Consumable Items
This list, drawn from suggestions by many teachers, includes items that you might want in one classroom or in a resource center. We have added possible uses beside items that may seem confusing. Many items have uses that apply to math, science and to simple technology. Several can address math standards that involve classification, comparison, measurement and communication.
Alligator clips (batteries and bulbs, other wiring)
Aluminum foil
Baking Soda
Balloons
Balls
Batteries- 9v, AA, C
Beads
Bricks
Candles
Cardboard- corrugated & boxboard
Chopsticks (for dowels or probes)
Clipboards
Clothes pins
Coat hangers- metal
Coffee filters (to filter soil samples, other materials)
Collection of metals (for comparisons and weighing)
Colored pencils
Corks
Cotton balls & cotton swabs
Craft sticks
Cups- clear plastic
Disposable gloves
Dowels
Droppers
Fabric collection
Fan (projects involving wind, indoors)
Feathers
Fishing line- monofilament
Foam pieces
Food coloring
Funnels
Glue-sticks, white, wood
Gutters- plastic (for balls and ramps; for testing small boats [put end caps on the gutters])
Heat-proof mats
Light bulbs (flashlight size, for batteries and bulbs work)
Litmus paper (simple chemical tests)
Magnets and magnetic toys
Marbles
Markers- permanent & water-soluble
Mirrors ( hard acrylic & flexible mylar)
Nails, brads
Newspapers
Paper clips
Paper fasteners
Paper plates
Pie tins
Pipe cleaners
Plastic bags (Baggies, Ziploc)
Plastic buckets- 1 gal., 2 gal., 5 gal.
Plastic collection
Plastic sheeting (garden quality)
Plastic wrap
Plastic containers w/ lids, including bottles
Plasticine
Potting soil
Rubber bands
Sand
Salt
Sandpaper
Screening (to make sieves and for rough surfaces)
Seeds
Sketchbooks
Soil
Sponges
Spoons- plastic, metal and wooden
Springs
Strainer & seive sets
Straws- paper & plastic
String and thread
Strong paper tubes
Sugar
Tape - masking, duct, clear
Thread spools
Tubing- clear plastic in variety of sizes
Vegetable oil
Vinegar
Washers
Waxed paper
Wire- copper, solder, telephone
(for batteries and bulbs and conductivity)
Wood collection and scraps
