{Friday Favorites} Beyond the Typical Back-to-School Supplies

Goodness knows that I am a sucker for school supplies. I get all excited about new binders, crisp folders, fresh boxes of crayons, reams of construction paper, wide ruled 3-ring binder paper, new books, pink erasers and  glue sticks. The excitement over the school supplies is one of the many things that got me psyched up for the new school throughout my educational career and during my time as a classroom teacher.

In addition to the more typical supplies that you may have on your school supply list for Fall, here are some products I’ve tried, loved and that have remained on the top of my personal “favorites” list year after year!

Name Bubbles

Photo Credit: Name Bubbles

Labeling backpacks, lunch boxes, food containers, clothing, pencil cases, shoes, binders, and just about anything you can imagine has never been so easy (or cute) before! I was introduced to Name Bubbles products by a friend a few years ago and have been hooked on using them ever since!

I use their dishwasher safe labels for all of our sippy cups, lunch boxes and food containers. The labels are functional and seriously cute — my kids love them! Before my kids could even recognize their names they could pick their sippy cups out of a group because of the cute shapes I ordered for them — flowers for Madeline and fire trucks for Zachary. I have had labels on some of our items for almost 3 years and they have yet to come off in the dishwasher. Pretty impressive, eh?!

I remember my mom ironing name labels onto my clothes before the first day of Elementary School, but the days of having to iron on labels are over! Thank Goodness! I use Name Bubbles labels for my children’s clothes. I even put labels in Madeline’s Toms and flip flops when she attended camp this Summer! They worked perfectly and we made it through Summer without any lost shoes or mismatched sets!

Pottery Barn Kids Backpacks & Lunch Boxes

Photo Credit: Pottery Barn Kids

I truly love Pottery Barn backpacks and lunch boxes. Here are a few reasons why:

1. They are durable. They won’t fall apart after the first week of school! We have actually had Madeline’s backpack for almost 2 years and it looks like new!
2. You can personalize them. If you order the items online, you can have your child’s name or initials monogrammed onto the item for around $7. To me, the $7 is worthwhile is insurance that my children will return home with their backpacks. They also looks adorable!
3. Backpacks and lunch boxes come in a variety of sizes! Pottery Barn Kids makes backpacks in small sizes for elementary school children and tiny sizes for preschoolers.
4. They have lots of adorable patterns that don’t include characters. Many of the Pottery Barn Kid patterns and fabrics are more timeless and I have found my kids are less likely to tire of them.

School Zone

My kids really love to learn. I think most kids have a natural desire to learn. My kids get excited about reading, enjoy doing puzzles and have fun playing education games on the computer. We  have enjoyed using many of the School Zone products as a means of brushing up on basic skills and learning new ones. I recently got them School Zone’s Preschool and Kindergarten Workbooks and they kept asking me if they could complete more pages.

School Zone also offers educational games, puzzles, flash cards and books for preschoolers to sixth graders!

Photo Credit: School Zone

Sistema

Photo Credit: Sistema Plastics

Like many of you I have tried to reduce my use of zip lock bags and switch over to reusable containers. I have tried MANY reusable containers and quickly tired of storing and cleaning all of the different tops and containers. In a grand opening celebration of our local Container Store I received a Sitema Lunch Cube in a gift bag. I have used it all Summer and just made the trip to the Container Store to buy 3 more in prepareation for the school year. I have found that the compartments in this all-in-one container are the ideal sizes for packing lunches and snacks. They fit easily into lunch boxes and have yet to leak or make a mess! Independence is also important to me, so I love that the containers are also easy for my kids to open and close.

Mini Lunch Notes

Photo Credit: Kid Crave

Last year one of the mom’s in Madeline’s class put funny jokes in her daughter’s lunch box every day. I hadn’t written notes in her lunch before because….well….Madeline didn’t know how to read. Nevertheless, Madeline came home asking me to start sending her funny notes in her lunchbox too. I wracked my brain for one decent joke and then turned to my network of Facebook friends for support. It was not something that was going to be easy for me to keep up with all year and for years to come. Lucky for me, soon after Madeline requested notes in her lunchbox, my mom found these adorable Mini Lunch Notes for me to use in my kids’ lunch boxes. They are cute, simple, and don’t require a joke book! The small packages include stickers and colorful notes that even nonreaders can enjoy!

What are your favorite school supplies? I would love to hear your thoughts!

{This is not a sponsored article. I really love all of these products. I did receive one free School Zone Word Search for my kids to try.}