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Five Must-Have Special Kid Essentials for the School Year

Three yellow binders, ten dividers, a hole punch, Kleenex, crayons and antibacterial gel. Did we miss anything? Each year, the list of school supply demands seems to be growing, but what if you're the parent of or a teacher for special needs children? In addition to the basics, here are five essential back to school items you can't afford to miss.

1. Pencil Grippers

Let's start with the basics: We love affordable accessories, and these colorful pencil grippers should be at the top of your back to school list. Why? Many children who are just learning the basics of writing, practice improper grip techniques. Whether this is the result of inexperience or hand weakness, you can help your child advance his or her writing skills easily and affordably.
A pencil gripper can help children adjust their grip to improve both comfort and control. Try the original grip to improve ergonomics or try the C.L.A.W. if your child has hand disabilities or exhibits improper grasping techniques.


2. Sweet 16 Fidget Bag

A fidget bag offers a convenient and affordable solution to help kids and adults alike concentrate, relax and find proper sensory input. This bag is geared toward students by including 16 fun fidgets that facilitate active learning, improve attention and increase overall productivity.
The bag includes one visual timer to help children manage tasks. A visual timer provides children with queues they can easily understand and improves their understanding of the passage of time. Additionally, the bag includes a variety of fun sensory fidget to keep little hands busy. Studies have shown that children with attention deficit disorders benefit from these types of mindless distractions, and helps them to focus on their assignments such as tests or homework.
All of these fidgets are combined in one drawstring bag for easy organization. Keep one at home and one in their desk at school, and watch their abilities soar!


3. Create a Scene Games

This interactive game is one of our favorites in our collection. Create a Scene relies purely on the player's imagination and provides a fun avenue to help children grow. This magnetic board holds a wide range of scenes, from construction sites to horse ranches; each board comes with its own magnetic pieces that can be moved around to tell the story your child wants to tell.
The pieces are large, sturdy and easy to grasp and will stick to the board as well as the refrigerator at home. Let your kids play this game while you make dinner or provide it as an entertaining distraction in the car or at a restaurant.

Watch your child's imagination transform as he or she is transported to another world. Imaginative play promotes a range of vital skills required for real-life applications. Help them improve problem-solving and build sequencing skills, encourage storytelling and more.


4. Special Kids' Seating

We offer a wide range of seating and seating accessories for kids with sensory and developmental disorders, but the Kore is quickly becoming one of our favorites. If you have a child who can't sit still during lessons or while completing homework, the Kore offers the perfect solution. This chair allows kids to keep their legs busy wobbling around while keeping the upper body still enough to complete the assignment.
Give them an outlet for all of the extra energy they possess. Whether your child has ADD, ADHD or autism, this chair really rocks! It increases focus by providing a way to multi-task while remaining seated and keeping both hands free. Additionally, this chair greatly improved posture by engaging the back and abdominal muscles.
The wobble chair is a great solution for kids who like to keep moving. Let them rotate between a standard chair, a balance ball and the Kore to keep things interesting throughout the day! The Kore chair is ergonomic and is designed not to slip, topple or lead to scratches on your floor.


5. Liquid Tiles

Great for the home, the classroom or any sensory environment, these liquid tiles are absolutely mesmerizing. Touch them, poke them, step on them, sit on them or swish them around to create a stimulating and colorful sensory environment for children of all ages.
Each squishy liquid tile offers 20 x 20-inches of unbeatable fun. The foam backing means you can place them on any floor without worrying about accidents, and the leak proof design ensures your carpets stay dry. Each tile is pressure tested with 32 tons of direct heavy pressure and is completely scratch resistant.
Create bubbly cosmic fun in the play room, on the lawn, at grandma's house or anywhere!

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Tornado Tube Tornado Tube

A unique device for demonstrating tornadoes in your classroom! Simply screw device on plastic soda bottle two-thirds full of water, attach empty plastic soda bottle to other end and swirl upper bottle briefly. Bottles not included.
  • Sold as an Each
  • Simple, fun way to demonstrate twisting tornadoes to your child
  • Easily attaches to a standard soda bottle for hours of fun
  • Great for science projects and at home experiments
  • Children of all ages will be entertained by creating their own tornado
**** Assorted Colors****

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Primary Shapes Template Set Primary Shapes Template Set

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  • Provides relational examples in varying sizes and orientations -- trace around the entire template for the largest version!
  • Lets students easily view their tracing lines after repositioning the transparent template.
  • Supports NCTM Early Learning Standards for geometry and shape relations.
  • Includes 5 durable labeled templates: circle, triangle, rectangle, square and hexagon.
  • Rectangle measures 7.5''L x 4.5''H
  • Grades PreK+

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Educational Benefits

  • Learning Style:Visual, Tactile
  • Skill Development: Place value, Counting, Comparison, Renaming, Addition, Subtraction
Includes
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• Disks measure 1' in diameter

• Age 4+
• Grade PreK+

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Learning Resources - Mathlink Cubes Learning Resources - Mathlink Cubes

High-quality plastic cubes measure 3/4 ' each and come in 10 bright colors. These stackable cubes are easy for little hands to connect and twist apart. Great for counting to 100 by ones and tens, grouping, and one-to-one correspondence. MathLink Cubes feature geometric shape cutouts.

Cubes link together on all sides of each cube with geometric shape cutouts for more complex patterning activities.

Educational Benefits

  • Learning Styles: Visual, Tactile
  • Skill Development: Math skills (one-to-one correspondence, counting to 100, skip counting, Comparison, Making 10, Nonstandardized measurements, Grouping, Addition, Subtraction, Graphing), Color identification, Shape identification, Patterning, Matching, Fine motor skills, Eye-hand coordination, Motor planning,

Includes
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**Age: 5+
**Grades: K+

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Learning Resouces - Fraction Tower Fraction Cubes Learning Resouces - Fraction Tower Fraction Cubes

Colorful, durable, interlocking Fraction Tower(R) Cubes are perfect for exploring and comparing fractions! Children learn by building simple, graphic mathematical models that clearly demonstrate fraction relationships.

Set of 51 fraction cubes can be used alone or with Deluxe Fraction Tower(R) Activity Set **

CHOKING HAZARD** Not recommended for babies or toddlers.

Our Price:: $19.25
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Giant Magnetic Number

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No stand required! Double-sided, easel-style chart supports itself.

  • Allows you to create convenient centers focusing on any skill: sort, classify, graph, build equations or sentences, and more

  • Features 5 display pockets on each side for cards, available separately

  • Provides built-in storage with large pocket for cards or manipulatives

  • Folds flat when not in use

  • Includes sturdy handles for carrying

  • Chart with Activity Guide measures 12.25''L x 16''H when folded

  • Folds out into a triangle shape that is 12.25''W x 14.75''H
  • **Cards Sold separately**
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    Educational Benefits

    • Learning Styles: Visual, Tactile
    • Skill Development: Early math skills (counting, addition, subtraction, angles, fractions, symmetry), Shape recognition, Matching, Sorting, Creativity, Problem solving, Color identification, Comparison, Fine motor skills

    ** Age: 3+
    ** Grade: PreK+

    Our Price:: $34.00
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    Savings: $4.50
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    Includes
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    • **Age 3+
    • **Grade K +

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    The Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives set includes 275 photo cards and 13 resource cards (4.25” x 5.5” each):

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    • Adjectives: Opposites
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    Key Education products are intended to engage and educate young and special learners, as well as assist teachers in building a strong and developmentally appropriate curriculum for these children. The product line—comprised of teacher/parent resource books, photographic learning cards, and other activity- and game-oriented materials—is designed to assist in “Unlocking the Potential in Every Child.”

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