You may be surprised by both how young your child can be when they learn to cut paper and also how long cutting paper can keep them occupied! With safety scissors like these that include the lift assist levers, most preschoolers can cut paper without much help from mom or dad. If your child is very young, consider putting them in a buckled high chair and give them some thin papers and scissors and let them go to town. The high chair will keep the mess in a centralized place. Available on Amazon but I have also found these at the dollar store.

As soon as your child is past the glue stick eating phase, stock up on this essential school supply! You will lose some from missing caps so make sure you have plenty. You will use these for all sorts of activities and crafts!

Try out jumbo crayons for your preschooler’s little hands. Give them just a few to color with at a time so they don’t get overwhelmed.

Sidewalk chalk is the best chalk for preschoolers! Use outside to make them fun learning games (jump on the triangle, run to the “2”) or use them on a chalk board easel or old cookie sheet painted with calkboard paint. The large size makes them easy to grasp and less likely to break than smaller chalk.

Prepare yourself with large amounts of scratch paper! These can be the backs of papers that were printed incorrectly, drawing pads from the dollar store, or bulk drawing paper from Amazon. Whatever you choose, have lots of it on hand for drawing, painting, cutting, and crafts.

Oh the many crafts and activities you can do with construction paper. Buy a bulk supply now and have paper on hand for impromptu crafts whenever the occasion arises.

I admit it took me awhile to jump onto the dot mark band wagon, but once my child showed interest we were hooked. Dot markers are lots of fun. Not only are they a great art supply, you can use them for identifying numbers and letters easily. Simply write a bunch of numbers on a piece of scratch paper and have your child “dot” the ones you call out.

In a way this is more for mom as play dough tends to be the item that can keep kids occupied the longest. Stock up and organize play dough kits that are small and manageable. I know my toddlers could play with play dough ever day and never tire of it. That’s a big win for a multi-tasking mom!

When I first started buying school supplies I bought a LOT of paint. But for toddlers and preschoolers, watercolors are the most practical choice in my experience. Kids love to paint and watercolors make it an easy thing to set up and clean up. Toss some scratch paper and watercolors onto a work station and let your child go crazy. Try using a spray bottle or condiment bottle to add water to the paints for your child to minimize the mess.

If you haven’t heard of Color Wonder products before, you’re in for a treat. And if you have here’s your reminder to stock up on the best invention in coloring! Color Wonder markers work only on special Color Wonder paper which makes them the mess-free coloring go-to activity for home, car, and out and about. I highly recommend having a Color Wonder kit – this is a great idea for at a restaurant or any place you need to keep your preschooler occupied without leaving a mess behind.

I bought this originally because I was looking for something my preschooler could do that would not be more screen time. Now, I really want to do an unsponsored unsolicited post just talking about how wonderful this is! I love that the LeapStart gives my daughter something interactive to do and that there are so many books that can go with it. She’s learning numbers, letters, colors, sequencing – all sorts of preschool subjects and it’s a tactile book and pen that makes this anti-screens mom happy. I just can’t say enough good about this system. If it’s in your budget I highly recommend this purchase. Currently $30 on Amazon and you can buy most books for $7. The books make great birthday and Christmas gifts too!

There are many books that pair with the LeapStart system. My favorites for preschool are Alphabet Adventures, Shapes & Colors, and Scout & Friends Math.

While you can always use an old t-shirt, art smocks are a great thing to have for preschool. Use while painting and doing crafts. Not only will it keep your child clean, it will make him or her feel like a real artist!

Stock up on a variety of manipulatives and you can make up all sorts of learning games and activities on the spot. Some of my favorites are foam dice, lacing beads, pattern blocks, magnetic letters & numbers, and shapes puzzles.

This is one of the first things I bought for my homeschool and we have used it for many years already! I love this easel and use it for teaching all the time. The kids can color on the chalkboard with chalk, draw on the whiteboard, it holds a butcher paper roll so kids can paint on it as well. In my opinion this is definitely worth the money, but you can read about how I got mine for practically free here. 

You may not think about whiteboard markers for preschoolers, but buy the low odor pens and see how many uses you get out of them. From writing on windows (sure, why not?!), reusing worksheets in sheet protectors, drawing on whiteboards and more, having a good amount of these on hand will allow you to do even more activities. Pair with a laminating machine and you can make file folder games and activities that can be reused day after day and kid after kid.

I don’t think I could manage without my laminator! They are so inexpensive these days and the possibilities are endless! You can make educational items that will last for years for multiple kids. Find some worksheet or paper activity page you really love? Laminate it and preserve it to get the most use out of it. You can make ID badges in case your kids get lost, games, flash cards your kids can write on – there are just so many uses for a laminator. With many to choose from around $20, it’s an investment that will pay off big during your homeschooling journey.

To pair with your new laminator be sure to stock up on laminating sheets!

For a quick solution to reusing worksheets and such, it’s good to have sheet protectors on hand. Your preschooler can trace objects, letters, numbers and shapes over and over again with dry erase markers on a sheet protector.

I use wet erase markers for so many things around my homeschool. Anytime you want a temporary label without it smudging, turn to wet erase markers that only come off with water. You can use them for labeling files, writing on reusable worksheets, temporarily labeling storage bins, writing love notes on your kids’ bathroom mirror and even writing on sliding glass doors.

Use pocket folders to make file folder games your preschooler will love. You can also use these to store your child’s artwork in.

Perfect adding clouds or snow to artwork

Twist them into letters and shapes, make bracelets and all sorts of pipe cleaner crafts.

Googly eyes make artwork come to life! Don’t skip this when buying your craft supplies.

I’ve kept my preschoolers busy for large blocks of time by simply giving them stickers and scratch paper. Stickers are a must have.

From simple puppets to paper lanterns, there are a bunch of paper bag crafts your child can make if you’ve got a stack of paper bags on hand.

Have you ever searched on Pinterest for paper plate crafts? There are more than I can count and these make for a great quick start craft your preschooler can do any craft time.

These make a great addition to your craft supply as they can be used for fuzzy noses, flying bugs – all sorts of crafting fun!

Popsicle Sticks

Feathers

Make easy puppets and picture frames when you have a good supply of popsicle sticks on hand.

Easily turn any simple art project into a feathery friend by having craft feathers in your supply.

I’m so amazed at how many clothespins I’ve used over the last year! It’s so easy to pin up some string on a blank wall and then have your kids clip their artwork or special homework to display for the whole family to see.  Whether it’s Bible verses we’re memorizing, a particular worksheet that one of my kids totally rocked, or a piece of artwork or craft that needs a special place in the house, young kids love clipping up their work.

You can use these also to “feed” cotton balls to stuffed animals (for counting and fine motor skills), hanging things up to dry outside, making fishing games, and clothespin crafts.

You can buy a roll of brown packing paper at the dollar store and have a ton of fun with it.  My personal favorite? Tracing the kids’ bodies and doing a science or art project with the outlines.  You can name parts of the body, glue pictures of vital organs where they go, or just have fun adding clothes, hair, and a face. You can also use this for collaborative murals, drop cloth for art projects, make your own wrapping paper, any large scale artwork.

Ok so I know we’ve all seen a gazillion pictures floating around pinterest of using shower caddies for art buckets, homework stations and all sorts of things.  But they really are useful so I make sure I have plenty on hand. Here are my two favorite uses:

We have one caddy that holds pencils, crayons, markers, glue and scissors.  This caddy is put away when the baby is on the prowl and taken down for school work.

We use a second one to stock with some general craft supplies so when I hear those words “Mom, I want to do a craft” but I don’t have time to whip something up real quick, I can set up the craft caddy and let them get creative.