Dream Glue

Hello, my name is Gloria Knowles. I am a buyer in the Arts and Crafts Department at Discount School Supply. Before becoming a buyer, I was an Elementary Art teacher. I had the opportunity to teach the art program for Kindergarten to 6th-grade students. Since I was a travelling teacher who went with my art cart into each classroom to give the art lesson, I was always looking for easy and cost-effective ways for dispensing art materials to the students. Glue was a product I used constantly for many of the art lessons, yet I found that it was so challenging to distribute glue to the children quickly and in a form that was easy for them to use. The glue also needed to be as mess-free as possible so that I could leave one classroom neat and clean and then move on for the next class.

Now, as the buyer for glues at Discount School Supply, I have had the opportunity to work on developing some user-friendly glue products for teachers. In short, I was on a quest for my “dream glue.” I began to search with many of our vendors to see what we could find.

To save money, many teachers buy the large gallon of Colorations white or clear glue. A big bottle of glue is economical – but it poses another challenge. What smaller “dispenser” can you put the glue into that won’t require a lot of clean-up afterwards and is still easy for the children to use? I was very happy to find what I thought was the ideal solution: a set of small jars that could be filled from the gallon bottle. These glue jars have a wide base so they don’t tip easily. Inside the cap, a handy glue brush is attached so children can apply glue without getting it on their fingers. The jars are clear so you can see how much glue is in the jar. Because they are clear, these same jars are also great to use with paints. The little brush in the lid works just as well with paint as it does with glue. These jars (GLUEJAR) turned out to be the perfect way to dispense glue and paint to students.

Sometimes, the actual activity of gluing can be a challenge for children, especially when they are gluing 3-D materials or doing collage projects. Often some glues take too much time to set, and students become impatient as they wait, holding items in place on their projects. Thicker, more tacky glues can work very well when you have such art projects planned. So for those special projects where thicker glue will allow a more successful creative experience, I wanted to find another glue-dispensing product to meet this challenge. I found a jar filled with super-thick glue that provides quick and easy gluing. The jars are kid-sized and easy for small hands to manipulate. Each jar has a wide applicator attached in the lid; again it’s the perfect tool for children to use to place glue just where it’s needed without getting sticky fingers. The thick glue works great for holding materials in place and dries clear very quickly. Discount School Supply offers this handy jar with tacky glue as a set of 12 for classroom use (TCGJAR).

At Discount School Supply, we have many other great glue products such as glue sticks, glue pens, and bottles of glue in various sizes. We know that you can find the right glue for your classroom projects. I hope you’ll like the two I’ve described here, and I hope that you’ll find your “dream glue” in the pages of our catalog or on our website at www.discountschoolsupply.com. If not, I would love to hear from you if you have a special kind of gluing need for your classroom. Please get in touch!