Everything your kid needs to go back to school: the shopping essentials, from school bags, pencils, to bagtags
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As the summer holidays move towards their conclusion, parents’ stress levels are at their peak, exasperated by enduring weeks of child entertainment.
And before you’re able to pack them off to school there’s one more stressful task that needs doing: make sure they have everything they need for the new school term.
What are the back to school essentials?
A quick measure of how tall they’ve grown will set you up for any new items of uniform that need purchasing, but what about the other essentials that every kid needs?
To help ease the stress we’ve come up with a checklist of ten school essentials, with a product recommendation in each category. Depending on their age, you may need only a few of them. But even kids who have already been in school for a few years are likely to need items replaced due to loss, breakage or, more likely, a change in what is currently cool among their peers.
Before investing, consult with your kids so that each purchase meets with their approval, then get them in early, and at least some of the holiday stress will begin to lift before term time begins.
The back to school checklist, at a glance:
- Best for a water bottle: Smash Small Water Sipper Bottle
- Best digital accessory for older students and teachers: Rocketbook Reusable Academic Planner
- Best for coolest bag accessory: Lego Star Wars R2D2 Bag Tag
- Best for writing for younger kids: Stabilo EASY Original Right Handed Rollerball Pen
- Best for basic notebooks: Ryman Kraft Notebook Wirebound Ruled A5
- Best for a lunch bag: Thermos X Rachel Ellen Lunch Kit Bag
- Best backpack: Pachee Backpack
- Best for maths class: Helix Oxford Maths Set
- Best for budding artists: Winsor & Newton Sketching Pencil Set
- Best pencil case: Fringoo Silicone Patch Pugicorn Pencil Case
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If you’re looking to cool your kids down in the summer heat, check out our list of the best paddling pools for 2022, or head to the beach with one of these fantastic body boards. If they’re a bit more confident in the surf, try them on one of these surfboards, or our best rated SUPs.
Pros: Good, solid 100% BPA free water bottle
Cons: Patterns aren’t especially colourful
We’ve seen lots of businesses claiming to have revolutionized the water bottle with elaborate designs said to make drinking from them easier. But in our experience most of these have flaws which renders them a waste of money.
We like Smash water bottles because they follow a simple design, are cheap and work. Their Small Sippers range is made from Tritan material, a plastic that is BPA-free, food safe, tough and shatterproof.
There’s a choice of child friendly patterns to choose from, although they’re not quite as colourful as other bottles on the market.
The screw top lid has a built-in handle and you drink through a sipper which flips neatly into the cap when not in use. It’s a simple solution that’s perfect for the kids.
