Really Useful (and Inexpensive) Items to Donate to Your Kid's School
You'd love to donate to your kid's school, but we're guessing that Commodore 64 with the floppy drive that you donated last year is still sitting in the closet collecting dust. Here are some items that teachers really do want (and use) in their classrooms.
- Earn cash for your school with Box Tops for Education! You can find them on Betty Crocker® Fruit Flavored Snacks.
- Find your favorite teacher's donation wish list at I Love Schools.
- Baby wipes. Even high school teachers use wipes for projects, cleanup, lunchtime and everything in between.
- Copy paper. Believe it or not, teacher's paper supplies are often rationed.
- Pens and pencils. If you're feeling crafty, make a pen flower pot so that your kid's teacher will always know which pens are hers.
- Ready-made project supply boxes.
- Fun (and useful) reference books like Guinness World Records or America A to Z.
- Believe it or not, iTunes gift cards! Teachers can use them to upload educational videos, songs and media directly to the classroom computer.
- Tissues and paper towels. You know how many you go through at home? Multiply that times 20.
- Chapter books for all ages and reading levels (so if your kid is in the third grade, pick up some books that would work for a first grader and some that would work for an eighth grader).
- Mini-dry-erase boards and dry erase markers.
- Age-appropriate flash cards.
- Seasonal classroom decorations (bonus points if you volunteer to help your kid's teacher fancy up her bulletin boards for an upcoming holiday or season).
- Help teachers come up with challenging warm-up activities by buying a copy of Mind Benders or MindTrap.
- A few "how to draw" books for kids who need a little boost to get their creative juices flowing on projects.
- Hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, anti-bacterial lotion ... Teaching can be like germ warfare. Help your kid's teacher fight the battle!
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