It's that time again, we're running around like crazy buying school supplies, school clothes, school shoes and school lunch food (yes, we pack lunches in the Goode house). Most of the supplies end up in a community pile in the classroom so there's no need to put a name or make sure we know who it belongs to. However, there are still some thing that need to be identified and kept track of throughout the day. You can make ID tags to put on lunch boxes and backpacks but things like food containers and water bottles don't work well with tags or labels.
So, instead, I grabbed a Sharpie paint pen and started doodling (I added all those stars and hearts and flowers). There's a lot of different kinds of paint pens, but I particularly like the Sharpies because they write well, write on just about anything, aren't super leaky or messy, the paint quality is great and you can find them pretty easily at different stores. They come in a whole variety of colors including the neons we (insert sarcasm) 80's kids love so much. I used these same markers on a sketch book and little art box I talked about earlier this summer too.
For older kids, they can decorate their own stuff with these pens too… just be aware they are permanent (good don't you think, since you are labeling things to be able to recognize them as yours later?).
What a great idea. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it.