It’s that time of year again, the start of school. The newness of the school year has always been something I have looked forward to as a teacher. I loved getting to know my new students and beginning the adventure of a new year together.

This year, while I may not be going back to teaching just yet, I am starting a new school year with my preschooler. I get to watch him as he excitedly begins his new school year as a Pre-K student. He is going to do great! Also, this adventure of a new school year brings the opportunity for new school supplies.

School Supplies for Open Creativity

While my preschooler’s school does not require any specific supplies yet, I find myself drawn to the school supplies aisle. Maybe it is the teacher part of me, but I really like looking at school supplies. This year, however, I purchased some things I knew that would be helpful for my preschooler to have at home. That is how our creative kids corner came about. Here are some of the supplies I picked up, one because they are useful, but two because this time of year is one of the cheapest times to buy them.

One of the first school supplies I grabbed for this creative kids corner was crayons. While there are many crayons on sale this time of year, I really like the Crayola Ultra-Clean Washable Large Crayons. Washable crayons are so nice, as we have gotten crayon on a lot of things before. Coloring in coloring books or printing out pages and coloring them can be something fun for your preschool aged child to do. Learning to color is also an important skill. While you are at it, you might make sure to just have some blank paper on hand for kids to color on.

Another equally fun school supply for preschool-age kids is watercolors. I enjoy the watercolors because there is some mixing of the paints, but not as bad as if I had tempera paint/ finger paints. I also like this because my child and I can talk about how you add color to the page and rinse out your brush. He loves it, because he can just be creative. In the past, I have used everything from printer paper to cardstock to let him paint on. It has been fun to watch him create.

Practice Skills

Scissors have been great to have for my preschool-aged child. I have different scrapbooking papers and construction paper that he can cut. He loves any chance he has to practice cutting out things. You can find lots of practice cut out pages for kids online; one example is found here at Fun with Mama.

The added benefit of having scissors is also gained independence. For example, there is always some type of packaging my preschooler is struggling to open, like snacks. With supervision, he loves the opportunity to open these himself with his scissors. Side note, please make sure they are safety or blunt-tip scissors, and that they are used with adult supervision.

To Make a Project

Glitter glue was purchased for the purpose of making slime. It is a fun project you can do with your preschooler. I like to make it with this simple recipe from Erica’s Ed-ventures. This recipe does not contain borax, and I don’t worry as much about my preschooler playing with it. He has played with slime for hours. Once again, back-to-school time is a great time to buy this glue because it is not as expensive.

This clear glue can be used in the same way, to make slime. The fun thing about the clear glue is you can have clear slime or you can mix in different types of glitter to make the slime of your choice. For example, here is a recipe for galaxy slime.

Creative Learning

Post-It notes and index cards are also fun for a creative corner. My son has used Post-It notes for creating a track for cars. He has also used them to be part of a picture, like building blocks on a fort. I like having Post-It notes on hand for all kinds of learning opportunities too. As an example, I really liked this simple activity for practicing letters at home from Busy Toddler. Writing things on Post-It notes and index cards and hiding them around the house has been fun too. For example, you can draw triangles on Post-Its and then hide them around the house, then have your preschooler track them all down.

Final Thoughts

Having supplies on hand and ready for our preschooler to use has been helpful. He loves knowing he has some supplies that are just his, like his scissors. Having the supplies available to him, especially during our afternoon quiet time, has allowed him to have time and space to be creative. You can pick up school supplies at any time, but to say it just once more, the back-to-school sales are always a great opportunity to get some of these supplies on sale. What school supplies would you include in a creative kids corner for a preschooler?