1. Cotton swabs Blue and yellow make green, and there’s no better way to learn this than having students do it themselves. Give them little bits of paint and cotton swabs to mix them together. This will keep the mess to a minimum.
2. Crepe paper Want an easy and inexpensive way to make a student’s birthday special? Decorate their desk with crepe paper! They’ll love this little nod of recognition.
3. Elbow macaroni This is part art project and part grammar lesson. Use elbow macaroni to teach kids punctuation—apostrophes and quotes—they’ll love applying (aka gluing) them in the right placement.
4. Greeting cards You know those “Thank You” cards you want to give students when they give you a special gift? Pick them up at the dollar store (sometimes they’re even two for $1) and keep a stash in your desk at all times.
5. Dice A roll of the dice can create an immediate opportunity to practice addition, multiplication, or subtraction. Partner students up and let them challenge one another with each roll.
6. Playing cards You know the game of war? Kick it up a notch: Each student flips over a card. The first to say the answer when you multiply them together is the winner.
7. Ping pong balls Here’s another good phonics tool. Write different letters on ping pong balls. Make a vowel bag and a consonant bag. Let students pull a few balls out of each one and try to make a word.
8. Popsicle sticks Write down each of your students’ names on a popsicle stick and put them in a cup. Then use this to “draw” a stick to decide who you call on during class. This way, you won’t always call on the same students and your impartiality will be evident Once you get through the entire cup, fill it up again.
9. Word searches Get those little minds thinking about words and putting them together with word searches. Just one book for $1 can supply your entire class.
10. Puzzles Cognitive skills, hand and eye coordination, problem solving—these are all benefits of kids doing puzzles. Best of all, they like them, so you can use puzzles as an incentive.
