Teaching without a budget is ROUGH. STUFF. And I’ve been there several times. If you are looking to supplement your classroom on a tight budget (aka – yours or a very small amount that is provided to you), you can do it for just under $30!
Bingo Chips
Bingo chips are a staple manipulative. They are great for solfege practice and easy to take care of, pass out, wash, and store. This set of 500 is $6.99.
Craft Sticks
Popsicle sticks (or craft sticks when you buy them without a treat on them) are great for writing out rhythms, popsicle sticks are easy to come by. This box of 1000 is $12.99 Double down on the craft sticks and draw on a solfege ladder as well and have them be solfege texting sticks as well. Or mod-podge these premade templates to them. (Link is at the bottom of the post!)
Yarn
Yarn is amazing! It can be a tool for vocal exploration, a line for practicing high/low or sol/mi. If you really want to save it for future use,
This big skein of yarn is $3.99 for 300 yards.
Rhythm Manipulatives
These are probably one of the biggest bang for your buck.
To really get your worth. out of them:
– Print a class set
– Put each rhythm on a different color
– Put into a ziplock bag
– Number each bag and set
– Laminate
This will last a lot longer, make it easy to sort, and can be used with different grade levels. This is a great parent project if you have a volunteer! Even if you break up the tasks to copy, cut, sort, number, laminate.
This set is $6.00
Free Manipulatives
Of course, the best things for budget savers are FREE!
These heartbeat mats are perfect for laying out to practice writing with popsicle sticks, to practice tracking beat, or using other manipulatives on. If you laminate them, they can also be used as dry erase materials! Snag them here.
Staff Paper is essential in a music classroom and having options is a good idea. This set has a single line for high/low or sol/mi, a three line staff and a five line staff. Print double sided on some thicker paper or yardstick and laminate so you can use all year round. Snag it here.
Both are available in my TpT store too!
Looking for more info about manipulatives? Check out this post.
Do you suffer from No Budget woes? I’ve been there. Check out some no budget friendly teaching ideas here.
Grand Total
The Grand Total for everything in this post:
Bingo Chips: $6.99
Popsicle Sticks $12.99
Rhythm Manipulatives: $6.00
Yarn: $3.99
Heartbeat Mats: $0.00
Staff Paper $0.00
TOTAL: $29.97
Of course these are Amazon prices so you might be able to get some of these at your local Michaels store with a coupon for even less. There are definitely some items you may be able to ask for donations or get through school supply orders as well. I hope this has given you a wealth of inexpensive ideas!
