This has been my go too place for art supplies since I was but a wee sprout. they have anything you can think of....and if they don't have it, they'll be more than happy to special order it for you. In fact my only qualm with the place is that they don't carry Tombo or Faber-Castell Markers but I think if I spoke to them about it, they might start stocking them. I'd imagine that finding what you're looking for would be a bit difficult if you weren't familiar with the place but the staff are very kind when it comes to giving directions. Not only that but the act of scanning the isles for what you need brings your attention to all sorts of nifty widgets that you hadn't even thought of. The staff is also willing to converse with you about your little projects, which I think is important for an art supply store. I think that the more senior staff's expertise leans more towards more traditional art though, as I have asked about illustration supplies (like non-photo blue pencils etc.) and they get a bit dumbfounded. In spite of this, they still stock whatever you need. read more

This is the greatest store ever - I can't believe how much stuff is in there! It looks horrible from the outside, with the display windows being faded from the sun. But it is a total treasure trove on the inside. It's most useful, if you're in a hurry, to ask the staff where something is. I swear they all have amazing memory, because they always KNOW. And the store is so chaotic that sometimes the answer will be "oh, we have those red/white checked tablecloths, but they're hidden under the blue/white checked tablecloths." As long as you can roll with the awesome quirks of not being a giant chain store, you will be very happy. I don't have kids yet, but they have a great selection of kid craft projects and birthday party stuff. I had been going to Pearl since I was a little kid, and I was so glad to find Playtime so that I could stop going to pretentious and obnoxious Pearl. read more

An old-timey craft and sewing store--minus the fabric. Fantastic for creative kids toys and the complete store for adult crafts. Prices are excellent. The place to go for those school projects. You can spend hours (and lots of money) wandering through the aisles finding everything new that's out there and all those artsy old-school items you used as a kid. The store is a wreck, floor tiles missing and nowhere near ADA compliant, but this is a gem. Parking included in the back! read more

Do not even think of going in there with a stroller. You will knock down a cardboard display of something bright and plastic that will make a horrific clattering sound when it hits the floor. You will become lodged in an isle of party goods that inexplicably becomes more narrow with each rotation of the stroller wheels. You will have to carry the stroller and your baby down an incredibly steep set of stairs to get to the goods in the basement. You will leave sweaty and stressed. Having said that I absolutely love the joint. I just do not take the stroller (or the kids if I can help it) anymore. read more

I don't even know what quilling is, but if you do, you can get your quilling stuff here. Feathers, candle making, needle work of any kind, any kind of fine art supply, scrapbooking supply... my brain asplode just walking in here, honest to god. I went here two days ago and I'm still overwhelmed by how this store has *EVERYTHING* and I mean everything anyone with a crafty inclination could ever possibly need. BRING A SHOPPING LIST BEFORE COMING IN TO THIS STORE, I'M WARNING YOU. Otherwise you'll need to be like Theseus in the Labyrinth and use a ball of string to find your way out. (A ball of string which, of course, you could buy at Playtime in any variety of materials, colors and textures.) read more

I won't go into much detail about my visit to Playtime. Suffice to say the ever-companionable Trixy was involved in an "incident" there. I had been quietly browsing Rhodia notebooks among the art supplies upstairs when I heard the faint noises of what sounded like an episode of Jerry Springer. I followed the shrieks, groans and caterwauling down a wide stairway to their source. There among the tightly-packed aisles of ribbons and notions in the basement, two grey-haired women clerks and Trixy were locked in a death struggle. All three were clawing, scratching, and rolling on the floor trailing multi-colored bits of ribbon and lace. By the time I got there, they had already crashed through a stack of styrofoam planters and upended a display case of beads and silver trinkets. The Arlington cops didn't seem to take it too seriously when they showed up. "Craft store assaults are pretty common" they told me, "These old broads can get nasty". read more

I found out about playtime through my best friend's mother. She ownes her own business doing seating scrolls and invitations for weddings and other functions out of her home. She frequently goes to playtime for their wonderful supply of swarovski crystals at a great price. I was putting together my own invitations and LOVE sparkle so I told her that I was going to go there for stones for my invites. So she warns me that an older woman working there possibly the owner is a little off and when I asked her what she meant she tells me that she asked her one day what she did for work, upon telling her about her business and that she runs the business out of her home, the woman began to tell her that "A business from your home is not a REAL business and she doesnt understand the concept"Excuse me? Rude! So I call for the hours and a woman answers the phone in a very dry tone, tells me the hours and hangs up on me...this must be her I am thinking! I walk in the door a couple of days later, become extremely overwhelmed with the clutter and make my way down stairs to the crystals. A girl starts helping me figure out what size I want when this older lady comes running out, pushes her to the side and takes over. Again, this MUST be her!! I am holding two little stones of different sizes trying to choose and she grabs them from me and starts to accuse me of stealing them. WTF? Finally after an exchange of eye rolls between me and the younger girl I get my stones and begin looking at ribbon for my pew bows. The older woman follows me to the ribbon and starts prying asking what I am using the ribbon for. I told her its for my pew bows and she asks me when the wedding is. When I told her it was 3 weeks away she starts telling me that I am a procrastinator and doesn't understand why I took so long to start! This lady really has some nerve! Overall, this place has a wonderful variety of EVERYTHING but something needs to be done with this woman. I need to go back for some crystals for my thank yous and I am NOT looking forward to it. If I can find somewhere with the same selection I will go there in a second!! read more

I worked at Playtime for a couple of years in high school. They have everything. Fake flowers, doll heads, unpainted boxes, fabric, yarn, painting supplies, puzzles, cards...literally everything. It can be overwhelming. It's so quiet you'll feel like you're in a church. So dead you'll think you're in a graveyard. With bad music. Don't hesitate to ask for help. They know where everything is. Organized chaos. read more

Once you add shipping and handling and your time online you would have been better coming here. One star off for being more expensive than I want to spend. When you still need more, or they didn't have it, head down Mass Ave toward Cambridge and hit Art Beat. read more

OK i know just a few days before Christmas and I need a last minute craft supply . So lucky to have the Arlington Playtime and found parking on street (assumed parking lot would be full and yup store was busy). As a kid I did a lot of crafts so I know right where to go (not much has changed ) downstairs plus sign pointing the way. Found my item wiggle eyes with the help of the friendly girl behind counter who brought me over to them (what a great price only needed a few not sure which size so bought both). Also wanted a hole punch which was upstairs a little to much $$ for me as I had one but didn't know where it was. Back downstairs and bought a small bag on pompoms (that will due for now). Let store spending under $2.50. Guess what I found my whole punch at home in a bag with my last craft project. Must of been because I picked up the hole punch in store (so you don't always have to replace an item to find your old one). read more

This is the best art store around and it's independent!!! They have everything from fine arts to crafts to children's projects. Everything there is also at great prices. The employees are very personable and knowledgeable. My husband and I are both artists and we love shopping there. read more

Our go-to neighborhood place, a lifesaver for kids birthday supplies and gifts. Theplace could do so much morr with a complete overhaul and new window displays. Someone, please come in and renovate so that this place can truly shine! read more

A very fun shop, not a chain!! There is a lot to find here, more than your average art supply store!! The owner is very nice, too.

Oh my god they really do have everything!!! Two floors of art and craft supplies. I found a bunch of jewelry supplies for really reasonable prices. Definitely the best art store I know around here. read more

For years I thought this was a "pottery painting" place - where kids have birthday parties and paint ceramics. One day I bothered to look in and discovered it's an amazing, jam-packed, art store. They have just about everything, so go there for just about anything. So far I've bought watercolor supplies, puppetry supplies, origami paper, and a model car kit for my son. read more

This place literally has anything you could possibly imagine when it come to arts, crafts, and being creative. Two Floors! HUUGEEE selection of scrapbooking paper. A whole section for sewing, beading/jewelry making, yarn, paper boxes, christmas, tupperware containers/storage, oil/acrylic paints, photography paraphernalia. Etc etc etc! My favorite store. A true hidden gem! read more

This place is a clusterf*ck of art and craft supplies. Anything and everything you could ever need to fuel your creative mojo can be had here. Scrapbooker? Check. Modelmaker? Yup. Fine arts? Of course! Beads? Downstairs. Fiber arts? Yes. And so on, and on. Seriously, I found rub-on type here. This is stuff that is so archaic they don't even talk about it in design classes anymore. Trying to find things, that's where it gets tricky. There appears to have been a system or a structure at one point, but over time, it's been eroded a bit. Things are generally grouped into like kind, but occasionally you'll be strolling down the scrapbooking aisle and find a pad of watercolor paper or something similarly out of place. Definitely worth a look, but make sure you're not planning to dash in and out, because there's pretty much no possible way to accomplish that. Give yourself plenty of time to explore. read more

Greatest craft store ever and the staff is super knowledgeable! Total life saver if you are a dance teacher looking to bling out some dance costumes. I've been looking for a place to buy rhinestones and sequins in person (so I can confirm color choice and size prior to purchase) and it doesn't get better than this! read more

This place is stuffed to the ceiling, literally, with every kind of art and craft supply. Just ask the friendly staff and they'll find it for you. I even bought an expensive mat cutting set-up and later decided I couldn't afford it, they took it back, no questions asked. Worth the drive to Arlington for the selection and reasonable prices. read more

massive amounts of crafty stuff, color overdrive pretty friendly people but it's cramped with stuff...a little to overwhelming for me but I think whatever you need, you will find there read more

A good alternative to the arts and crafts chains, Play Time might not have the sheer volume of good that the chains have, but the service is more personal and the space is more appealing. Play Time has been around forever--I'm not sure how well they are doing in this economy, but can only hope that they can continue to stick around for as long as possible in the center of town. read more

Not only is the most reasonably priced craft store around, it also has EVERYTHING remotely craft-related (from paints to stamps to stickers to stationery, ribbon, fabric... the list goes on) AND it has the nicest, most helpful employees. Serene, who works downstairs at the rhinestone counter, is especially patient and kind. She stayed open a half hour for me and my colleague when we came in tonight in need of a slew of rhinestones of varying colors and sizes for dance costumes for the studio where we work. She did not make us feel rushed at all and patiently showed us every color and size we requested to see and made knowledgeable suggestions. You won't find me in Michael's or AC Moore any more! I'd much rather give this hidden gem (ha, no pun intended!) my business. Even if I had to pay Michael's prices (which, I'll add that I paid a fraction of here for more than double the product), I'd do it in a heartbeat to keep this place thriving. Such a great find. Thank you, Play Time! read more

Playtime is an amazing independent supply store for all type of artists and crafters. They stock all the major brands and industry standard materials in addition to a wide array of unique finds. They have everything from prisma color markers to vintage ribbon and 1940s dollhouse furniture. For the most part, the staff is friendly and knowledgeable. Playtime is a great resource for both professional artists and parents simply looking for a weekend project to do with the kids. The only negative is that the shop is very large and somewhat disorganized, so it can be a little overwhelming to find things....but you'll probably find something amazing along the way that you didn't know you needed! read more

Okay. Play Time is crowded and crammed and maybe dusty but if you have the time to poke around you will find treasure. This place has anything and everything you could imagine in the way of arts and crafts materials. It's been around forever, and the inventory has just built up in the aisles. The ground floor has the art stuff, from sketch books and a variety of papers (from handmade to different types of drawing tablets -- tracing and bristol and even Arches watercolor blocks) (well, they used to have Arches, I haven't checked lately...) . There are art supplies of all sorts, craft kits, model kits, and party favors. The downstairs has notions, beads, styrofoam shapes and weird bits like packaged shells and dowels. The point is, the breadth of choices --- whether it's frames, matte board, molded cardboard boxes or origami paper -- is (dare I say it?) AWESOME. It's worth a trip if you're into crafts of any kind. And there are loads of birthday present ideas too. I love Play Time! read more

This store has Everything. Granted, you'll need to search high and low to find it and the place is often disorganized, but they'll likely have what you're looking for. From artists' supplies to craft materials to party goods I'm always surprised by what I find. Prices are high on many items, but I expect that from a local shop and think that the variety of inventory makes it worthwhile. Staff aren't great, rarely smile, but if you browse on your own you can avoid them. read more

Amazing, jam-packed throwback of a store. Complete with wonderful experienced women who will remind you of your grandmother, and I of course mean this in a good way. You need frames? They have them, spilling forth in two aisles, overhead, piling up on shelves, and underfoot. Pens, papers, paints, party supplies, rubber stamps, you name it, they have it, and that's just the upstairs part of the store. Prepare for your head to explode when you venture downstairs for what ails your craft-making heart. I love this store. read more

Being Arlington born and bred, I've been going to Play Time for as long as I can remember. If you need anything related to arts and craft supplies, you'll most likely find it here. They have everything from various sized canvas board and sketchpads, to endless variety of pens and markers, even some model building kits. The only real complaint I have is more of a pet peeve about how the organization could be better. The aisles are a bit cramped and the shelves are usually spilling over and sometimes onto the floor. It can also be quite a hassle to find what you're actually looking for. Usually there are random items strewn together on the shelves, with no real order or pattern discernable. The prices are a bit high but in my experience, that's usually the norm with non-chain stores. The other thing that sort of bothers me is the basement level. It always has this weird smell to it and the workers down there have been less than pleasant on numerous occasions. They always seem to be rather squawky and are always squabbling with each other. There have been quite a few incidents where the women downstairs on the register have made snide remarks or have just been plain-out rude to myself or other customers. Most recently, I hurt my foot and had to wear a walking cast. I was there just before closing, just needed to pick up something quick from the basement. I had what I needed and had paid. During the entire purchase process, the woman at the cashier just kept staring at cast with a rather snooty look on her face. I finished paying and started my way up the stairs. With a bulky cast, I have trouble on the stairs so I took some time going up the stairs since I had already fallen about twice on the stairs since I got the walking cast on. The whole time, I could hear the woman at the register scoffing, sighing and snickering at me. The first time I heard her, I turned around and saw her rolling her eyes. When she saw me looking at her, her eyes bulged and she managed this fake smile. It's a nice place overall, just be careful when you venture down to the lower level. read more

Play Time is quirky. It is congested and a little backward. But I love it. Its cramped corridors create room for imagining new things to do ... as one person mentioned, you may want to bring your list because it's easy to get ideas. Of course they a little more expensive than the big chain stores like AC Moore who can buy in massive bulk, but they have more range of things (sometimes I come across things I never knew existed) and have a kind of old world feel. I don't have to go to three stores to get what I need. I've been going since I was a kid, and will be going again for as long as they're there. read more

Holy schnitzel! I finally went here after reading the reviews on Yelp. Honestly, from the outside it looks like a dinky place for kid's craft parties. No, this is the TARDIS of craft stores - it's much larger on the inside. They have everything you could possibly need. Plus they have their own parking in the back! The only reason that I don't give 5 stars is that it really is a mess. A lovely, grandma's-craft-closet kind of mess, but still a mess. Staff is super friendly and helpful as well. read more

I just tried out Play Time for the first time today. I called ahead to make sure they had what I was looking for. Well, they had what I had asked for: headbands. But, I don't think I was specific enough. The store is difficult to navigate in terms of finding what you are looking for and physically walking through the aisles which are piled with stuff. It's a large store and has a lot of different things. If you're into beading, they have a lot! If you're into making your own hair accessories, they have almost nothing. I had been hoping to find something locally instead of having to shop online and Play Time did not fulfill this need. Depending on your craft, they may have exactly what you need and lots of it. For other crafts, not so much. As far as their pricing, it was pretty average. They tout themselves (on their website) as a discount store and I didn't find their prices to be discounted at all. In fact, they were right on par with big stores like Michaels or AC Moore, or more in some cases. I recommend giving it a shot as they may have what you need. But, be prepared to wiggle your way through the aisles amidst a mess of things. If you are patient, you may get lucky. read more

I just found Play Time on Yelp and what a great discovery! This store has a wide variety of art supplies and party supplies. You will need to allow extra time the first few times you go because stock moves so quickly that sometime inventory is piled in the aisle. I found it fun to hunt for exactly what I wanted, and to find some discoveries along the way. Someone truly creative owns this space and I found that energy inspiring. read more

I can't understand why anyone would give playtime less than 5 stars. Just today as I walked out of there with my daughter she said, "everyone in there is always so nice!" They not only have anything you would need for any creative impulse but if they don't have it they will suggest what is often an even better idea. read more

I wandered into this store a couple of years ago, having little idea what it was and I immediately became a regular. This stuff has the actual raw materials for all sorts of crafts rather than the predigested corporate versions of materials you see at the box stores. It is fabulous for realizing creative impulses, party decorations, gifts and just walking through the cramped isles looking for inspiration. The staff is very friendly and helpful. read more

Place is terrific. Ladies that run it are very friendly and helpful. There's almost nothing that you cannot find here in terms of crafting materials of every sort. Prices are a little high... so, 4 stars. But still... definitely recommended. If you don't mind paying a little bit more so you don't have to drive to Michael's this place is dandy. read more

So expensive! The exact same items are a fraction of the price at Michael's or Jo-Ann Fabrics.

This two-story store has it all as far as craft supplies go- you name it, you'll find it. I have regularly come here my whole life for yarns, fimo, painting supplies, drawing supplies, crocheting implements, and so much more. This place is great for kids and creative adults alike! read more

This store is a gem. Yes, it's crowded and overwhelming, but it is a true craft store for people who like to make things--not just buy cheap decorator items. In general, I've found the staff helpful, but they vary. Some are kid-friendly, others are not. Some really know every nook and cranny of the store and will help you rummage around for what you want, others just vaguely wave toward a distant aisle. The 5 stars here is for the selection, good hours, easy parking, and local flair. They also have a wonderful selection of kids crafts, including many aimed at boys or gender-neutral, something that I really appreciate. read more

Playtime is a magical place where wooden car models in boxes from what looks like the 1950s covered in dust rub elbows with high quality watercolor paper...in the same aisle, maybe, on heaps on the floor. But somehow you will find what you need, and several things that you don't need, but think you should have. Fake flowers. Styrofoam in all shapes and sizes. Ribbons, frames, canvasses, markers. Glue. Blank books. Old fashioned laser cut letter and number stickers. Reasonable prices. Really though, it's about the experience. This is not your uptight "Paper Source" down the street. This place is for real. Long live Playtime. read more

It's a bit messy and definitely cramped, but I've found that it hasn't failed me yet. Ground floor is paints, clays, paper products, and other art related items while the basement is knitting (cheap yearns only), some sewing supplies and other random crafty things that didn't belong on the ground floor. And I'd like to point out that they don't carry as many paper dolls as they did 15 years ago, if that is important to you. read more

This place is an organizational disaster and a crafter's dream. I actually like the mess- browsing is like a treasure hunt, with great finds in every aisle. And if you actually are in the market for a specific item, the staff is helpful :) read more