If you had $300 to spend on your 5 year old for educational supplies, what would you buy?

[mommyoffive]

Could be anything on Amazon or Rainbow Resource.  I am drawing a blank and trying to use up school funds.  We have all the things thanks to older kids.  So give me some ideas please. 

Edited February 14, 2021 by mommyoffive

[Ottakee]

A Kindle ereader?  An iPad can be used for years as well.

Art or science supplies?  Books on trees, mammals, flowers, birds, etc if your state.

[Clemsondana]

The 'One Small Square' books?  A fiction series that introduces topics, like the Magic Treehouse or Magic Schoolbus books?  The Schoolhouse Rocks video, or the Fantasia videos - we watch clips from those most years, and we had Liberty's Kids and Reading Rainbow videos when they were younger.  One of my kids liked the Shakespeare for Kids book and a book that told the stories of operas for kids.  

[mommyoffive]

Just now, Ottakee said:

A Kindle ereader?  An iPad can be used for years as well.

Art or science supplies?  Books on trees, mammals, flowers, birds, etc if your state.

We have an ipad from the school and computers too.  Hmm maybe though?  

[theelfqueen]

Something for PE like a personal trampoline? 

[mommyoffive]

Just now, theelfqueen said:

Something for PE like a personal trampoline? 

We just got 2 trampolines for inside for Christmas. 

[BusyMom5]

Usborne Beginner Science series

If You Lived... series

Unborn beginning readers

Math U See blocks

Calendar set (I get at Mardel)

Sticker books

Tracing and Dot to Dot books

Pattern blocks

Art supplies

 

[katilac]

 Does it have to be from those two places? If allowed, I'd be tempted to get a subscription box for science, art, or whatever. Amazon does have quite a few listed, but I don't see options for pre-paying the year. You could possibly message and ask, though. 

Along the same lines, I'd look at children's magazines. Kids are usually very excited to get their own mail. 

 

 

[theelfqueen]

Ok no one has ever given me money for school so I dont know the boundaries ol ... how about a subscription like Tinkercrate, Atlas Crate or Litle Passports .. amazon offers several subscriptions... Magazine subscriptions like Ranger Rick or National Geographic Kids 

[4atHome]

I need to do the same with my 6 yr old.  Look at educational toys and games.  You could even stockpile them for the next bday, etc.

Last year, I bought This similar to Memoria lit set.  It is all secular.  ETA:  weird, it's the link from my orders list, but ours didn't include the timelines.  Hopefully, it's still secular with timelines... ?

 

8 minutes ago, katilac said:

 get a subscription box for science, art, or whatever.

My son loves the IvyKids boxes I ordered, however, I never feel like i have time to do them.

Edited February 14, 2021 by 4atHome

[Hilltopmom]

Magna blocks

Keva planks 

Lego

Board & card games- lots of new good games for kids these days! (GameWright has quick card games)

puzzles 

snap circuits 

Edited February 15, 2021 by Hilltopmom

[wathe]

1 minute ago, Hilltopmom said:

Magna blocks

Keva planks 

Lego

Board & card games- lots of new good games for kids these days! (GameWright has quick card games)

puzzles 

You read my mind.  You could get a very nice set of Kapla planks for that.

 

[PeterPan]

What you might do is go through the Lakeshore Learning site, find what you like, and see if amazon/Rainbow has something analogous. Or get your provider to buy it through Lakeshore. They have the best stuff, oh my. They just sent me a new print catalog of prek/k/SN. And they have great stuff for bigger kids too. 

-flex seating

-hands on spelling 

-social play

-kits for science, STEM kits ---These are AMAZING btw. Crazy expensive, but really worth the $$$. 

You could burn through that $300 super fast, lol. 

https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/products/featured-assortments/classroom-furniture/flex-space/

https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/products/language/phonics-word-building/stack-build-phonics-flip-books/p/TT331

https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/products/language/phonics-word-building/build-a-word-magnet-board-span-stylewhite-space-nowrap3-letter-span-words/p/FF429

https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/products/math/math-manipulatives/fish-counters/p/LM984

https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/products/stem/building-engineering/building-brick-stem-challenge-kit-pre-span-stylewhite-space-nowrapk-gr-span2/p/TT758  

https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/products/stem/building-engineering/create-a-chain-reaction-stem-kit-pre-span-stylewhite-space-nowrapk-gr-span2-master-set/p/PP566  This is the Prek-2 kit version. We did the upper level and it was GREAT, highly  highly recommend.

[Ali in OR]

Things we enjoyed "back in the day":

Classical Kids CDs
Jim Weiss CDs
Magic School Bus DVDs
Liberty's Kids DVDs (5 is a little young, but you can rewatch over and over)
Pattern Blocks
Cuisenaire rods with the ruler thing for showing addition
Let's Read and Find Out science books
The Kumon books for that age range (I'm thinking more Cutting and Tracing rather than Addition and Subtraction)
Bob books, Little Bear Books, Frog and Toad--early readers you enjoy
Calvin and Hobbes books (hey, that's what inspired my early readers!)
Usborne book of world history

I think I better stop now. So much fun stuff out there!
 

Edited February 14, 2021 by Ali in OR

[Arctic Bunny]

A good, realistic set of play money

New books, of course

Kitchen/cooking items (kids’ knife, apron, spatula, etc)

Hmmmm....

[Pippen]

Some large cafeteria trays to do science experiments and art/craft projects on. 

[Spryte]

Are these school funds that have strings attached?  Like, must be particular items with receipts?  Or money leftover in the budget?  I think my answer might be different if it’s the first.

My first thought was family zoo membership, museum and science center memberships, botanical gardens.  But Covid, and that might not fit any requirements if you have to meet requirements.

At 5-6, we did a lot of Keva planks, play silks, Egyptian and Roman playmobil, Jim Weiss CDs (especially the Egyptian stories, while making the Nile out of play silks to sail the Egyptian barge).  We did a lot of trips to various cities to see exhibits on Egyptian items (seeing a theme here?  Hahahaha).

Actually, we did a lot of the stuff listed above in other posts, and loved it all.  Great book recs! So many good memories.

We really enjoyed the Haba Ball Tracks, too, and those are somewhat expensive, keep forever type items. Big Rube Goldberg machine makers here, YMMV.

Oh, and DD really enjoyed the solo games - like Castle Logics, tangrams, that sort of things. She had a coding game that she loved, too, with a mouse that had to find cheese. You have to set up different courses as challenges. I think RR had it.

 

 

 

 

 

[My4arrows]

I’d personally grab games since educational ones seem to be so expensive, audiobooks, kegs planks, hands on kits (science, art, history things to build).  There are some neat knex learning kits, lego learning kits. I’d look for things they could do on their own when you’re helping someone else. 
 

art supplies too
 

if you can do subs I’d do kiwi crates, Ivy kids for the younger or making a cooling thing. 

Edited February 14, 2021 by My4arrows

[prairiewindmomma]

The Let’s Read and Find Out science series will set you back about that much. I would throw in some early non science readers also. With libraries closed here, having books on hand has been important. Youngest is our youngest—when we are done with certain books we are feeding them to Little free libraries.

[Ausmumof3]

I just have to say what a nice problem to have. 🙂 

[Kareni]

Seconding art supplies and games.

Life of Fred books

Regards,

Kareni

[Jaybee]

Sigh. I miss homeschooling littles.

[Pen]

Art, music supplies

gardening, cooking  supplies

 

child size building materials?

 

[MercyA]

4 hours ago, PeterPan said:

What you might do is go through the Lakeshore Learning site, find what you like, and see if amazon/Rainbow has something analogous. Or get your provider to buy it through Lakeshore. They have the best stuff, oh my. They just sent me a new print catalog of prek/k/SN. And they have great stuff for bigger kids too. 

I positively DROOL over Lakeshore Learning stuff! 

[mommyoffive]

1 hour ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I just have to say what a nice problem to have. 🙂 

It is.  My kids attend an online public school that gives funds to each student to use for the year.  They are so lucky to have this school.   It is just a little harder to use this year and for the youngest.  We mostly use it on lessons.  While we already paid for dance there isn't much else we can do from home.  In a normal (non pandemic year) she would have started violin lessons and it would have been used on that too.  But we have everything because of all the older siblings so I am just trying to think of anything. 

[mommyoffive]

2 hours ago, Spryte said:

Are these school funds that have strings attached?  Like, must be particular items with receipts?  Or money leftover in the budget?  I think my answer might be different if it’s the first.

My first thought was family zoo membership, museum and science center memberships, botanical gardens.  But Covid, and that might not fit any requirements if you have to meet requirements.

At 5-6, we did a lot of Keva planks, play silks, Egyptian and Roman playmobil, Jim Weiss CDs (especially the Egyptian stories, while making the Nile out of play silks to sail the Egyptian barge).  We did a lot of trips to various cities to see exhibits on Egyptian items (seeing a theme here?  Hahahaha).

Actually, we did a lot of the stuff listed above in other posts, and loved it all.  Great book recs! So many good memories.

We really enjoyed the Haba Ball Tracks, too, and those are somewhat expensive, keep forever type items. Big Rube Goldberg machine makers here, YMMV.

Oh, and DD really enjoyed the solo games - like Castle Logics, tangrams, that sort of things. She had a coding game that she loved, too, with a mouse that had to find cheese. You have to set up different courses as challenges. I think RR had it.

 

 

 

 

 

The school my kids attend gives allotments per child for the year to use.  We the family never get the money.  We submit orders for things and billing for lessons.  

We can use the money on lessons, memberships, athletic, internet, and any sort of educational thing on Amazon or RR.  This is just leftover money for my youngest that we haven't used.  We already used most of it for the year.  It is just harder to spend for us this year.  We use a good chunk of their money for lessons and we are not doing anything in-person.  We used a bunch to pay for her dance for the year.  And normally she would have started violin lessons this year we would have used the money for, but I don't want her to start that online.   I am not comfy taking them to museums right now. 

[Beth S]

A Talking Globe!
Our kids are grown, and we were not a gaming family . . . so the Leap Frog Odyssey 2 got lots of use.
4 of the kids ended up in the National Geographic Bee.
Our married dd just found a used one & our dgd loves the songs & all the facts.

Used:
https://www.amazon.com/Leap-Frog-Odyssey-Talking-Globe/dp/B000F8TAFS

Maybe this new one?  (Has 5 star rating)
https://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-Magic-Adventures-Frustration-Packaging/dp/B07PXR5J2D/ref=asc_df_B07PXR5J2D/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=385575018130&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8827092896992242262&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9014633&hvtargid=pla-838512383882&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=79288125515&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=385575018130&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8827092896992242262&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9014633&hvtargid=pla-838512383882

(We're also Biblophiles, so I'd get all the Eyewitness Books (in good used condition) & really enhance our home library.)
Enjoy spending this money intentionally! 

Edited February 15, 2021 by Beth S

[theelfqueen]

Ooh what about Lego Education stuff?

https://education.lego.com/en-us/shop/early-learning

[4atHome]

Regarding the globe comments.   I did buy a globe with interactive pen with point and find games to locations on the globe.  I also bought a nice microscope and slide set.  Both still get a lot of use.  That's what I meant as educational toys.  I wouldn't feel right about something that doesn't seem to have a clear educational bent.  I don't know if our school would reimburse Keva blocks or not, but I wouldn't want to ask them to... that's just me though.

Edited February 25, 2021 by 4atHome

[Shoeless]

Magna tiles. We have used them for so many things! My 12.5 year old still builds with them sometimes. 

[Hilltopmom]

You justify the educational part STEM building supplies (blocks, magnets, lego) as part of a maker space or supplies for STEM challenges- all the rage in elementary schools these days.

[Condessa]

I was in a similar situation, and my six-year-old told me he wanted to learn Japanese.  So I bought 20 hours of online Japanese tutoring from LanguageConvo.com.  He has loved it, and learned a lot.  It has been a really fun thing he could do from home through quarantine.

Edited February 15, 2021 by Condessa

[mommyoffive]

41 minutes ago, Condessa said:

I was in a similar situation, and my six-year-old told me he wanted to learn Japanese.  So I bought 20 hours of online Japanese tutoring from LanguageConvo.com.  He has loved it, and learned a lot.  It has been a really fun thing he could do from home through quarantine.

Oh wow that site looks cool.  These are live lessons with a real person right?  Do your kids do group lessons? 

[busymama7]

22 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

We have an ipad from the school and computers too.  Hmm maybe though?  

I prefer my kids e readers because they can have free access to it.  I don't allow internet accessing devices to be in the kids control (they are password protected).  I don't want them distracted by games etc so having an e reader is awesome. So easy to get library books and be reading in 5 min with NO late fees ☺️

[mommyoffive]

2 minutes ago, busymama7 said:

I prefer my kids e readers because they can have free access to it.  I don't allow internet accessing devices to be in the kids control (they are password protected).  I don't want them distracted by games etc so having an e reader is awesome. So easy to get library books and be reading in 5 min with NO late fees ☺️

Gotcha.  They need them for school however as they attend an online school, online dance, online violin lessons, and on and on.  

[historically accurate]

9 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Oh wow that site looks cool.  These are live lessons with a real person right?  Do your kids do group lessons? 

Maybe Mandarin lessons via LingoBus? My 12 year old did a few before she aged out. 25 minutes one on one with a native speaker. 

 

[busymama7]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

Gotcha.  They need them for school however as they attend an online school, online dance, online violin lessons, and on and on.  

My kids do too but I unlock them every time and they can not play games or similar without asking every single time. Just works better for us. 

[Condessa]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

Oh wow that site looks cool.  These are live lessons with a real person right?  Do your kids do group lessons? 

Yes, live sessions with native teachers living around the world.

My kids have all chosen different languages, so we have never tried the group lessons.

[mommyoffive]

1 hour ago, busymama7 said:

My kids do too but I unlock them every time and they can not play games or similar without asking every single time. Just works better for us. 

My kids don't play online games at all.  We just do it differently in our house.  My oldest is in high school.  We do check their computers and the younger ones work in public areas.  

[GoodGrief3]

I used to love to use allotment money on Prismacolor pencils 🙂

[Terabith]

A lot depends upon what you already have in your house and what community resources you have access to.  I used the heck out of our public library.  I would be tempted to use it for classes:  Musikgarten or Music Together, gymnastics or dance or sports classes, a day a week at a forest preschool.  If you don't have great library access, then books.  An ipad is nice to have for tile apps for things like AAS or other spelling activities.  

[katilac]

On 2/14/2021 at 7:36 PM, 4atHome said:

Regarding the globe comments.  With our allotment, I did buy a globe with interactive pen with point and find games to locations on the globe.  I also bought a nice microscope and slide set.  Both still get a lot of use.  That's what I meant as educational toys.  I wouldn't feel right about something that doesn't seem to have a clear educational bent.  I don't know if our school would reimburse Keva blocks or not, but I wouldn't want to ask them to... that's just me though.

Keva has a whole department dedicated to educational sales and workshops for schools, libraries, and museums! Specific charters may or may not have them on the approved list, but I wouldn't hesitate to ask for them. The engineering challenges are definitely educational.