How to Create Awesome Personalized School Supplies for Your Child
Custom School Supply Ideas for the New School Year
“Do all you can within the bounds of appropriateness for your child’s school, your family’s values and your budget to encourage your children to create personalized school supplies”
We all know kids need custom or personalized school supplies, especially very young children in preschool and kindergarten who are required to have their own names on their backpacks and school supplies to ensure they can find their own gear and they don’t get lost or taken by accident. As I learned the hard way, if your kids’ school supplies aren’t personalized, the school or teacher will do it for you. In my case, the teacher wrote their names in ugly permanent marker and the writing was so bad my kids couldn’t read their own names! Yup, if you let that happen your child will have one ugly backpack and notebook and you’ll have a hard time keeping track of your child’s gear. (Shh...I’ll let you in on a little secret: the incident I’m describing above is actually the reason I created Chub & Bug :)
But the question I really want to pose is why do all of the so-called “custom” school supplies online look like a factory produced them? They're not only boring, but also all look the same. None of them stand out for either design, creativity, or craftsmanship. For example, after even a quick online search, you’ll see backpacks with super boring “embroidered” names and appliques that look fit only for toddlers who’re barely walking. You find plain “vanilla” notebooks with the name “creatively” printed in a typical black sans-serif font. The true irony is the fact you’re paying to personalize your school supplies so you can clearly distinguish them, but you can barely tell your child’s “personalized” school bag from the rest in the class. It’s actually quite absurd when you really think about it.
Why Does Your Child Need a Custom School Supply?
The incident I highlighted above illustrates why from a practical perspective school children need personalized supplies. Gear and supplies get lost and confused, costing parents a small fortune and creating strife between students in the classroom and parents and teachers outside of the classroom. However, there’s an even more important reason why children need a custom school supply. Personalized school supplies not only help out parents and teachers and save parents money, they help your child develop and reinforce their sense of self and personal identity which is critical for healthy emotional and cognitive development.
According to Steve Peha, a nationally recognized educator and founder of Teaching That Makes Sense, parents should do all they can “within the bounds of appropriateness” for their child’s school, their family’s values, and their budget to encourage their children “to create personalized school supplies.” Encouraging children to personalize their school supplies not only “increases motivation and ownership” but also “encourages children to understand themselves, to take pride in themselves, and to learn to just be themselves.” In other words, Peha believes it's “healthier for kids to create their own identity through this process than it is to assume the identity of someone or something else.”
Laura Staal, agrees with Peha. Staal, who recently won the Board of Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, suggests that “Having special school supplies can be directly correlated with your child’s overall attitude toward learning and starting a new grade.”
In short, custom school supplies are practical for parents and teachers alike, but serve an even more important purpose, which is to help give your child a strong sense of self and identity that will not only help them thrive in the classroom, but empower them for the rest of their lives.
How Can I Customize My School Supplies?
So what’s a parent to do, given how difficult it is to find a truly “custom” school supply that reinforces your child’s identity while reducing confusion and loss in the classroom? Well, to personalize your child’s supplies and also make them stand out in a crowded classroom, you’ve got two options: (1) Do it yourself DYI or (2) find a real illustrator / artist to develop your custom school supplies for you. For the remainder of this post, we provide a list of the school supplies and gear you’ll most likely need to be customized and then take you through both customization options by starting with one of the most basic items every student needs no matter their age: a notebook for writing, drawing or coloring and generally turning in assignments.
What School Supplies Should Be Customized?
If your kids are just starting preschool or kindergarten you may be wondering what school supplies you should customize. In a perfect world, everything--and I mean every. single. thing -- your child brings to the classroom would be personalized for your sanity as well as the school’s. But we don’t live in a perfect world and most parents don’t have the time or financial resources to ensure every single school supply has their child’s name on it. So the best thing to do is to prioritize what school supplies and gear need to be personalized. And you’re in luck! I just so happen to have prepared a stack-ranked list of the supplies your child absolutely needs customized for school and a second list of those supplies that need
School Supplies or Gear You Need to Have Personalized
Backpack or school bag--This is super obvious, but yeah, most of the time, kids don’t have cubbies where they can keep all of their stuff together. Kids often have to grab a hook and throw their backpack on it, where it mingles with all of the other “look-alike” backpacks. Kids and their teachers can spend hours looking for their “lost” backpack in this book bag sea. And of all the gear your kids will lose, this is probably one of the most expensive and can really gouge your pocketbook. In my kids first year of preschool, I had to replace their backpack 3 times! Lucky for you, we’re holding our first ever Back-to-School Backpack Sale where you can save 30%
Lunch bag or lunch box--Again, I can’t speak to the policy in every school, but for younger children, lunch boxes are often put in a special bin when children arrive at school, and again, it makes it difficult for your child or your child’s teacher to find your kid’s lunch when it has no name and looks like all the other. That means little Johnny might be starving but might have to wait 15 extra minutes before he starts wolfing down the lunch you carefully packed for him.
Notebook(s)--While it is less likely that your child’s notebook will be lost without a custom name on it, personalizing your child’s notebook actually helps your child’s teacher evaluate their written work. It makes it easier for them to figure out whose work they are reviewing and ensures there is no confusion when they are assessing your child. I think it’s pretty safe to say every parent wants to ensure that their child’s work isn’t being confused with another child’s work, no?
School Supplies or Gear It would Be Nice to Have Personalized
Water Bottle--If you have a very young child starting school, especially preschool or kindergarten, you should know going in that many schools or teachers don’t allow juice or sugary drinks in kids’ lunchboxes. What’s a parent to do? Get a personalized water bottle! A water bottle almost made my list of “need to have” supplies, but realized that some lunch bags or boxes come with a drink bottle. If your child needs a water bottle, there is a good chance it will get lost! Protect your child and get yours personalized!
Jacket or Coat--While a jacket isn’t something we typically think of as a school supply, I do classify it as gear that can and will get lost given children almost immediately take off their jackets when they get to school. Parents often buy jackets from local retailers, which means many kids will have the exact same jacket or coat. It would be super smart for you to think ahead and personalize your child’s jacket or coat.
Pencil Pouch or Pencil Case--Pencil pouches are another essential school supply that are likely to be lost or confused. Given how few pencil pouch and pencil case options there are for your child, it’s not only smart to get this customized of your child is in preschool or kindergarten, but you can also get one personalized that matches their other supplies or gear, which not only means your child loses less stuff, but also that they stand out more in their class. To get an idea of how important it is for a child to stand out and have super cute school supplies, read our post on the top 11 cutest school supplies.
Pencils--I know what you’re thinking: “Really, pencils? Pencils should be personalized?” Well, yes. Children are literally constantly losing their pencils. I can’t tell you how many pencil packs I’ve bought in just one year. The reason they're always getting lost is that other kids grab them or take them by accident in the classroom. When your child’s pencils are personalized, you eliminate the problem overnight and end up saving tons of money.
Gel Pens--I’m sure I don’t need to explain this one. See “pencils” above and if you have room in your back-to-school budget, do yourself a favor and get your child’s pens also personalized.
How to DIY a Custom Notebook in 10 minutes or Less
A DIY personalized notebook is a fun project you can do with your little one that will get them excited about starting school and a great way to spend quality time together. Children spend a great deal of time in school writing. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they actually really enjoyed the “space” where they spent so much of their time? That’s exactly what this DIY custom notebook project does and the best part is that you can have it up and “running” in under 10 minutes. You can also do more elaborate projects, but the most important thing is to realize you don’t have to sacrifice a lot of time (or money) to make your child look and feel special on their first day of school.
Let’s get started!
Step 1: Develop a Theme. Earlier in this post, I claimed that the whole point of creating a DIY personalized notebook is to help your child’s notebook stand out from the crowd, but also display and celebrate their unique personality and identity. What color does your child love? What are their favorite animals or characters? Are they passionate about any issue? Whatever it is, think of this notebook as a way to fully celebrate your child while also nurturing their passions. So the most important step is to spend a few minutes strategizing a “theme” for the notebook. It’s also a good idea to get your child’s journal or sketchbook and help them sketch out a few layout ideas.
Step 2: Buy Your Supplies. Once you’ve figured out the theme, you’ll need to purchase the supplies to customize the notebook.
Buy a plain spiral ruled notebook from anywhere online such as this one at Staples for less than $3. White is a great choice if part of your customization includes creating a special color not offered. White is also great as a “blank canvas,” enabling you more freedom when making decorating and design choices.
Get your decorating supplies at any national craft supply store like Michaels or Hobbylobby. But you can also use Amazon. For this project you’ll want to use all the following supplies: cardstock, pattern papers or cloth, adhesives (tape, liquid adhesive, glue dots etc.), scissors / trimmers, embellishments (foil accents, flower embellishments, journaling cards, tags, die cut chipboards etc)
Step 3: Design Your Cover. Outside of the name itself, designing the cover is probably the most important aspect of this project. Depending on the theme you’ve chosen, you’ll want to lay the “foundation” for the design. A great place to start is colored adhesive tape. You can cut and lay out different colors to make a wonderful border or a rainbow spine or “stripes” across. Next, other important items like a die-cut name “card” upon which you’ll add your child’s name. If your child loves to draw or sketch, it would be great to try to have them draw a “selfie” or a picture of themselves or their favorite animal or character. If they’re not a big fan of drawing, you can substitute a favorite photograph of themselves. The possibilities are endless. Once you have the basic layout and the focal point of the project, it’s time to add embellishments, including beads, ribbons, etc. And the most important aspect is to have fun!
Step 4: Add Your Child's Name. Adding your child’s name is probably the most important piece of this project because there are so many ways you can do it and the name needs to stand out but not interfere with or crowd out the general design. It takes some time to get it just right. In terms of choices in how you add your child’s name, you can use anything from markers, to stencils, to applique letters. You’ll also want to decide if you should include both the first and last name to ensure the custom notebook properly identifies your child or if your child’s name is unique enough that a last name is not required.
Step 5: Finishing Touches.
Decorate Inner pages--There are of course so many ways to customize the inner pages of the personalized notebook. The goal really is to have each page have a bit of eye candy or something fun or cute for your little one to look at and engage with when they write. Stickers are a great and quick way to customize your notebook. You can get a set of “organization” stickers or a set of quote stickers if your child can read. You can also just include stickers of your kids favorite things--like Pizza, Star Wars and Ice Cream! Mmm yum!
Charm Bookmark--And if you are really an overachiever, you can get a metal charm and some string and create a notebook bookmark. Creating a charm bookmark is really simple and just involves you threading a charm through string and either gluing or stabling the bookmark into the notebook.
DIY Custom Notebook
You can Use Tape, Colored Pencils,& Embellishments to Personalize Notebooks!
And yes, it’s really possible to create a custom school supply like a notebook in less than 10 minutes :)
Locate a Real Artist to Develop a Truly Custom Design
If you’re thinking “What if I don’t have the time?” or “I’m just not really that artistic.” No worries. That’s when we go with option two above: find an artist or illustrator to develop a custom notebook for you. There are so many ways to find an illustrator that can work with you and in some ways this option can be far more rewarding as you’re able to get a truly original custom notebook that celebrates your child. However, the downside to option number two is that it's a bit more pricey and will take longer to produce than doing it yourself. So while it’s a hand-off approach, total time to a completed custom school supply will be longer.
However, if money isn’t an issue and you don’t need your custom school supply right away, then this is the option for you.
Where Can I Get My Child’s School Supplies or Gear Customized?
Okay, let’s start with something you don’t want to do. The thing you absolutely don’t want to do is to go to a personalized school supply “mall” online. You’ll see a bunch of these stores at the top of your google search and these are the places which pretend to provide real customization and personalization to parents, but just wind up costing a fortune for bland and unoriginal school supplies.
Obviously, we think your best bet is Chub & Bug! Chub & Bug not only has a large selection of charming and original school supplies that can be personalized, but they will also help your child’s school supplies stand out in a crowded classroom. In our notebook collection, we have awesome custom school supplies for boys, girls, and unisex. So if your little one loves dinosaurs or ballerinas or bumble bees, we have something adorable they’ll love. We’ve got an especially cute personalied mermaid notebook set if your daughter is obsessed with mermaids :)
Mermaid Notebook Set
Personalized Mermaid Notebooks for Girls
Chub & Bug also works with our clients to develop unique customizations especially for you and your child at a fraction of the cost of other artists or vendors. Chub & Bug was started by artist / illustrator Lynn Langmade and each design or artwork was personally hand-drawn or painted by her, so you can get custom school supplies that are original and
If you like to work with another illustrator, you can do a quick search for “illustrator” in both Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook and find many competent illustrators and artists who would love to work on your custom project. Many are very affordable and are even more affordable with more projects.
Overall, we hope you can see how important personalization is for your child when shopping for back-to-school this year. Personalization solves many practical problems with kids’ school supplies and gear and also has the added benefit of helping your child develop a strong identity and sense of self that will truly help their inner light shine :)
