The hoarder in me started saving my Extra chewing gum boxes because I knew I would find a use for them. I hated to throw away a perfectly good, reusable container. At first, I started storing business cards in them, then centers cards, and then more and more storage ideas came to mind. I could not chew the gum fast enough, haha!
If you’re like me, you have tons of little cards and manipulatives for students to use. I was storing them in Ziploc bags and it was horrible. The kids wouldn’t seal the bags and cards would get all mixed up. Also, they were not easy to store since they slid all over the place.
I now make manipulatives that are 4×3″ or 3×3″ because they fit perfectly into the Extra gum cases. Kids like snapping them shut, they stack nicely into any box, and best of all, they are clear so I know exactly what’s inside each one. I would pick them up at my local pharmacy or grocery store and start chewing!
Here are 10 things you can store in a gum box, but I’m sure you can think of more:
- Cards & Manipulatives
- Tiny erasers
- Bingo chips
- Crayons
- Paperclips
- Dice
- Stickers
- PBIS bucks or punchcards
- Equity sticks (short ones)
- Clothespins
If you have cards that are a bit too big, try adjusting the print size to 80% or less to make the cards smaller. You can find the Rhythm Match game you see in the example, here!
Happy organizing!
