Classroom by IKEA (and other fun shopping finds while on the road)

I am blessed to live in a state that does not have an IKEA or Lakeshore Learning Store. Why do I say blessing? Well I would be in MAJOR trouble if they were close to me at all. I hear that an IKEA might be moving in about 2 hours east of me by 2017. The hubs does not like that but I could get super excited about it.

So what did I find... well the first is a MAJOR score. I got these solar lanterns to hang in my room. I was so excited to find them in white and lime green. And the best part is that they are normally $9.99 each and they were on sale for... wait for it... 99 cents!! I got 10! 7 green and 3 white.

I also got a larger white plug in lantern to go over my teacher table. I can not wait to get them up in my room.

From the kids department I got several things to use in my retelling center. This is a center that I am working on. I want to be able to give children the opportunity to develop their oral language. I really miss house keeping and am working to build this center into something that develops skills like sharing, taking turns, talking to each other, and telling a sequence. I got several of the play sets from IKEA including the cash register. I am going to use math manipulative to "stock" the cash register.

I am really excited about this cash register. I love it's simplicity. I plan to use it at back to school and thanksgiving in the oral language center. I am going to make picture cards and price boards for the kids to use and I am going to work on making some kind of receipt ticket that I can laminate and the kids can use over and over. At thanksgiving we already make shopping lists and menus, now we can use oral language as a grocery story and "buy" what we need. I am also going to sneak money in this way. (Sorry CCSS but I really think that we are doing s disservice to the kids not introducing them to money in K).

Do you read the book Bottoms and Tops? I LOVE it!! And how great with this set of soft vegetables be to use in retelling that story! I have a bear finger puppet and I'm on the hunt for a rabbit one of the same size. I think that we might also use these with our thanksgiving center and maybe with our plants unit. 

I love this little basket of food. The red "shopping" basket is SO cute... I might have to get a second of both this one and the veggies one. This is also going to be part of oral language. I'm telling you this center has me SO excited!! I can't wait to get it all together.

Then I saw these markers! I got 2 sets. I am thinking about using them to "grade papers" or to put into writing center. Maybe some will be for me and others in writing center. 

Look at how cute the shapes are!!! The images are simple and bold. LOVE them!

Ok, so picture this... you enter IKEA and see lockers with these LARGE frisbee like keychains. They have numbers on them and your teacher brain explodes! They are made with plates from the kids section! Shut the front door!! 

Yep that really happened. So after I collected my brain I ran to the kids section... ok maybe I didn't run but I did go straight to the kids section and found the plates. 

So what am I going to do with the plates? My plan is to use them in a whole group game. I have some of the animal "poppers" that spit balls. I plan to have the plates spread out on the floor and the kids stand at the edge of the carpet and "shoot" the animal at a plate. On the plates will be flashcards with what ever we are learning. The student will say what is on the plate and their team will get a point. I think the kids will love it!

I have been wanting a rug to define our library area. I've looked at lots of little rugs and not found one that I love. Then I saw this one at IKEA... I <3 it!! It's going to look so cute with my pink bean bag chairs. 

This last picture is my new creation station. I can't wait to get it set up in the room and let the kids go craze! Creation station was a favorite of my kids this year. They followed "written" directions and created something that matched our current them. It starts off as mostly just glue together or color, and by the end of the year the littles are cutting and assembling frogs, and dinosaurs.

So that is a run down of my trip(s) to IKEA this summer. Again I am so thankful that there is not one in my home city. Maybe you will see something that you need for your classroom. Oh and IKEA does ship SOME items from their website, not everything though. Just incase you are lucky like me an live in a non IKEA city ;)