Preschool To Grade 1 - Things We Couldn't Live Without

 A while back I wrote a blog post called Baby to Preschool - Things We Couldn't Live Without and I thought I'd so a similar list now that the kids are a few years older. Here's my list of favs!

Preschool:

1. Oliver's Labels: My son has a allergies and after I blogged about it Oliver's Labels offered to let me try some of their allergy aware labels. What can I say, I fell in love. I LOVED the temporary wristbands that have his name, phone number and a clear NO NUTS stop sign on them. My son always takes his medi-alert bracelet off so what I love about these is that my son can't get them off unless I cut them off. I've placed these new labels on his lunchbox, and backpack and feel much more confident it will be noticed. Can be found at www.oliverslabels.com

2. CHILDish: Wee! My kids get so excited to eat off these personalized plates and use their personalized lunch boxes. Seriously, how cool it is that you can make the products resemble your kid? The kids think it's pretty neat to see themselves and it's made meals more fun (plus less of a battle over what plates to use!) *note* It's also a grade school product because the new personalized pencils worked perfectly for school; I didn't have to label anything! Can be found at http://mychildish.com/

3. Band-Aids: Yes I know you probably already have these but do you have enough?! On average I think our household goes through at least 1 a day. I put extra Band-Aids in the kids backpacks and make sure they have their favourite characters on them, it always seems to help. So, go buy more!

4. Twooth Timer: in the preschool years we started to teach the kids how to brush their own teeth. We still take a turn brushing and found the Twooth Timer helped teach them how long to brush for. We set the timer for 2 minutes and the 1st minute they brush and the 2nd minute we brush. The kids get a real kick out of it! Can be found at www.sprogs.ca

Grade 1

1. Moonjars: This product works for kids from preschool up but I think slightly older kids get it more. It's an allowance jar that helps to teach kids how to save money for specific things. We use the jar as savings for the charity of their choice (they picked the Humane Society), one for saving for themselves, and one for gifts for others (siblings, grandparents, friends, etc). Can be found at www.moonjar.com

2. Knot Genie: why didn't someone tell me about these before?!? This the only brush that DD uses and doesn't complain about. She will brush her hair wet or dry with it and not once say 'ouch!' I picked up one for both kids and I think we'll use them for many years. Can be found at www.sprogs.ca

3. Lunchskins: My daughter's school is a litter-less lunch school so they have adopted the practice of 'pack in - pack out'. This was new to me so I had to start researching ways to send her lunch in reusable containers that would all fit inside one lunch box. I found these and really love how easily the kids can open them themselves, and how well they fit in her lunchbox. I only bought two to test them out so now I'm going to have to buy a whole collection of them. The best part is that you can put them in the top shelf of your dishwasher to clean them and they are estimated to have 1000 uses. That's saving 1000 plastic sandwich bags! Can be found at www.sprogs.ca

4. Melissa & Doug Travel Toys: If you're like me you try to plan ahead and take items along if you're going to a restaurant, appointment, or a long car ride. I've found these travel toys to be among the best and they can keep my kids amused for quite a while. The items are pretty sturdy and have withstood two pretty active kids who have thrown them, banged them on tables, and stepped on them. The memory game cards can get a little bent so I'd suggest you do your best to keep them in the holder. Now that they're getting a little older they also really like the Hangman game but be prepared as the answer will like be their own name 1/2 the time. Can be found at www.melissaanddoug.com or most Chapters stores.

*NOTE* I have not been paid to advertise any of these items, they're just things I have purchased and love. The only exception is the labels from Oliver's Labels as I received a few labels to trial and I'll be going back to buy my own set!