On any given day I can travel to the dollar store and pick up some great finds for my classroom. There's also dollar isles or sections in your most popular stores. When you're a new preschool teacher it can be difficult to know just what that great find is. I consulted with some of Facebook's finest in the business and heres what they had to say.
Arts and Crafts
Ash Trays (to hold paint brushes and paint)
ABC Chart
Cotton balls
Paper plates
Berry Baskets
Bottle caps
Bubbles
Buttons
Card board
Clothespins
Craft Sticks
Fabric
Foil Paper
Glue
Glue Sticks
Googly Eyes
Lunch Bags
Macaroni
Number Chart
Sponges
Tissue paper
Toilet Paper rolls (check your state rules and regulations, Florida is NOT allowed to use toilet tissue rolls but can use paper towel rolls)
Table Cloth
Toothbrushes (to paint with)
Pipe Bleaners
Plastic Utensils
Scrap Paper
Stickers
Shaving Cream
Velcro (to put up center signs)
Yarn
Blocks
Cereal Boxes (to add some color and dimension to buildings)
Cleaning
Nail Polish Remover (for removing permanent marker, it's not so permanent any more)
Toothbrushes (to clean with)
Decorating
3M Command Strips
Velcro
Housekeeping
Egg Cartons (to store plastic eggs)
Beaded Necklaces
Math
Beans (counting, grouping, creating patterns)
Yarn (making pom-poms)
Science
Butterfly Net
Flower Pots
Play Bugs
Magnifying Glass
Sensory
Beans
Corn Meal
Easter Grass
Storage
Butter containers with lids
Egg Cartons (for small, individual paint projects)
Don't forget to check your local stores after each holiday to score some great dollar finds.
Thank you to all my contributors.
Shara Lawrence-Weiss, Ayn Colsh, Laura Thacker Major, Karen Nemeth, Emilie Leadley Gillick, Kara Chancellor, Monica Ratcliffe Munoz, Tammy Owens,
Love the list! Just reading it made me think of lots of great ideas I'd almost forgotten about! I have to print this out so I can remember to ask for specific donations of recyclables! :))
ReplyDeleteGreat Idea:) I'm printing it and adding a few selected items each month to my newsletter under "class wish list".
ReplyDeleteI don't know about for preschool, but for primary grades, Target's $1 section has had some fantastic small baskets and buckets lately! They work great for lunch sticks, pencil buckets, browsing boxes... all kinds of things!
ReplyDeleteWe also have a Dollar Tree store with a teaching aisle. It's amazing. I can find sticker charts, bulletin board borders, posters, and all kinds of other things I would pay 3 or 4 times as much for at a 'teacher' store!
Never heard that about tp rolls. Where would you go to find out if it is allowed in your area?
ReplyDelete