our hole punches help us see all these glorious, tiny “hoorays!”
This discovery can help kids loosen up and get more experimental in their work. Why not smear on some ultramarine blue? How about we spray this spot with water and see what happens?
The best work we make often flows from our sense of delight. Hole punchers give us a key to that special place.
This Art Supply Grows with Kids and Homes
The holy grail of kids’ art supplies is a tool that kids can just as happily use at age 2 as at age 14.
Hole punchers definitely fit this category.
Very little children love the thrill of figuring out the hole punch. Kids of all ages love collaging with brightly colored punches.
Older kids AND adults can use it to solve all sorts of organizational problems like hanging up artwork, organizing papers, and displaying artwork.
When our creative pantries are stocked with multipurpose tools like this, we end up having LESS STUFF.
And as we all know, less stuff equals less clutter equals less cleaning.
I don’t know about you, but this kind of flexibility in an art supply gets a big thumbs up from me.
The Humble Hole Puncher Belongs in Every Creative Pantry
When I first started teaching art to kids, I seriously did not expect to fall so hard for this office supply.
Yet, here we are.
The fact is, the hole puncher has won its place in my creative pantry. Let me tell you, the competition is STIFF. I hate art supplies that just sit on the shelf or work fine but not great. If an art supply is “meh” it gets the boot and a chipper, “toodle loo!”
Every time I launch a new kids’ art class, or sit down with my own littles at home for creative puttering sessions, a hole puncher is nearby. I even carry one in my doodle pouch!
If you’re looking for a fun, versatile tool to add to your creative pantry, the hole puncher is for you. Adults will use it to problem solve in the home, kids will test out their skills with it freely, and you will all make charming, memorable art projects with it for years to come.
That’s a winning kids’ art supply in my book.
Frequently Asked Questions About Hole Punchers for Kids
What age can kids start using hole punchers?
Many children can begin experimenting with hole punchers around ages 2–3 with supervision and support. Younger kids may need help squeezing the puncher closed, but even toddlers often enjoy exploring how the tool works.
Are hole punchers good for fine motor development?
Absolutely. Hole punchers help kids build hand strength, coordination, grip control, and dexterity. They also encourage problem solving as children figure out how to position the paper and apply enough pressure.
What kinds of art projects can kids make with hole punchers?
Kids can use hole punches for collages, confetti art, handmade cards, banners, bookmarks, counting activities, mixed media projects, and more. The tiny paper circles also work wonderfully for exploring color relationships and patterns.
Are decorative hole punchers worth buying?
Decorative hole punchers can be fun, especially for younger kids who enjoy recognizable shapes like flowers and hearts. That said, I personally use simple circle hole punchers most often because they are cheaper, more flexible, and easier to incorporate into lots of different art projects.
Are hole punchers a messy art supply?
Compared to paint, glitter, clay, and slime, hole punchers are relatively low mess. The main “mess” is the tiny paper circles, which can actually become part of the art-making process if collected in trays or jars for future collage projects.
Why do kids enjoy hole punchers so much?
There’s something deeply satisfying about the physical action of punching through paper and instantly creating colorful little shapes. Hole punchers combine movement, surprise, problem solving, and creativity in a way many kids find genuinely delightful.
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