Water is important for everyone, and let’s be honest — we’re all chronically dehydrated. It’s good to get your kids drinking water early. It gives them something non-distracting to do in class when their mind wanders, and it’s very good for them.
Plus, you can send them to school with water from your home. Does anyone else remember how often our schools were under a boil order? Seems like more than one, which is already too much. People need access to water, and that goes double for growing kids. This is also great for kids that are doing sports since it’s made of metal.
Sure, you could go with the tried-and-true yellow highlighter, but it’s a new generation out there. They deserve some nice colors to highlight their books with, which is why we chose these. These mild colors won’t hurt the eyes and they serve the same function.
They’re super soft, won’t bleed, and comes in two color options. You can go with the slightly brighter colors or the muted version. Not to mention, giving kids plenty of options to highlight is always a great plan. It may make them more apt to actually highlight and pay attention to the content!
This is a great little organizer to carry anything and everything your kid needs (within reason). It’s ideal for all those pens, pencils, erasers, and even compasses. It’s large enough to even store things like scissors! It can also hold little compact powder makeup for afternoon powders.
It comes in a ton of colors with a sturdy zipper that’ll last throughout the full school year. The best feature is that it has a little compartment for those massive TI calculators! Although, we’re still in the park that you should be able to use an app instead of those expensive things.
Pretty much everything nowadays is on the computer. Kids are sent to class with Chromebook instead of actual books. For that reason, it’s important to get them a flash drive so they can save all their work. They can save all their content on the drive. That way if the laptop goes bottom up, they still have their work.
Plus, it’s a lot easier transfer content from computer to computer (like from their personal PC to their school’s laptop). Overall, flash drives are a great thing to have on hand for kids going to school in this day and age.
Nothing beats the good ol’ index card method. These little things have gotten millions of kids through school, teaching them that the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell – see? They work! They’re great for science, math, languages, you name it.
These ones are especially great because they aren’t just loose. They’re attached to a ring, meaning they’re easier to keep track of. They won’t slide around in their backpack to get lost forever. It comes in a set of six, so one for nearly every class.
If your child is the type to bring their lunch to school, they’ll need a lunch box. The old ones tend to smell pretty fast, and the design is pretty flawed. Instead, go with a Japanese-inspired bento box. These are microwave and dishwasher safe, so they’re easy to use and clean.
Kids (or you) are able to keep everything in one place. This bento box has two separate compartments for food and a utensil set, which is included. All packed together in a sleek, modern, leak-proof, easy-to-carry container. It comes in a ton of colors, too, so they’re sure to have your kid's favorite color.
Everyone is walking around with Apple AirPods, but that doesn’t mean every kid needs them. Some kids will lose them right after they come out of the box or break them in a heartbeat. Nothing is wrong with a good pair of inexpensive wired earbuds. If it breaks, they’re quick and easy to replace.
Not to mention, they can last as long as the Bluetooth ones, too. They come in a ton more colors, and did we mention they don’t cost $200? That’s probably our favorite feature. They sound just as good, and this design comes with or without a microphone.
Your kid will be on their phone. That’s a given. Whether it’s lunch or – god forbid – in class, they’re going to be playing around on their phone. Heck, they might even opt for a graphic calculator app instead of the expensive $100 one that everyone uses for exactly one year.
For that reason, they need a portable charger. Things like TikTok eats up battery like no one's business, and kids need to have their phones charged just in case there’s an emergency. This one is pretty cheap but will charge any phone at least twice.
There isn’t anything wrong with the old notebooks, per se. They’re cheap, but they’re kind of a waste of money if you really think about it. You’ll use it for one year and then toss it in the trash. What if there was a way to reuse your notebook? Oh, yeah. They have those.
Any kid with one of these reusable notebooks will definitely be in the cool clique. After you’re done with the content, you can add a water to get rid of whatever you don’t need, kind of like a sturdier whiteboard. They can use one of these all year, erasing as they need. That means less weight on a kid’s back.
It seems like schools are trying to pack as much as humanly possible into a single school year. First, they got rid of homeroom, then recess, and then they started adding seven or eight classes into a single year. That seems like a bit much for any kid to keep track of, so a planner is a must-have.
This planner works great for this school year and will help any kid keep track of all their assignments and upcoming tests. It allows them to plan monthly (putting important dates like Thursday football games) and weekly. There’s also a section for notes just in case they need to quickly jot something down.
Every kid needs a backpack, and it never hurts to get an extra to have on hand for when the strap breaks on their current one. Kids now have to carry around tons of books, notebooks, pens, pencils, laptops – you name it. That causes straps to snap pretty much all the time.
These two backpacks are very highly rated, so they’re sturdier than the average bag. Not to mention, they feature padded shoulders and easy charge side pockets for their phones (and that portable charger). Plus, it has a hidden pocket to hide valuables like money or their phone.
If your kids are using the classic notebook, they’re going to need a lot of erasers. The little ones that go on the end of the pencil are kind of annoying, and they don’t work for mechanical pencils. Instead, this retractable eraser is perfect. This comes in a pack of six so it should last the full school year.
They’re also latex-free and erase paper clearly without tearing anything. On top of that, each year, you can get refills instead of buying all new ones. Chances are, however, you won’t need to buy new ones for a long, long time. These should last at least two or three years minimum.
Kids love to decorate their stuff, whether it’s their shoes, notebooks, or even their backpacks. For that reason, they need some good pens that provide vibrant color! These gel pens are great for that. They come in a wide variety of colors, so it’s perfect for anyone.
Not to mention, the cute little cow pattern makes them stand out among all the other pens and pencils in their carrying case. These pens with a great planner mean your kid will be on track for the full school year – no missed assignments here! They’re also pretty inexpensive if they get lost.
For kids that are in the upper-tier classes like geometry, they’ll need to get a good compass. Finding one in the store can be hard as they aren’t with all the other school supplies. Thankfully, this one is perfect for drafting and drawing. It also comes with extra pieces of lead.
This high-quality professional bow compass won’t rust and the legs are easy to adjust. This one is especially good for families that have multiple kids. You can pass it down from kid to kid, and it’ll work perfectly. Nothing is better than reusable, sturdy school supplies.
Yeah, you could get the old Ticonderoga pencils, but then you have to deal with pencil sharpeners and the shavings. It’s honestly a bigger pain than it needs to be. Instead, get your kids a nice set of mechanical pencils. Not the cheap ones by Bic that’ll break with the slightest of pressure.
These ones should last through the full school year and even comes with three big erasers for mistakes. You can choose whether you want 0.5mm or 0.7mm lead, but we’d suggest the 0.7mm. We all remember our lead breaking every time we tried to keep up with our teachers.
