Homeschool Material List

Preschool is all about fine motor skills.  Yes it is important for children to learn certain objects but they can't get enough practice strengthening those core hand muscles.  A good number of my activities are based on working those tinny hands.  If you are just getting started with homeschooling and are wondering what are some great materials to have on hand... here are a few of my staples that I try not to run out of.... please comment if you have other items that you always have on hand that I left off my list.


Yarn- I try and do at least one lacing activity a week.  You can also use yarn for art projects to make hair!
Beads- These are great for sorting colors as well as lacing
Pom Poms- Wonderful for color sorting and other arts and crafts (you can also attach magnet tape to them- see my "how to")
Clothes pins- Another great fine motor exercise that I use a lot with counting cards

Puzzles -  I try and stick with number, shape, alphabet, or other educational puzzles but any puzzle helps fine motor skills
Construction paper- We use this everyday!
Glue sticks I find that liquid glue is way to messy for this age group and takes forever to dry
Kids paint- I have a pack of 10 different colors.  These are great for color mixing and any other painting activity you may do
crayons/markers- I tend to lean with the least messy so I go with crayons.  If your kid will only color with markers, by all means, stock up on some.
dry erase markers- I have my kids use these on the easel or any of the laminated pages that I make.

Laminator or clear paper protectors- I purchased a small laminator that I use at home because I plan on using a lot of my printable with 3 kids at home and then bring them along to the classroom when I go back to teaching elementary school.  If you aren't going to get as much use out of your printable pages, it probably isn't worth the time and investment of a laminator and all the color ink that you will go through.  Another alternative to a laminator is clear paper protectors.
Hole punch - For lace up cards or any thing you might want to hang up.
Educational games/flash cards- I have a few rhyming, classifying, and blends games that I have my son do for center time. Carson Dellosa Publishing have some of my favorite games/puzzles here

Pattern Blocks- These are used quite a bit in elementary school so it is a wonderful idea to get your children used to them.  If you want to save $, you can make them yourself out of foam paper.
Googly eyes- I'm not sure why, but a tons of my activities use these!  You can ap to draw them yourself you if you want to save the expense.
Recyclables- Start saving toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, shoe boxes, ect.
Student tray- These are like $2.50 each at Micheal's and are wonderful at keeping your materials together, not to mention crayons from rolling all over the place.

Posted in: Getting Started, Materials, Preschool