Basic items for making Montessori Materials

Hopefully most teachers are lucky enough to have some of these tools available at school, though personally I never could find the time to actually work on projects at school and ended up taking them home anyways. Here’s my suggestions for some items that have made it easier to make quality materials at home.

• Computer and printer
• Basically essential! Use to make any type of card or book materials.
• Cardstock and/or scrapbook paper
• I was gifted a bunch of old scrapbook paper by an aunt and used it to make fun color coded card sets. Put out feels to your family/friends to see if they have any extra laying around.
• Sewing machine
• I grew up with a mother who sewed all my Halloween costumes, so I feel like I had a jump start on this during training. Most materials can be sewn by hand but I think it’s totally worth it to learn how to use a sewing machine to help speed things up and overall make a sturdier product. If you can find someone with an old serger machine they’re willing to part with this makes for even faster sewing on a lot of things.
• Laminator
• Not necessary for those just making materials for at home use (though highly recommended if  you want them to last through multiple children or be used out of doors). A lot of school supply stories offer lamination machines where you can pay by the foot. However since a personal laminator can be bought for under $100 it might be worth the hassle free of being able to laminate at home. I have one just from Target and it’s been just great, though sometimes feeding it small labels can be tedious trying to make sure they don’t shift around! Of course laminate is also expensive so ask your school if they’re willing to reimburse you for making materials!
• Book binder
• Definitely a wish list item. I had originally gotten a  comb binding machine as a gift from an aunt (my family is pretty awesome by the way! ;) ) but I finally broke down this Christmas to get a metal cinch binder instead. Comb binders are cheaper, but do make a cheaper feeling book, and the plastic combs on several of my books have snapped due to use/age. This binder has been nice; the holes feels a bit big on smaller books but I’m very happy with it.

These are the things I use on a regular basis that have made my work easier. Obviously there are ways to get around using one or the other, but if there's a convenient gift giving occasion in your future you might want to think about dropping some hints for one of these!

Do you have any other recommendations that make your material making easier?