Okay, so here’s another fabulous dollar store find for your classroom, although I must admit that this one threw me a curve ball.
I once saw magnetic spice containers at a specialty kitchen shop and thought they would make great containers for dice. The only problem was the price. It would have cost a fortune to buy a class set or even enough for partners to share. I searched on the Internet and kept my eyes open in just about every store for over a year, but couldn’t find any magnetic spice containers for an affordable price.
Then, I realized that I was looking in the wrong department! One day last spring, I stumbled upon these magnetic storage tins in the office supply section at Dollar Tree! They were designed to hold paper clips, but looked very much like the spice containers I had been looking for all along. The best part is that they were sold in sets of two for a dollar! I snatched up a dozen packages and went on my way. Here enters the problem.
As always, when shopping at the dollar store, we risk quality over price and quantity. Shortly after filling my containers and hanging them in their new home on the side of my file cabinet, I realized that the dollar store magnets were not going to properly adhere to the back of the tins. I still loved the idea of the containers, but this was just not going to work out.
Enter solution.
It turns out that this fix-all adhesive (also from the dollar store) will do the trick. Remove each magnet with a butter knife.
Bada bing.
Bada boom.
And then we were back in business. Those magnets are very difficult to remove and they have stayed in place ever since!
Now that’s pure teacher bliss.
I used these 10-sided dice
Happy shaking!
What a neat idea. (No dice on the floor!)
brilliant idea!
I love this idea! Have you had any problems with the kids poking through the plastic on the lids? For years, I have used baby food boxes (I blogged about them here) and have trouble with some kids deliberately breaking the plastic lids.
Hi Judy! I just checked out your blog post! That is such a great idea as well! When my kids were babies, I collected those containers and used them to store counters and other math manipulatives in my classroom. They did get pretty beat up over time. So far, my dice shakers are in perfect shape. I have only used them for a year, and of course my students know that I made them and would probably cry if they intentionally poked through the lids. Haha.
Hi, I’m about the implement your idea in my class. Just checking to see how they’ve held up after another year of use. Thanks!
Author
Hi! That’s great! Yes, mine are still on the side of my file cabinet and my students use them frequently. Every once in a while, I have to re-glue a magnet on the back, but overall, they have held up well.
Just wondering how loud these are when you shake them?
Hi, They do make a muffled noise, but it is less noise than rolling on a table. 🙂
You could put felt in the bottom of the containers to muffle the noise
Love this but I’d probably use foam dice to eliminate the noise factor!
Author
Great idea! It might be hard to find foam dice that are small enough to shake around in these containers. If you find them, please share! 🙂