ERS Quantities Brainstorm
At our February Reflective Practice Group, we played a BINGO
like game to look at meeting the quantities of materials needed for the
Environment Rating Scale. Most of these
areas need 3-5 items, which can be costly.
Below is the brainstorm from the group of low cost alternatives. The activity areas we looked at are ones that
are often found in our practice assessments to be lacking.
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Activity Area
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You might find this at the Dollar Store
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You might find this at a Thrift Shop
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You might find this at home, homemade or free
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You might find this at someplace like Target or Fred Meyer
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You might need to get this from an ECE catalog
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Props for sand or water play
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Sand molds, buckets, plastic shovels, flowers, measuring cups,
watering cans, funnels, tubing, spoons, strainers, wash cloths
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Sifters, shells, measuring cups, fish, egg beaters, basters, gems,
whisks, funnels, colanders, pitchers, trucks/cars,
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Sponges, towels, syringes, basters, leaves, shells, tubs, ice, food
color, shells, sticks,
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Trucks, cups, food color, baby soap, water wheels, molds, scoops,
basters, cloths, sponges, animals, fish, rakes, buckets, PVC tubes
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Test tubes, tubing, glitter, animals, dolls, beakers, boats, water
wheel, tubs, cars, pipettes
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Manipulatives (vs. small building materials)
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Buttons, beads, pegs
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Zippers, links, peg boards, lacing items
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Snaps, lacing cards, geoboards, shoes and laces, Beads for stringing,
put/take box
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Stretchy balls, geoboards
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Chain links, nuts/bolts, peg boards, lacing cards, pop beads, locks
boards
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Counting
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Glass counters, straws, dice, dominoes, cards, pomp poms, calculators
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Glass rocks, clock, buttons, ice cube trays, muffin tins
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Buttons, calendars, make graphs, rocks, Beans, play money, egg
cartons, homemade math games
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Dominoes, playing cards, toothpicks, play money, number chart
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Unifix cubes, Abacus, teddy bear counters, cash register, clock,
timers, number chart
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2nd dramatic play theme – Post Office
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Envelopes, hats, manila envelopes, maps, boxes, calendar, play money,
stamps. Cards, rubber finger, stamp pad, rubber bands, pencils, stickers
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Satchels, blue (USPS) or brown (UPS) shirts, cards, maps, phone,
scale
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Mailbox, junk mail, packaging, signs, stamps, packing peanuts, forms,
newspapers, shoe boxes, make price chart, boxes, scale, keyboard, paper,
print pictures of post office from web
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Stamps, postcards, bubble wrap, date rubber stamp, stationery,
address labels, tape, envelopes, mailboxes, maps
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Scales, scanners, play money, mail boxes, uniforms, cash registers,
nametags, mail trucks, hats
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3D art materials
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Playdough, foam, pipe cleaners, toothpicks, straws, craft sticks
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Homemade doughs, paper tubes and boxes, Styrofoam, wood
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PVC pipes, tubes, foam, boxes,
playdough, clay
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Clays
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Movement props
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Scarves, wands, ribbons, streamers, bean bags, balls
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Tap/ballet shoes, hula skirts, scarves
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Ankle bells, bean bags, scarves, streamers, ribbons
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Feathers, hoops, CD player
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Bean bags, yoga cards
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Diversity in dramatic play (cultural, ability, male/female)
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Ethnic dishes, jewelry, glasses (lenses out), hats
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Male and female dress-ups, ethnic dishes, crutches, wheelchair, cane,
walker, wok
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Glasses (lenses out), male and female dress-ups, take out menus from
local ethnic restaurants, empty food containers,
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Bento boxes, magazines, ethnic cook books, male and female dress-ups,
Asian dishes, jewelry
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Multicultural dolls, dolls with disabilities, posters/pictures,
books, play foods, ethnic kitchen sets, world play money
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Measuring
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Measuring cups and spoons, rulers, tape measure, yard stick
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Measuring spoons and cups, timer, rulers, scales
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Tape measure, bathroom scale, height chart, graphing, yardstick timer
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Yardstick, rulers, scales, timers, tape measure, measuring cups and
spoons, height chart, stopwatch
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Scale, height chart, timers
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