We’ve all done it, haven’t we?! Our trusty classroom BFF during the back to school season is our hot glue gun. However, in May/June, as we are breaking our fingernails trying to remove all the labeled items from bins or the walls, we immediately regret our relationship with our high temp pal and break up. There’s a better way! I’ve discovered four amazing replacements so you can ditch the hot glue and save your fingernails and painted walls.
This double-sided tape will securely hold anything on your walls. A small piece goes a long way. I’ve even used this to attach my message board to my wall, so trust me when I say that this stuff is strong! It is also reusable. Just wash the tape off and reapply.
Want to attach something to your white board or cubbies for students? Be sure to laminate first, but then use Tack It Over & Over. You can literally peel it up and re-stick it in another place. This doesn’t work well on walls in my opinion, but I have used this to attach cubby labels, lunch choice name tags, etc.
If you know each year that you are going to attach something over and over again, but it needs to be changed out with new student names, use velcro dots instead. These are perfect for my book bin labels. They last because the adhesive is very strong. I leave the “hook” dot on the bins from year to year and then, when I’m ready to attach the new names/labels, I place the “loop” piece to the “hook” piece and press the label on. This ensures that the velcro dots are lined up properly without using a ruler or guessing.
Here’s my secret weapon for attaching borders to my whiteboard. I add three small pieces of this magnetic tape to each strip and then attach.
I also used this magnetic tape to hold my acrylic shelves to my white board for a book display each month. It holds the shelves in place no matter the weight of the books.
What other alternatives to hot glue do you use in your classroom? I would love to hear your suggestions as we ditch the hot glue together!
