The new school year is just getting started all across the country. With these amazing finds your school year ahead are better than ever!
You’ll find school day essentials, favorites for relaxing at home, plus ways to extend learning to the home and fun and games the whole family will love!
Our Favorite Finds
for the New School Year
We received a variety of samples and/or compensation in exchange for this post. All opinions are our own.
School Day Essentials
Give your children the confidence to easily learn how to tell time with their own watch! The EasyRead Time Teacher approach uses “to” and “past” language to help children count time. The minutes from :00 to :30 count up to 30 and then from :30 to the top of the hour they count down from 30.
Your child would then read the minute hand number, the word “to” or “past” depending on the side of the watch face, and then the hour. For example, “10 past 2” or “15 minutes to 5”. This simplified approach makes it easier than ever for kids to learn how to read the time!
Even my 4 year old is starting to read his own watch with the help of the EasyRead Time Teacher watch! He loves a watch that actually fits his wrist with the canvas strap with lots of holes for a tight fit for comfort.
Save time in the mornings with an easier sunscreen application that kids can do! Solar Buddies makes it easier than ever before for kids to help apply sunscreen themselves!
Just add your own favorite sunscreen to the Solar Buddies Sunscreen Applicator. Then, children can hold onto the chunky handle grip to easily control and roll sunscreen onto their skin. It helps control the flow and application without a ton of excess sunscreen. Making it easy to apply sunscreen, and be out the door to school!
For many kids, all the noise and stimulation from school can be overwhelming. The PuroCalm Earmuffs help to reduce the overall noise inputs throughout the day to help your child from becoming stressed out during the day.
The PuroCalm Earmuffs help reduce 27 decibels of sound to help create a calmer environment for those that may need it. They can be especially helpful for children on the Autism spectrum or with sensory processing concerns. These designed-for-kids Noise Canceling Earmuffs fold away for easy storage and are built to last.
Relax & Unwind After School
Christmas Tree Shops andThat! may not be the first name you think of for cute kids bedrooms, but think again! They just launched two adorable line of children’s bedroom and playroom furnishings that are absolutely darling! Choose from Shark or Mermaid themed bedding, art, throw pillows, and storage bins.
The affordable kids furnishings include great picks like the reversible Kids Shark Quilt Set. With a shark print on one side and a bold blue and white stripes on the reverse side and coordinating pillow cases to go with it! Add a printed Shark Sheet set with two styles to choose from. Christmas Tree Shops andThat! Kids Bedroom Furnishings
Tackle dry and irritated skin with Brevity Batch 5. It’s a cure all that can help with itchy, dry, and cracked skin, hands and feet. The all-natural formula of Batch 5 Probiotic Honey Cream is made with organic essential oils with no added preservatives or fragrances.
When your child comes home after an unexplained rash or skin irritation, you can help avoid additional pain and issues with the soothing Batch 5 cream that can even help with eczema!
Mom and kids will both love soaking in a warm bath with Brevity’s Calming Mustard Bath added. It can help to soothe sore or cramped muscles and provide instant relief from cold and flu symptoms – perfect to have on hand for the fall back to school season.
When it’s time to unwind, just pull on The Comfy! It’s part sweatshirt, part blanket and incredibly cozy. It’s lined with a fluffy inner lining and a super soft velvety outer layer. The Comfy has an extra large hood and belly pocket you have everything you need for unwinding.
My boys were in absolute heaven in The Comfy! They didn’t want to climb out of it all day Saturday as they played around the home. I love it as a great way for my sensory processing child to detox after a long school day.
Keep Learning at Home
What better way extending learning to home or to get ready for school for preschoolers than with Highlights and Educational Insights Hot Dots! These fun learning sets use an interactive pen that the child can press onto the dots on a page to select the right answer. They’ll get immediate feedback and praise for the correct answers!
The favorite back to school character, Pete the Cat, will help kids learn reading, math, science, and social studies (plus more!) with interactive lessons using Hot Dots Jr. Each of the darling sets include more than 200 lessons in 2 spiral-bound card sets geared to Preschool and Kindergarten skills.
Another great Hot Dots Jr set focuses on reading skills! In the Let’s Master Pre-K Reading Set your child can practice letter recognition, reading readiness, phonics, and more!
Let your creativity show with a 3Doodler 3D Printing Pen set. It comes with 100 filaments in a variety of colors and 6 different nozzles to let you create whatever you can imagine! It even comes with a DoodlePad to practice your doodles on.
The 3Doodler Create+ is a great introduction to 3D printing that is accessible even for beginners! The plastic hardens rapidly allowing you to draw in 3D – even pulling the pen straight up in the air slowly as you create a design. It includes a Dual Drive Technology for improved power, durability, and reliability!
Or, get started with the 3Doodler Start Essentials 3D Printing Pen. It’s completely safe for kids to use and the winner of numerous awards including the Toy of the Year 2017!
Let your children get comfortable with their new school environment or roleplay experiences so they are ready and eager for the new school year. Social and emotional health are important for the new school year, too.
With PLAYMOBIL‘s darling new Furnished School Building, they can experience what the classroom and school building may feel like. The set includes storage lockers, bathroom stalls, traditional school desks and many other things they’ll learn to navigate during the school year.
The PLAYMOBIL Furnished School Building even includes a functioning digital clock and school bell to help them practice telling time and running through a school day schedule with the three adult and six child figures.
Make learning engaging and fun with the STEM at Play kits by hand2mind! They offer a variety of fun themed kits to help learn how things work with hands-on fun.
The STEM at Play POWER! Electricity Kit will teach children how electricity works. They’ll connect easy-to-use snap circuits that keep the experiments safe. The set includes everything you need to try 19 different experiments over-and-over.
Kids always love magnets, and in the STEM at Play MANGETS! Super Experiment Kit they’ll have a great assortment of magnets and experiments to try. The kit includes disc magnets, iron filing cases, magnetic wands, magnetic meeples, roadsters, and more!
Confident reading abilities is one of the best gifts you can give your child! Reading Eggs makes it fun, and easy, to learn how to read in as little as 2 weeks! This comprehensive tool can help motivate and teach children from ages 2-13 how to read, improve reading ability, or just encourage a love of reading for reluctant readers.
With Reading Eggs, your child will feel confident and proud of their success as they work through the different levels that are matched right to their reading level so they’re never left struggling.
You can use Reading Eggs to help introduce letters and phonics, practice sight words, learn new vocabulary, read engaging e-books, practice spelling words, improve reading comprehension, and of course have fun with educational games!
After School Fun & Games
What better way to unwind after a rough school day then playing games together as a family? We love Ravensburger puzzles and games that are great for a wide range of ages. Some fun new titles we can’t wait to try that are perfect for adding to your collection include:
- Jaws: Play as the shark or play co-op as Brody, Hooper, and Quint. You’ll play through classic scenes from the Jaws film on this fun double-sided board game.
- Harry Potter Labyrinth: Bring this great fantasy chapter book to life with the classic Labyrinth game you already know and love! Search for the hidden paths to reach Hogwarts with all your favorite characters.
- Escape Puzzles: Put together the puzzle and solve the mystery and hidden riddles to escape a certain doom! These exciting new puzzles combine game play and the fun of putting together a puzzle for a unique new challenge.
Launch an indoor battle with the fun soft foam darts and powerful Air Warriors Mutator dart blaster. With the Mutator you can choose to optimize accuracy or distance and launch darts up to 100 feet! The set includes the Mutator blaster, 10 long distance darts, 10 PrecisePro darts, two 10ct clips and stock.
If distance is your priority, then you could also consider the Air Warriors Agitator. It comes with 20 long distance carts and is fed by a flip clip to easily reload new darts so you’re ready for action. This blaster can launch darts up to 100 feet away.
Let the kids collect, trade, and battle with the newest series of Pokémon TCG cards and sets! The Pokémon TCG: Sun & Moon–Unbroken Bonds collection there are over 210 cards to collect including 7 brand-new TAG TEAM Pokémon-GX, including Reshiram and Charizard-GX that work best as partners. Plus, you can collect 25 unique trainer cards and even a new special Energy card.
The Pokémon TCG: Sun & Moon-Unbroken Bonds Elite Trainer Box comes with 8 booster backs that each include 10 cards and 1 basic Energy. Plus 45 additional Energy cards and all the accessories to get you started including a player’s guide, camage-counter dice, and tools to stay organized!
My grade school boys were so excited to check out the newest Pokémon TCG collection and learn all about the great new cards added to this card game they already love. They had a great time trading cards and comparing their Pokémon to trade and then battle!
Let the kids get all their sillies out, play, and just be kids with the fun new line of SpongeBob Squarepants toys celebrating the 20th anniversary of the animated series! The line of toys includes colorful and fun vinyl figurines, inflatable headware, mini plushes, and more featuring a fan-favorite character.
Try the SpongeBob Slimeez characters with Nickelodeon Slime included. Just squeeze your favorite character and watch the included slime ooze through the figure. There are 6 different figures to choose from. Find these at Target in stores.
SpongeBob StretchPants is a crazy new play with SpongeBob! His arms and legs stretch and activate over 20 unique silly sounds and phrases from SpongeBob. The more you pull, the funnier he gets!
Which of these favorite back to school finds would your family love?
Stephanie Stebbins
Monday 19th of August 2019
Nice finds! I gotta get my hands on one of thoese Comfys!
Claudia Krusch
Friday 9th of August 2019
Love all the back to school options! The sweatshirt/blanket looks sooo comfortable!
Ruth I
Friday 9th of August 2019
These are some cool items! My niece would love the Hot Dots for sue, some fun activities for her!
Catalina
Friday 9th of August 2019
How many interesting and fun ideas for kids. My kid love the school for this!
kristin
Friday 9th of August 2019
I like that sunscreen spreader too! That's at the top of my list!