Preparing For School

Some of the activities mentioned might call for items you don’t have. Be creative! Many of my items I found at thrift stores (an easel/ chalkboard), yard sales (lots of ‘school’ books for young ones), or my children received for gifts (Magna Doodles, Aqua Doodles).

Instead of traditional presents, my oldest was THRILLED to receive ‘school’ stuff for his birthday when he turned 3. We gave him a backpack loaded with crayons, paper, markers, glue, scissors, etc…

For some items, I went to the local Dollar Tree. Poster board makes a great calendar, and they usually have teacher’s products that you can use to make the ‘days’ that you’ll attach on your calendar. (I’ll provide pictures of how I made things.)

That’s also where I picked up many workbooks. Books aren’t generally recommended for learning this early on, but my children LOVE to do them – so we do. They definitely are NOT necessary.

Soon you’ll pick up on a few ways to be creative yourself – using what you already have around your home to learn with! (Let us know about them!)


What I bought to get started:
Colored baskets from the Dollar Tree to separate each child’s books
Construction paper
Paint (found in clearance at Wal-Mart – check the ends of the aisles in the craft department)
Paintbrushes
Large chalk (doesn’t break as easily)
Easel/ chalkboard at the thrift store
Desk and chairs (yard sale)
Large crayons
Plastic sleeves for pages (makes reusable worksheets)
Trifold display board
Glitter (Dollar Tree)

What I use from home:
Cotton balls
Pie pans (for paint)
Old t-shirts (smocks for painting)
Paper plates
Old cereal
Old flour
Popsicle sticks
Scrap paper