Getting ready for the new preschool year, or need to equip your classroom with furniture and resources for the first time? Here is my guide to getting ready without pulling all your hair out! I’ve prepared my classroom at the start of every year for the last three decades – a lot has changed since I started, but benefit from my experience and ensure you have all the preschool supplies to feel prepared for the coming year. The main areas to think about when getting together preschool supplies are:

• Classroom furniture, including beds and related materials, and play equipment
• Consumables such as toilet paper, tissues, sunblock, cleaning products
• Toys, puzzles, books and board games
• Craft materials such as paints, pencils, glue, art paper
• Office equipment such as a locked cupboard for children’s files, stationary etc
• Supply lists for the parents ie personal items the children bring in their backpacks.

For a comprehensive guide as well as recommendations, please check out my articles on:

• Preschool board games
• Preschool Puzzles
• Toys for Preschool Children
• Preschool Books
• Outdoor Play Equipment

I have also written comprehensively on what you should look for when choosing preschool furniture for your classroom. You can find my preschool checklist for parents here. I have put together the Ultimate Guide to Setting Up Your Preschool Classroom which contains everything you could ever possibly need for setting up your classroom – all of the above plus much more. As a bonus, I have outlined below my thoughts on preschool rugs for the classroom (but it can be applied to home as well).

Preschool rugs

Preschool rugs can be used to create cozy areas outside and comfort inside during sleep time. Some of my favorite preschool rugs make use of the following elements (just click on the picture to view it on Amazon):

Road mats

Both mats enable the children to extend the road beyond the rug itself to develop their imagination. For example, use chalk to extend a road onto the porch, or use blocks or cylinders for extending elements both on and off the mat. Rug 1 is a race track. It has clear wide roads allowing the use of larger vehicles. It also incorporates a railway track. Rug 2 depicts different communities bringing the play into new areas.

ABC rugs

ABC rugs help introduce and reinforce the alphabet and shapes of letters in a colorful and engaging manner. A variety of games can be played using the rugs. For example, an adaption of Twister or using matching alphabet cards.

Shapes

Rugs showing shapes help children strengthen their knowledge of shapes and gives them the opportunity to trace shapes with their fingers. This rug comes in a variety of sizes, depending on your needs and budget. The larger sizes allows for group games, for example musical statues or Simon says “stand on a triangle”.

Colors 

In addition to reinforcing children’s understanding of colors, colorful rugs are fun and add color to the room! They can be used as picnic rugs for a teddy bear’s picnic. Rugs 1 is bilingual and has numbers as well as colors.

Foods 

Rugs printed with foods provide an opportunity to reinforce concepts of food names, and start conversations about food and cooking.

Animals