Check out how we shopped for and prepped more than 50 hands-on learning activities for less than $50 and packaged it up with Playful Learning Lab for Kids to make the best teacher or therapist gift ever!
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We just finished up almost a year of hard work on our book, Playful Learning Lab for Kids. And as soon as we had the beautiful final copies in our hands, it occurred to me that this book is truly the best teacher gift ever.
The only thing that could make it even better? Taking it a step further by including not just the book, but every single one of the supplies and materials needed for every lab in the book!
We put all of the supplies and materials together in a colorful basket along with a copy of Playful Learning Lab for Kids and it made the cutest gift that any teacher would be thrilled with!
If you work or live with children, you probably already have almost all of the items on the following list somewhere around your home, classroom, or school. We divided the list into “things to have on hand” (household items, recycled items, and common supplies/tools) and “things to shop for” (craft supplies, grocery items, and other “extras” you’ll need for the activities).
Between my supplies at home and my supplies at work, I was able to put together all of the supplies we needed for every single activity in the book for under $40 in about an hour (we rounded up to $50 for this post in case people needed to shop for a few more things)! That’s 52 awesome, new learning activities for less than a dollar each – all planned in one hour?! Almost everything on the “things to shop for” list were available at the dollar store down the street, which made things super convenient and super cheap! And there were also lots of materials that I already had lying around my house or at work.
Grab the free printable supply list and you’ll be on your way to creating a one-of-a-kind, stand-out teacher gift!
Things to have on hand:
-Cardboard
-Paper
-Pens, pencils, markers
-Permanent marker
-Shallow tray
-Wash cloths
-Clear empty plastic jars or bottles with lids
-Empty cardboard boxes/shoe boxes
-Bathroom scale
-Tape measurer
-Flashlight
-Sheet
-Funnel
-Bowl
-Spoon
-Blankets
-Pillows
-Large roll of paper (optional)
-Scissors
-Paint (optional)
-Watercolor paint (optional)
-Paper towel tubes
-Basketballs
-Device to play music
-A set of stairs
-Rubber bands
-An instrument that can be used to play note sounds
-Large plastic bin
-Map
Things to shop for:
-Tactile materials (craft paper, smooth rocks, foam, bubble wrap, feathers, pompoms, sand, paper)
-Clock hands from a craft store
-Brad fastener
-Small metal washers
-Packing tape
-Index cards
-Sensory bin filler (salt, sand, dry rice)
-Small manipulatives (buttons, flat-sided marbles)
-Letter beads or letter manipulatives
-Small plastic or wooden shapes
-Stickers
-Masking tape
-Poster board
-Plastic cups
-Peat moss
-Small pebbles
-Dirt
-Clay
-Sand
-Hair conditioner
-Cornstarch
-Heavy cream
-Craft sticks
-Food coloring
-Dish soap
-Salt
-Vegetable oil
-Flour
-Clear glue
-Shaving cream
-Yarn
-Zip top bags
-Straws
-Paper plates
-Small plastic animals (land animals and ocean animals
)
-Pingpong ball
You’ll also need some printed images for some of the labs that you can easily find by searching around the web. Some of the labs will require simple household or classroom objects that can be chosen based on what objects you have on hand.
So what are you waiting for? Print off a copy of the free supplies and materials list, run to the dollar store and grocery store, grab a copy of Playful Learning Lab for Kids, and you’ll be making a teacher’s year with more than 50 active, hands-on learning activities for kids!