Tot School Supply List

     I’ve been asked a couple of times for a list of basic supplies to have on hand when doing tot school. If you are in America, you can usually go out and get what you need for a particular activity, but it really is nice to have some basic items on hand o you can put something together without much planning ahead.

     A lot of what you will use will be stuff you have lying around the house, like spoons and ice cube trays and masking tape. In fact you can probably manage a pretty great tot school without buying anything at all. But if you have even a few bucks to spend and time to wait for good deals to come up, you can have a lot of fun slowly building a stash and expanding your repertoire of activities.

The very basics

If you have a small budget and want to stock up on the stuff you will use the most, I suggest:

• Do-a-Dot markers 
• Construction paper
• Pom-poms 
• Yarn
• Pipe cleaners
• Felt
• Glitter
• Food coloring 
• Play dough  - Making your own not only saves money but allows you to be creative with colors, scents, and textures; here is a basic recipe
• Small tongs
• Scoops (you probably have various scoops and spoons around the house that will work)
• Plastic bin (you may have something lying around that would be perfect for this too)
• Sorting tray (a divided round veggie tray works great, try looking in a dollar store)
• Library card!

The deluxe supply kit

     Over time, keep your eyes open for these things when you catch them on clearance or at a yard sale. You don’t need all of these things, but grab them slowly as you have the chance and each time you find something new, look to Pinterest to see the hundreds of ways you can use your new item to create fun activities.

• Quality children's literature
• Sidewalk chalk
• Washable markers and crayons
• Glue (regular and colored/glitter)
• Safety scissors 
• Buttons of every kind
• Ribbon, rick-rack, and other sewing notions
• Foam sheets and shapes
• Colored craft sticks
• Stickers
• Cotton balls
• Water beads
• Glass gems 
• Rice, pasta, and beans
• Scented oils and extracts
• Seasonal knick-knacks
• Cheap toys and other items that go along with themes your child would be interested in (little plastic dinosaurs, butterfly stamps, sea animal bath clings, ice cream shaped erasers, you get the idea)
• Bean bags – You can sew your own easily (I haven’t done it but fully intend to)
• Hot glue gun (for you to make stuff…not for your child to use)
• Plastic trays

     If you decide you want to do printables (this really depends on the age and personality of your child) you might consider investing in some of these as well (in addition to a printer, ink and copy paper):

• Binder
• Page protectors
• Dry erase markers
• Laminator and pouches (Here is the laminator I got. When I need pouches, I just hunt around for the best deal I can find on Amazon.)
• Velcro dots