There is a growing market for school printables and educational materials that both teachers and homeschool parents will buy. There are 4 million teachers in the United States public schools and an additional 3 million homeschooled children. And what do both groups have in common? They both need and buy materials to teach children.
Homeschooling has been growing in popularity in recent years, with an estimated 3.1 million homeschool students in the United States alone. While it is a relatively small percentage of the overall student population, parents still need educational materials. Popular places to buy materials is Shopify, Teachers Pay Teachers and ETSY.
Common types of materials they need include math worksheets, reading comprehension activities, writing prompts, spelling lists, history timelines, and geography maps.
Keep in mind the age/grade level you are creating for. Elementary aged children need reading activities, sight words, practice writing and spelling as well as math worksheets.
Anyone can create materials for teachers and homeschooling parents. Look at the different categories and see the opportunities in each one. Then pick an area and get started. Early elementary grades are probably easier to create than high school materials and all standards are available online to help you.
Types of School Printables to Create
1. Math Worksheets
Kids need lots of practice in math, even the simple math. Try creating activities, games and worksheets for simple math skills like addition, subtractions, multiplication and division. Trust me, they need the practice and do not get enough.
Even coloring pages combined with math are great ideas. Younger kids love to color and you can create these for both printable and digital versions.
2. Handwriting Practice Sheets
I know you have seen these, there are lots of variations available. Check out Canva and combine the handwriting sheets with practice recognizing words.
3. Vocabulary Worksheets and Task Cards
Easy to create in Canva using Bulk Create. Words by grade level are available online. Check our Dolch Sight Words and Fry Sight Words an download those words by grade level.
In addition to those word lists, add some science words, math words, social studies as well. And combine those flash cards with posters of the words for classroom walls.
4. Alphabet and Number Practice
Early learners need both sight recognition, practice writing and saying letters of the alphabet and numbers. From pre-Kindergarten to third grade (and maybe higher in some places) they use the lined tracing guides to help print, copy, trace the letters. You can do sets of 26 (1 for each of the letters) or vary the worksheets of letters and then bundle the different types together.
They also need practice counting. Worksheets with objects where kids count and either color or circle the answer are great for this. These are evergreen, but you can capitalize on the holidays by making an Easter version–count the eggs, count the chicks, etc.
Some Additional Tips to Make Sure Your Worksheets WoW:
Clearly define the learning objective for each worksheet.
To clearly define the learning objective for each homeschool worksheet, consider what specific skill or knowledge you want the student to demonstrate mastery of after completing the worksheet. Write a clear and concise statement that describes the intended outcome of the worksheet.
This statement should be specific, measurable, and aligned with your overall homeschooling goals. It can be helpful to use action verbs to describe what the student should be able to do after completing the worksheet. For example: ” After using this activity, students will be able to identify the letter B and write both the Capital and Lower case letter.”
Use a Consistent Layout and Format for Each Worksheet
The easiest way to have a consistent layout and format is to create a template for each type of activity. If you are doing Flash Cards, use a template so they are all the same size and font/font size is the same.
You can create a template with predetermined sections and formatting if you are doing some type of different activity. This will help ensure that each worksheet looks similar and is easy to navigate. You can also use the same colors, and styles throughout all your worksheets to maintain consistency.
Use Age-Appropriate Fonts And Font Sizes
Consider using larger fonts for younger children and smaller fonts for older children. For younger children, it is recommended to use sans-serif fonts like Arial or Comic Sans in sizes 18-24. For older children, serif fonts like Times New Roman or Georgia in sizes 12-14 are appropriate. It is also important to consider the readability and legibility of the fonts used, as well as the spacing between letters and lines.
Kids Printables are NOT the place for swirly, hard to read script fonts. It will be frustrating and confusing to smaller kids. You can use a variety of block fonts, just make sure that it is easy to read.
Keep Instructions Simple And Easy To Understand
All instructions need to be simple to understand and follow. You can provide examples as well in your directions so parents are clear what needs to be done. Also provide an answer key. Don’t assume someone will know the answer.
I recently purchased an activity for my high school Geometry class and I know Geometry well, however the activity did not come with an answer key. I had to put in an hour to do the answer key myself before I could use it in class.
Incorporate Visuals and Graphics
We all love graphics, pretty colors, design elements that make the content more fun to use. Kids are no different. And remember that the kids are not doing the buying, parents buy. So this is a great place to use your line art, coloring page images, clip art of all types.
Try using a line art border on the edge of the pages, you can create that in Canva or PowerPoint. Any coloring images that you can include will add to the value of the worksheet and make it more fun.
Packaging to Sell
Whatever platform you will use to sell your products, you need to have images to help the customer know what they are buying. Use mockups and images of each of your pages. I suggest you watermark your individual images.
You can sell single pages or bundle them together in a set. You will provide the user a PDF of all pages. You can also group the sheets together by grade level or content: example 2nd grade handwriting practice or 1st grade math worksheets.
For other ideas on educational products you can sell online, check out this previous blog post: Back to School Products You can Sell. School products sell year round, not just at the beginning of the school year. And summer is a time when parents of younger children keep them learning so they will be ready for the new school year.
Comments? Questions? You can email me at hello@creativeplr.com and I am happy to answer any and all. I would love to see you get started in school printables.