Friday, March 22, 2013

Don't know what i did before...the dollar store!!

I will be the first to admit, I haven't always loved the dollar store. But, once I started Pre-K full time with my two oldest (Lalalicious and Obi-Wan,) I have found it to be a priceless resource!!! I know I won't even come close to listing all the items we use, or how many other possibilities there are. There are some great websights out there, FULL of ideas! growingajeweledrose.com has tons of great ideas for creative learning and play, as relates to the dollar store. In some cases, you get what you pay for. holy-craft.com has a great list of things to, and things NOT to buy from the dollar store. I guess I will just dive in! Paper. We like to buy lots of bright colors and bordered paper for printing, to make it special. Not to leave out, 3 hole punched printer paper, (LOVE for "in the binder" pages!) They have lots of different sizes of manuscript writing paper, construction paper (even glitter,) notebooks and more. They usually have a good variety of poster board, in different sizes and colors. Index cards, flash cards, photo flip books (we slip the flash cards inside the flip books, so we can use dry erase markers on the flash cards!) There's pencils, pens, highlighters, dot markers, and BINGO MARKERS! We love bingo markers, for dot-a-dot activities. Crayons and markers, paper clips, tacs, safety pins, and clothes pins (use them alot!) Dice (oh so many uses!) Games, magnetic letters, numbers and shapes. Tongs, measuring cups, safety goggles, gloves, cotton balls, food coloring, baking soda, vinegar, and little science projects in a box. Pom poms, foam sheets, craft sticks, paint, clay, and lots of fun art projects. Baking sheets (for a magnetic board,) cup cake/muffin tins and liners for counting or sorting activities. Sectioned food trays, we use these for sorting digraphs, vowel and consonant blends. Just put letter stickers of blends,(ex.) "th," "ay," "st." in the bottom of tray, then find and cut out pictures of things (or items, if small enough,) with those blends, (ex.) "th"imble, pl"ay," "st"ar, etc. Have the kids put the pictures or items in the correct divider. (You can see our red food tray pictured below.) STORAGE! Boxes of all shapes, sizes and materials. Plastic pencil boxes, sterilite containers (I use for workbox tags, dice, clothes pins, magnets, etc.) Stacking shelves, caddy baskets (my portable storage for all of our daily supplies: scissors, crayons, bingo markers, etc. They go to and from the table with us.) Three ring binder pencil pouches, file folders, tab seperators (we use A-Z and Jan. thru Dec. tabs in our file boxes to organize our consumable work.)*More on this to come* Post its, Post it flags, and STICKERS! Clip boards, calender items, reproducibles, workbooks and reading books. There are so many supplies avaiable, it doesn't have to cost a fortune! I also keep a mesh bag of P.E. equipment in the car, ready to go! Well there's a few of our dollar store essentials..have a great weekend! Tiffany (taffygrinch)

2 comments:

  1. Tell me about it!! I LOVE the Dollar Store, and Dollar General (that's what we have close by). I'd go broke trying to buy craft supplies for my kids at "craft stores" LOL

    Cheryl Pitt - Titus 2:1 Conference Team
    www.2to1Conference.com

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  2. +Mamma Mayhem, I agree! Dangerous to go into craft stores! (Just confirms how great the dollar stores are!) By "dollar store"...I am being general. Dollar tree, 99¢ only, dollar general, 98+....all of them!

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