The 15 Best School Supplies, According to Kids

In July 2025, we put 100 junior testers to work. (Did I say work? I mean play.)

We recruited kids ages 6 to 10 from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut through The New York Times’s newsletters and social media. (None of the junior testers’ parents work for the company.) They joined us at The Times’s offices in Times Square, where each child spent about two and a half hours rotating through stations (plus a 15-minute snack, bathroom, and cartwheel break).

Each testing station was dedicated to one product category, such as backpacks or glue sticks. For each station, we selected five high-quality contenders based on picks in our current guides, such as our recommendations for the best kids backpacks, kids water bottles, and kids lunch boxes. In categories without existing Wirecutter guides, we researched popular options and selected those that we thought would be durable and reliable (such as those with good reviews or made by a reputable brand). For most categories, particularly those where look and design really matter, we presented two versions of each item, with contrasting colors and designs. For instance, for the Pottery Barn Kids Mackenzie Backpacks, we had a lavender tie-dye heart pattern and a dark blue school of sharks print.

We gave each child a booklet and asked them to mark their top picks as they moved from station to station. We tried our best to conceal brand names, labeling each item as A, B, C, D, and E. (Kids are smart, though. One held up a marker and noted the distinctive wavy lines, proclaiming, “I know this is Crayola!”)

Some examples from our testing stations:

• For backpacks, we first wrapped each one with black and blue rain covers so that the kids could not see too much of the color or pattern. We filled the backpacks with 4 pounds of dried pinto beans to mimic the approximate weight of a supplies-filled pack. Kids put on the backpacks and marched around the room to gauge comfort. (A suggestion to make them climb up and down flights of stairs while wearing them was nixed.) We then removed the rain covers so that the kids could see and inspect the backpacks’ zippers, pockets, and other features.
• For health and safety reasons, we did not ask kids to drink or eat from the water bottles, lunch boxes, or food thermoses. Instead, they opened and closed each one several times and packed the lunch boxes and food thermoses with food-shaped squishies.
• For colored pencils, crayons, and markers, we gave each child five of the same color and asked them to color with each one in their booklet. (It turned out that not all reds were alike — a few even bordered on orange.)

Our junior test squad was impressively dedicated, thoughtful, and articulate. Occasionally kids picked a winner based on something besides function: They liked the letter B, recognized a familiar brand, or loved sharks, for instance. In some cases, if they had trouble narrowing it down to just one favorite, they selected two. But for the most part, they carefully weighed why they preferred one item over the rest.

To determine the winners, we tallied the kids’ votes; for those who picked two, we awarded half a point for each. We also reviewed the kids’ comments and noted their least-favorite items. In several instances, the contest was neck and neck, but ultimately we found a clear winner in every category.

This article was edited by Amy Miller Kravetz and Kalee Thompson.