Thursday, September 17, 2009

Simple Tip to Reuse Workbooks

We go through several workbooks in this household, so I was trying to come up with an easy way to reuse them and save them for when Clara is a little older. This seemed to work the best, and it's also very frugal.

To reuse sheets from a workbook, tear out the pages, and place them in plastic sheet protectors. Your child can write on them using dry-erase markers.


I found that the marker doesn't wipe off on their hands, but it easily wipes off of the sheet protector using a felt eraser!

Now we get a lot more mileage out of those workbooks!

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25 comments:

Mark said...

Dear Valerie,

Are my sheets now unprotected? I feel so vulnerable. Put that coffee away!!

Love,
Mark

sunnymama said...

You are clever! Thanks for the tip. :)

Valerie @ Inner Child Fun said...

@ Mark -- Wait til you see what I do with your pocket protecters next week. You feel vulnerable now?? That's a real exercise in trust. ;-)

@ sunnymama -- You're very welcome!

Wendy @ Ramblings from the Sunshine State said...

Thats genius!! I was making copies, but thats so much better!

Christy Killoran said...

We do this too! C and R are 19 months apart so I want to save all of the workbooks, dot to dots, etc. It's a great tip!

Anna said...

That is one of those "why didn't I think of that?" moments! Geez, I've been buying them new ones. I have those page protectors upstairs.

Thanks!

Nancy M. said...

What a great idea!

sunnymama said...

Just had a thought, this would be a great tip for Make-Do Monday if you wanted to share it there next week :)
http://annkroeker.wordpress.com/

Valerie @ Inner Child Fun said...

@sunnymama -- Thank you! Yes, I'll be sure to link up there. Fun!

JR and Brynn said...

Brilliant! Thanks.

Diann @ The thrifty Groove said...

Very good tip!

Rachel Bostwick said...

Oh, I do this! Only, I keep the pages in a 3-ring binder, and move the sheet protector from one place to the next. I use this method to use and reuse curriculum with my kiddoes without wasting paper or money. I love it!

Mark said...

Dear Valerie,

Ha ha! The joke's on you! I don't have pocket protectors! In fact, I rarely use pens and pencils at work anymore.

Love,
Mark

Unknown said...

Great idea!!!
I just have to find out what a dry-erase is in italian :P
But i guess my little boy would like it very much.
Thank you Valerie!

Jessica Ryan said...

now aren't you the clever one... but my kids are funny... with workbooks and such they never do that stuff more than once. Not so frugal, eh?!

Susan said...

I love your blog- the activities you plan for kids are achievable by an actual preschooler, and quick enough that they can see a project through to the finish themselves! So many mama crafters seem to care more about the aesthetics of the finished piece, and how it will 'go' with their decor rather than letting their kids go wild with the tape and paint. (Not that your activities aren't cute!)
If you don't have a white-board marker to draw on your laminated mazes and dot to dots, use a regular texta (felt tip marker?) and it comes off with butt wipes, but I have to ration the wipes out or my two boys would use up a whole stack for the fun of it.

momandkiddo said...

I just posted about this, too! I love that I don't have to constantly print pages out from the computer.

Lisa Anne said...

I'm going to tell my neighbor this. I think this is a great idea for her.

MaryAnne said...

We do this too, but I switched to using crayola washable markers because they come out of clothes (and still wash off of these with a little water). Emily is probably old enough not to draw on herself/her clothes, but it's a good tip for younger kids.

Petula said...

That is such a good idea. I was thinking about the children's workbooks the other day. My youngest often nabs them and scribbles in them after the kids use them. I try to keep her from writing on the unused ones. I've been getting the workbooks from the dollar store too so they aren't too expensive, but this is a great way to save even more!

Kirsten said...

Such a great idea!!

Megan said...

Wow, great tip! Thanks!

Jen said...

This is such a great idea! I had been making copies as well! What a duh moment! :) I've linked to this on my site. Thanks again for the great tip!

Heather said...

Thank you sincerely for saving me a zillion dollars on ink!

Frizz said...

I use the cute drawings in used workbooks for collages.

Marie-Anne

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