Teach Science with Dollar Store Classroom Supplies!

Are you teaching science with a very limited budget for your classroom supplies? Do you want to do lab activities but are afraid to use up all of your funds?

Teach Science with Dollar Store Classroom Supplies!

Updated Dec 28, 2021

I always hit Dollar Stores first for classroom supplies! You may never need to order anything else. Here are some ideas for how to stock up your science classroom with great replacements for expensive items. I took my camera with me into Dollar Tree and, in less than an hour, I cheaply and easily stocked my classroom! 

Materials For Lab Activities

Of course, there are tons of ideas for labs at a Dollar Store, but this is a great place to start. Store inventories tends to change pretty often so make sure you visit every couple of months to find those great treasures!

Hot Wheels Race Track

Matchbox car tracks

Matchbox cars racetracks are great for forces and motion activities, friction, acceleration, etc.

Balloons

Balloons

Many uses for balloons such as watching yeast and sugar inflate on top of a flask, baking soda and vinegar with the balloon capturing gas, balloon cars, lung capacity lab, Newton’s third law labs, etc.

Play-doh

PlayDoh

There are lots of reasons to have Playdoh on hand. Are you making plate tectonic boundaries? Are you making a model of one of the body systems? Are you designing aliens in a genetics activity?

Bubbles

Bubbles

Bubbles can be used as the students track wind direction around the school for their weather journal. They can be used to learn about cell membranes, refraction of light, lenses, etc.

Foam Erase Block

Dry Erase Dice

I love the dry erase ability of these dice to be used for various activities and learning games.
For brain breaks you could write different activities that they have to do such as clap their hands 20 times, do jumping jacks for 30 seconds, jog in place, etc.

This dice also works great for my genetics game where the students write the alleles on the dice. They can also write numbers on them for a game of ionic bonding. For my biodiversity food web game, the dice determines the environmental events that will affect the web.

Slinky

Slinkies

Slinkies are super for demonstrating waves! I use them for learning the structure of light or sound waves. Students take pictures of the slinkies in waves and then annotate the parts of the wave on the photographs. I also use them for the three types of waves of earthquakes when studying plate tectonics.(Move the Plates! Teaching Plate Tectonics is Fun).

Rope

Ropes have many uses such as putting them in pulley systems as part of a study of simple machines. I also use a tug of war activity to start my balanced and unbalanced forces unit.

Batteries

Batteries

Batteries can be so expensive. You may be hesitant to be doing labs that use them for a large class. However, the Dollar store batteries last long enough for a good unit on electricity. While studying circuits, I have the students determine different configurations for the wires and bulb in relation to the battery. They look at drawings and determine the circuits. Students then test the circuits out using aluminum foil wires, inexpensive batteries and flashlight lightbulbs.

Cones

Cones

I was excited to find these little treasures because they can be used in so many ways. Large cones are expensive and hard to store.

I do a lot of speed and motion activities so these make great start and finish markers.

Our favorite is when we go outside and become zombies as we are learning the speed= distance/time formula! Continuing the speed theme, you can use them to determine the racetracks for pullback cars in your speed and acceleration unit. (Make Speed and Acceleration Labs Fun with Pullback Cars!)

You could use these for markers to put down as a car rolls down a ramp and comes to a stop. You could mark off areas where students can work in groups on your floor, or you could mark out the parameters of a circle that you want to students to stand in. Endless uses and very cute with their little sayings!

Pinto Beans

Pinto Beans

I have found that Pinto beans, lima beans and popcorn tend to grow the best in the classroom. They sprout quickly and easily and the students like to bring the vines home after they’ve gotten too tall for the classroom. I do this activity in the spring and I tell the students if they plant them in their backyard, and take pictures, they get extra credit at the beginning of the following school year! (I teach fifth through eighth grade, so I see the same students, but you could always coordinate with the next year teacher)

Flashlight

Flashlights

Flashlights are great for any studies with light properties. Reflect the beams off mirrors, point them at lenses, aim them at translucent, transparent or opaque materials, (reinforce with a digital light activity) or use colored cellophane to study color absorption and color mixing.

Inflatable Globe

Inflatable Globe

Fun to play with and great to use for earth, sun and moon relationship activities. Also good for plate tectonics if you draw the rough, main plate boundaries on it. Of course, also good for learning geography.

Bouncy Balls with Emojis

Different Sized Balls

Ball collisions teach so much! As part of the unit on forces, (Labs with iPads to Teach Balanced and Unbalanced Forces) we roll balls of different masses towards each other and record them in slow motion on our ipads. We also take slow motion videos of different balls being dropped at the same time to confirm that they hit the ground simultaneously.

Students can measure bounce height when you are talking about elastic versus inelastic collisions.

Strainer

Strainers

These strainers can be really expensive in a science supply store or even a kitchen store! They are great for separating mixtures activities.

We take them to the pond when we are gathering water to look at micro organisms under the microscope! (Identifying Pond water Microorganisms as Bioindicators). They allow us to dig up the dead leaves from the shallow part of the pond where most of the creatures hang out!

dollar store classroom supplies beaker

Measuring Cups in Different Sizes

Why buy beakers? These have so many uses and come in different sizes. Great for volume studies and measuring liquids for labs.

Chemicals to Grab at the Dollar Store

There are a lot of resources to help you study matter and chemistry at the dollar store. If you have a large class, you can buy the smaller quantities and then take a video of your demonstration that can be watched over and over. See my blog on 13 Ways Using Photography Helps You Teach Science.

Not pictured but readily available in most Dollar stores are vinegar, baking soda, Epson salts, hydrogen peroxide, vegetable oil, corn syrup, borax, salt, cornstarch, etc.

Rubbing Alcohol
Rubbing alcohol can be used on cotton balls to feel fast evaporation on student’s skin when discussing sweat. It can also be be used for density layering, especially the green tinted one.
Alka seltzer
Great for experiments showing rates of chemical reactions at different temperatures and gas release.

Supplies for Science Centers

Dollar store classroom supplies Magnifying Glass
Pretty decent quality for a Dollar store magnifying glass. Good enough to look at seeds and minerals in a rock.
Sand timer
I love these for student changing activities on their own. Great to have on your desk as well. We tested several of the timers against a digital timer for fun and they were actually very accurate!
Answer button
This is so awesome for review games! The sky is the limit for inventing ways to use these.
Toy crane
They had several different versions of this kit which involves students following directions to accomplish a final goal. Great for early finishers or quiet center time.
Plastic feathers
These are great for having on hand when examining the qualities of bird feathers and flight. They can also be added to your craft supplies for when kids are designing animals during various activities.
Pebbles
Lots of uses for these pebbles including finding volume using the water displacement method, adding them to plaster of Paris to imitate sedimentary rocks, or using them to practice finding mass on pan balances. They can also be painted to make them more interesting.
Seashells
Lots of uses for seashells such as studying mollusks or putting them in vinegar to watch the chemical reaction.
Reptile packs
These are super when studying classification. Believe it or not, some of them are surprisingly anatomically accurate. Great for adaptation activities, too.
Plastic flower
Need a quick flower visual “dissection”? Several of the plastic flowers have the stamens and pistol depicted. I have the students make pipe cleaner bees(with chalk dust) to fly beth the flowers when we discuss pollination.

Classroom Materials for Engineering and Craft Projects

PVC Electric Tape
Electrical tape.
Duct tape
Lots of colorful duct tape.
Straws
Many uses and not so easy to find in some states.
Poster board
Great for Magnet Mazes or a zillion other projects. (See my blog post on designing magnet mazes)
Yarn
Super for food webs and many other projects.
Colorful craft wire

Good for “skeletons” of Play Doh animals, Borax ornaments, and any other time colorful wire is needed.

Storage From the Dollar Store for Your Science Classroom Supplies

Bins
All teachers know how amazing storage containers are from a Dollar store!

Science Classroom Basic Housekeeping Supplies

Lots of utensils, cheap plates, plates, cups and kitchen supplies help to equip your science classroom. Cleaning supplies like soap, cleaning clothes, brooms, sponges, potholders and towels save lots of money.

Containers that can be used for collection items or trash
This little mini trashcan is perfect to put in the middle of each group table for trash or scraps.
Safety glasses
These tend to run small but are still useful for about 1/2 of my middle school students.
Table covering
These are a lifesaver when you are doing a messy project and you have another class coming in right after!

Conclusion

We’ve shown that it is very feasible to effectively teach science using Dollar store classroom supplies without breaking your budget. Visit various Dollar stores in your area to find great items that will stock your science room. You may want to visit my blog post called Basic Supplies You Need in Your Science Classroom where I talk about the materials I consider necessary in a middle school science room.

Kindergarten, First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Homeschooler, Staff, Not Grade Specific - TeachersPayTeachers.com

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