My 3 Favorite Places To Get School Supplies

I'm linking up with T_____ Things Thursday, hosted by Operation Skinny Jeans and The Carbmonster :)

As teachers, though we normally have basic supplies (paper, paint, etc.) paid for by our schools, we often spend a lot of time and money getting supplies on our own dime (especially if you homeschool or do in-home care). So I thought I'd share my favorite places to pick up supplies on the cheap!

1.) Discount School Supply

Discount School Supply seems to be the go-to place for preschool supplies, and with good reason; they have a large, affordable selection of anything you could need. Granted, I don't personally order things from there, but my boss does, and sometimes I get to pick things out ;) I thought it would be good to list it anyway, because it's a great resource. I've often poured through the catalogs picking out all the things I'd want in my dream classroom.

2.) Dollar Tree (or any other dollar store, I suppose)

Dollar Tree is the BEST. I could easily spend over a hundred dollars in there. The best part is, if I did, I'd come out with over a hundred items, because EVERYTHING is $1 or less! You really can't beat that. They have plenty of supplies geared specifically toward teachers, like sentence strips and sight words, as well as normal office supplies like notebooks, tape, pens, etc. It's also a great place to get toys/coloring books/bubbles/etc. for treasure boxes and birthday bags.

3.) the Target Dollar Spot

  So you know when you walk into a Target, and there's that little area with bins full of various (often colorful) items? That's the Dollar Spot, and it's a magical thing. Everything's not a dollar (though quite a lot is), but I don't think I've ever seen anything over $5. There are all sorts of fun little things to be found, from supplies to toys to snacks. I once bought some of those little dinosaur  capsules there (you know, you put them in water, the capsule dissolves, and you get a foam dinosaur?) and my kids went CRAZY over them; they couldn't wait to show their parents! There are so many awesome things to be found here!

What is your favorite place to get supplies on the cheap?

Sparkly Snow Scene Art

While the snow here in my corner of the world has melted (and been replaced by horrible, terrible, bitter cold), but we created some snow in class today!

This is a really easy project for little kids, and doesn't require anything you can't get easily (in fact, you may need to look no further than your medicine cabinet!).

What you'll need:

• black construction paper
• white crayons
• warm water
• Epsom salts
• a paintbrush and a bowl/dish

It's best to mix your special solution ahead of time. To do this, dissolve Epsom salts in warm water. We actually didn't have Epsom salts (at least not where I could find them), though I could have sworn I'd seen them a few days before. I substituted ice cream rock salt, which we did have, and it worked just as well.

I was using the paintbrush handle to stir. I like multi-purpose things.

 Then use the white crayon to draw a picture on the black paper. For demonstration purposes, I drew (and I use the term loosely -- I'm terrible at drawing) a snowy landscape with snow falling.

 Paint over the entire paper with the salt solution.

Allow the paper to dry.

If it's done properly, the paper should then have a subtle glittery sheen.

See the glittery bits?

See?

SEE?!?!

It's an easy, fun, seasonally-appropriate activity for kids of all ages! (I did it this  morning with 2 and 3-year-olds.)