How do you resource Aistear on a shoestring budget?

We need to be creators and not consumers.

This is one of the biggest challenges for teachers. I often hear teachers question the financial ability to support Aistear in the classroom. And they are right to do so. We have been handed this new framework to implement but have not been handed the funding to support it, as a result a lot of schools rely on fundraising or indeed money out of their own pocket to support it. 
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But it doesn't have to break the bank to get Aistear up and running, I have pretty much zero Aistear budget so you will probably notice that my Aistear play doesn't always involve shiny new topical resources and more recycled old cardboard boxes! You can do it too, but it does take a bit of time and creativity...
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When to call on parents

Parents should be your first port of call when sourcing topic specific toys and resources. As a parent of two young children myself, trust me we are always trying to get rid of old toys, with the permission of our little ones! and the children love bringing in stuff from home.

• At the start of this year we put a general call out to all parents to 'Bag and Drop' any old toys and leave them off at certain collection points around the school. We promoted this for about a week and the response was great. After a big sorting session, the toys were shared out among the staff. Anything we didn't need was sent for recycling.
• Before the start of every new topic I give a shout out to the parents on my class blog to bring in any toys or anything that would suit the new topic and add to their child's play. I always get some nice bits and over the year my resources have built up nicely. Occasionally children will 'lend' me toys when we are covering a certain topic and that is absolutely fine. I always make sure that everyone is aware who it belongs to and that we need to take good care of it. The child always remembers to ask for it back! It is important that the child knows that if they're going to bring something in they must be willing to share it. 
• Always try to find out if any of the parents have any connections or ideas on the resource situation. Generally, parents are always willing to help. 

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Role-play area

I painted the back of two shelves to create a nicely enclosed role-play area. I change it around throughout the year, here I have given it a roof using some material, glittery stars and pine cones. I sometimes take the roof off to change it up a bit, add 'snow' at christmas time. Add a sign every now and then. 

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Cardboard boxes will be your new best friend! 

I can't emphasise how much children will get from the humble cardboard box. The video below speaks for itself! Excuse the messy classroom but that's the way it goes in the Aistear hour! The topic we were covering here was Transport. One big box was in the process of being made into a bus. The other boxes were a train and another box was the ticket office. If you are lucky enough to be close to an Ikea, you will get an array of large boxes. Some of them are ready made houses as you can see below. But any large store should be able to supply you with cardboard boxes. 
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Discovering our new topic... from Ms Murray on Vimeo.

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Your Checklist for resources on a budget!

Where possible, it is actually better to make your own resources out of boxes and old recyclables. It will teach the children to use their imagination and be creative. Something that we do not always encourage when we buy everything ready made, colourful and sparkly new! 

• Toy Kitchen (or you can make one out of cardboard box)
• Kitchen utensils: kettle, microwave(shoebox), plastic self, cutlery, tea towel, oven mitt, pots/pans
• Washing machine (again a box would work here) 
• Dolls (Big and small. Try have a set with the correct anatomy and you'll use them to cover your SPHE) 
• Working Tools. It is worth investing or getting a donation of a good set of work person tools including: hammer, wench, bow saw, chain saw, drill, screw driver, nail gun etc.
• large Bread board We got a few from Brennan's bread, they make a great base to build your small world on. 
• Plastic containers of all sizes for your water, sand, soil, slime... all thing sensory! you can invest in expensive water/sand boxes but it's not a necessity.  
• Recyclables I would send out a call to parent when I needed to stock up on recyclables for junk art. 
• Home-made Playdoh Click here for my recipe and a sample lesson to involve your class in making it. 
• Garden tools small garden tools like a trowel, rake, handfork, buckets.
• Old cot I turned my daughter's old Ikea cot into a kind of Aistear area. Every topic I change it into something new. It has been a garden hut, hot air balloon, Santa's sleigh, igloo and more. See the photos in my class blog for ideas.
• Plastic occupational figures. These were an expensive buy but they are so useful for SESE/Aistear. They're very good quality and will last. 
• Blocks foam, wood, plastic, big, small, whatever you can get your hands on.
• Town mat/carpet. one that includes houses and roads. Again, a large flat piece of cardboard and you can create your own.
• Natural Materials: Stones, tree cut offs, pebbles, twigs, acorns, soil, leaves, flowers etc. These can be added to many play areas... water, soil, sand, art.

The list is endless really and you will realise that you can actually incorporate the same resources in many different ways throughout out the year. 

Thanks for reading, I hope you found this blog useful! If you would like to keep posted on new blogs as they come please subscribe below.

Thanks
Zara