15 Freebies That Are Actually Free

8 free things for your classroom

DonorsChoose

DonorsChoose lets you post a classroom wish list that the public pays for. Once it is funded, DonorsChoose buys the items and ships them to your school. Posting costs you nothing: “Our site is absolutely free for teachers,” its teacher page says.

Its terms limit accounts to “a full-time employee of a PreK-12 public school, charter school, or Head Start Center in the 50 states or District of Columbia” who works directly with students at least 75% of the time. Private school teachers don’t qualify. You choose one of two routes:

• Classroom Essentials. No minimum, a set list of basics, and items ship as money comes in.
• Classroom Project. A $100 minimum and a short essay, with over a million products from more than 20 stores, including Lakeshore, Amazon and Staples. Nothing ships until it is fully funded.

The catch is the clock. A project stays live for up to 4 months, then expires, and you post a new version. Money from friends and family comes back to you as gift codes, while other donors get theirs back. Once funded, you owe donors a thank-you package with a letter and photos.

Its counters show $2.01 billion raised since 2000 and 3.63 million projects funded, and 67% of projects reach full funding.

Big wishes do get funded. In August 2026, KPTV reported that a Portland middle school cooking and sewing teacher had received roughly $14,000 in supplies through about 20 projects, from mixing bowls to stand mixers. An Oakland teacher told EdSource in 2019 about splitting a classroom makeover of just under $7,000 into three projects, so part of it would fund even if the rest didn’t.

Worth it? Yes, for any public or charter school teacher. Ask for less than the $556 average funded project, and split a big wish into smaller ones.

AdoptAClassroom.org

AdoptAClassroom.org gives you a classroom page that anyone can donate to. You then spend the money in its marketplace of more than 20 supply companies, and the items ship to your school. It counts $83 million raised and 330,000+ classrooms adopted.

It takes more schools than DonorsChoose. Its eligibility rules cover licensed teachers, administrators and other certified staff at “a public or charter PreK-12 school,” “an accredited private PreK-12 school,” school-based or accredited public preschools, and Head Start programs. Homeschools are “outside the scope.”

Registered teachers can also win money it hands out itself, per its funding page:

• Spotlight Fund grants. Due November 2, 2026 (Inclusive Classroom), February 26, 2027 (Racial Equity in Schools) and April 26, 2027 (STEM and Arts). Applications open about a month before each date.
• A monthly giveaway. Two $500 classroom donations each month; enter from your dashboard by the last day of the month.
• Donation matches. Seasonal matches that double what teachers receive.

The catch: nothing arrives unless someone donates, and the funding page does not say how much a Spotlight grant is. Teachers who don’t log in for more than six months may miss corporate partner donations until they do.

Worth it? Yes, and it is the one to use at a private school. Enter the free monthly giveaway even if no one has donated yet.

Teacher free stores

A teacher free store is a warehouse of donated supplies where eligible teachers shop for nothing. The Kids In Need Foundation links a network of them that gives “free school supplies directly to teachers in under-resourced schools … at no cost to teachers or their schools.” We counted 32 centers on its list on October 15, 2026, seven of them in Florida.

You qualify by your school, not your pay. About half of US public schools (51.6%) had more than half their students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in 2022-23, NCES data show. Each store sets its own rules:

The hauls are real. At the Minnesota center, CBS Minnesota reported in August 2025, a teacher takes home about $540 of supplies a trip and can shop quarterly. Crayons and Beyond logged nearly 18,000 teacher visits in the 2025-26 school year, WKRC reported.

Not every store is free past the door. A Baltimore supply swap gave a teacher’s first load free, then charged $45 a year for unlimited visits, NPR reported in 2018.

Worth it? The best value on this list if a store near you takes your school. Search the Kids In Need network for your state, and book early: Classroom Central caps its appointments each month.

Colgate classroom kit

Colgate’s Bright Smiles, Bright Futures program sends free classroom kits for Head Start and kindergarten, “filled with fun dental games, Colgate samples, and more.” Its page says the program “is now open for 2026.” Shipping pauses over the summer break and resumes in the fall.

You request one through a sign-up form on that page. Colgate’s kit information, as search results show it, says kits carry samples for 24 students, ship only to a school address (no P.O. box or home) and go first come, first served.

Worth it? Yes, for Head Start and kindergarten teachers. Order early in the school year, while kits last.

Every Kid Outdoors

Every Kid Outdoors gives every US fourth grader a free pass to national parks, lands and waters. Teachers at a US or military school can print “one paper pass for each of their fourth-grade students” by entering a name, work email and school. Youth leaders and home-school leaders can too.

The 2026-27 pass expires August 31, 2027, its rules page says. It admits “all children under 16 and up to three adults” where fees are per person, or one carload where fees are per vehicle. It doesn’t cover parking, camping, boats or special tours. Sites won’t accept a copy of the paper pass, though you can convert it to a digital pass at recreation.gov.

Most vouchers are never turned into passes. In 2022-23, the program’s own report counts 1,464,919 vouchers requested and 143,926 passes issued at federal sites, still below the 203,688 of 2019. Passes issued had fallen to 105,877 in 2021, from 198,524 in 2017.

Worth it? Yes, for fourth-grade teachers: printing a class set takes minutes, and each family gets free entry until August 31, 2027.

PBS LearningMedia

PBS LearningMedia offers “FREE, curriculum-aligned videos, interactives, lesson planning tips, discussion questions, and more just for teachers,” curated with your local PBS station. A free account lets you save resources, see state standards, assign work and sync with Google Classroom.

Worth it? Yes. Its site lists no paid tier for teachers.

Teachers Pay Teachers free resources

Teachers Pay Teachers is a marketplace where teachers sell lesson plans and worksheets. Its Free filter showed 450,000+ results on October 15, 2026.

Worth it? Yes, for printables, as long as you filter by price first.

Crayola Creativity Week

Crayola Creativity Week is “a free program for schools, libraries, and homes”: seven days of downloadable resources, activity videos with celebrities, and giveaways. The next one, Creativity Around the World, runs January 25-31, 2027, and sign-up is open on its page.

Crayola’s older freebie is gone. Its ColorCycle page says it made “the difficult decision to end the program” that took used markers back from schools.

Worth it? Yes, for art lessons in January. The giveaways are prizes, not a kit for every class.

7 free tools and passes for you

Canva Education

Canva Education is free for “a certified K-12 (primary or secondary) teacher from a formally accredited school” who holds a teaching position, plus certified school librarians, support teachers and curriculum specialists. It gives you “most of Canva’s premium features,” class sharing and links to learning systems.

Sign up with a verified school email and you get in right away; otherwise you upload a document, such as a teaching license, and Canva reviews it within 48 hours. Preschool and daycare assistants, unlicensed homeschool educators, tutors and college staff don’t qualify. You re-verify every three years.

Worth it? Yes. It replaces Canva Pro, which costs $144 a year, and the Canva app rates 4.87 from 3.58 million App Store ratings.

Adobe Express K-12 Education

Adobe Express K-12 Education is “free for qualified K-12 educators,” against a Premium price Adobe shows as “regularly at US$9.99.” It includes most Premium features, among them 250 generative AI credits a month and 4,000+ Adobe Fonts.

You verify through SheerID; if that fails, you upload a teacher ID card or recent pay stub, Adobe’s help page says. Access lasts two years. If SheerID’s database doesn’t list your school, this route won’t work.

Worth it? Yes, if you prefer Adobe’s templates or need its AI image tools. Most teachers will only need one of Canva or Adobe.

Microsoft Office 365 A1

Office 365 A1 gives “educators and students with an eligible education email address” the web versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote. Approval is usually instant, but can take up to a month if Microsoft hasn’t verified your school.

It lasts as long as you work at a qualified school. Leave, and you can view your files but not edit them. These are the web apps: Microsoft 365 Personal, with the desktop apps, costs $99.99 a year.

Worth it? Yes, if you have an eligible school email. College students get the same plan, as our free stuff for college students list explains.

Headspace for Educators

Headspace offers “free Headspace access to K-12 educators and school staff across the U.S.” Its help center says public, private and charter school staff qualify, and that you must cancel a paid plan and let it expire before you enroll.

Without it, Headspace costs $69.99 a year or $12.99 a month. The app rates 4.84 from 973,810 App Store ratings. Bought at list price, Canva Pro ($144), Microsoft 365 Personal ($99.99) and Headspace ($69.99) would cost you $313.98 a year.

Worth it? Yes, for US teachers who want a meditation app; it is open to support staff too.

Kennedy Space Center Educator Study Pass

The Educator Study Pass gives “K – 12 teachers throughout the United States of America, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands complimentary access to the visitor complex.” At Will Call you show a printed pass plus one proof: an active teaching certificate, a photo badge saying you teach K-12, or a signed letter from your principal on school letterhead.

Your photo ID must match the pass at the turnstiles. Homeschool parents get a discounted rate instead, and the page doesn’t say whether the pass covers guests.

Worth it? Yes, for any US teacher visiting Florida’s Space Coast. Bring the printout: Kennedy Space Center says it makes no exceptions.

SeaWorld Florida Teacher Card

SeaWorld Orlando gives a free Florida Teacher Card to “all active and certified K-12 Florida grade school teachers who hold a valid Department of Education (DOE) number.” It is good for unlimited visits through September 2, 2027. You must pre-register online with ID.me; the park can’t sign you up.

Teachers outside Florida aren’t eligible. Private school teachers bring a letter from their principal, a Florida photo ID and a pay stub from the last 30 days to the gate. Adding Aquatica Orlando costs $49.99.

Worth it? Yes, for Florida teachers who will go more than once before September 2027.

LEGOLAND Florida Teacher Pass

“Florida Resident Teachers (Grades PreK-12)” can get a LEGOLAND Florida Teacher Pass: a year of free admission from your first visit, the water park excluded. Adding the water park costs $59.99 plus tax.

You sign up at the ticket window, not online, with a pay stub from the last 30 days, a Florida photo ID and a valid Florida teaching certificate. The same documents, emailed to Merlin’s Orlando sales team, also get you free passes to Madame Tussauds Orlando, SEA LIFE Orlando and The Orlando Eye.

Worth it? Yes, for Florida teachers. Pair it with the SeaWorld card and a year of entry to both parks costs you nothing.

Teacher Appreciation Week freebies

Teacher Appreciation Week 2027 runs May 2-8, National PTA says. Brands set new offers each spring, so the May 2026 offers below show the pattern, not next year’s deals. Most needed a school ID, and only some were free with nothing to buy.

Not every brand that ran a teacher week still does. Staples’ teacher appreciation page reads “Our Teacher Appreciation Days and Sweepstakes have ended.” For the rest of the year, see our lists of places that offer a free meal and ways to get free coffee.

Bottom line: Teacher Appreciation Week is mostly free food with a purchase or a draw. Keep your school ID in your wallet that week and verify with ID.me ahead of time.

When to claim: the 2026-27 calendar

Several freebies on this list run to a date. The fourth-grade park pass year began September 1, 2026. AdoptAClassroom’s grants are due November 2, 2026, February 26, 2027 and April 26, 2027, and Crayola’s free week starts January 25, 2027. SeaWorld’s Florida Teacher Card runs out September 2, 2027.

Cheap, not free: NAEIR, First Book and Scholastic points

Other lists call these three free. Each costs something, so they don’t count among the 15, but each can stretch a supply budget.

NAEIR Teachers Program

NAEIR passes on surplus products donated by companies such as Crayola, 3M, Avery and Hallmark. “Registration for qualified teachers is free,” and shipping to your classroom or home is free too, except for pallets.

But you pay “nominal handling and processing fees” on each item you pick, and NAEIR publishes no fee amounts. It says teachers generally pay less than a third of discount-store prices. Licensed classroom teachers, aides, librarians and counselors can apply, and accounts with no order in two years may be closed.

First Book Marketplace

First Book membership is free if you work in “a Title I-eligible school” or any program where at least 70% of children come from low-income families. Books are “deeply discounted (and sometimes for free)”: its Book Bank sends new books “for just the cost of shipping and processing.”

New members get a $25-off code for a first order, and free-book codes arrive by email now and then. About 63% of traditional public schools were Title I eligible in 2021-22, per NCES, so most public school teachers can join.

Scholastic Book Clubs points

Scholastic Book Clubs gives you 5 points for every $1 spent, on both families’ orders and your own. You trade points for books and classroom items. Scholastic doesn’t publish what a point is worth, so the books are paid for by your class’s orders.

Bottom line: First Book is the best of the three for a high-need school. NAEIR suits bulk supplies if you accept a handling fee you won’t see until you shop.

Money back on supplies you still buy

The educator expense deduction

The IRS lets an eligible educator deduct up to $300 of unreimbursed classroom costs for 2025, or $600 for a married couple who both qualify. You qualify if you are “a kindergarten through grade 12 teacher, instructor, counselor, principal or aide for at least 900 hours a school year,” IRS Topic 458 says.

Books, supplies, computer equipment and software, and professional development courses count. Supplies for health or PE classes count only if they are athletic supplies, and homeschooling costs never do.

For 2026, the limit is $350, under Rev. Proc. 2025-32; it had been $300 since 2022. From 2026, the IRS adds, “educator expenses may also be deducted as itemized deductions,” a route that covers PE equipment and coaches’ equipment, per the Congressional Research Service.

You claim the deduction on line 11 of Schedule 1, whether you itemize or take the standard deduction. Keep your receipts.

Worth it? Always, if you spend your own money: it is free to claim. At a 12% tax rate, $350 of supplies saves you $42.

Cash back on classroom supplies

A cash-back site pays you part of what a store pays it for sending you. TopCashback says it passes 100% of that commission back to you. There is no minimum to cash out by PayPal, Venmo or bank transfer, though select gift cards have one.

Rakuten pays a $10 welcome bonus once your qualifying purchases reach $25 within 90 days of joining, per its terms; Amazon purchases don’t count. Capital One Shopping is a free browser extension and app that checks for coupons and lower prices as you shop. Capital One says you don’t need to be its customer to use it.

On that day, TopCashback paid double Rakuten’s rate at all three supply stores it lists. All three apps rate well on Apple’s US App Store: Capital One Shopping 4.87, Rakuten 4.82 and TopCashback 4.74.

Worth it? Yes, for supplies you buy anyway. Use TopCashback at Staples and Office Depot, and add Capital One Shopping to catch a lower price elsewhere.

Teacher discounts that other lists call free

Most “teacher freebies” are discounts. These are the stores other lists name most, with the deal each one states:

Bottom line: Michaels’ 15%, sale items included, beats Blick’s 10% for craft supplies. Office Depot’s 25% comes back as rewards for your next order, not money off today.

What other lists call free, and what companies publish

These nine turn up on lists of teacher freebies. Here is what each company’s own page said on October 15, 2026:

Why freebies matter: teachers spend their own money

Almost every public school teacher pays for supplies. In the 2019-20 school year, 94.8% spent their own money without being paid back: $470 on average among those who spent, or $445 across all teachers,federal survey data show. Of those who spent, 44.5% spent $250 or less and 36.0% spent $251 to $500; 4.7% spent $501 to $750, 7.8% spent $751 to $1,000, and 7.0% spent over $1,000.

A newer, opt-in survey puts the figure higher. AdoptAClassroom.org’s June 2025 survey found teachers spent $895 on average in 2024-25, against a median school supply budget of $200. Twenty percent of its respondents worked a second job.

That is set against an average public school salary of $74,495 in 2024-25, by the NEA’s count. If you need extra income in the summer, our guides to second jobs and side hustle ideas list options.

How you prove you’re a teacher

Most teacher offers check your job through ID.me or SheerID. Chipotle and SeaWorld used ID.me; Adobe and Michaels use SheerID. What each accepts:

• ID.me. A state license or certificate number, or an upload: a school ID, a faculty web page screenshot, a teaching certificate, a contract, a signed letter on letterhead, or a pay stub or W-2, per its help page. Paper IDs aren’t accepted.
• SheerID. “A teacher ID card with a valid date or a pay stub from the last 90 days,” its teacher FAQ says, though brands set their own window: Michaels asks for a pay stub from the last 60 days.
• Your school email. Canva and Microsoft let you in at once with a verified school address.

Bottom line: Set up an ID.me account and keep a recent pay stub as a PDF before Teacher Appreciation Week.

Which freebies to claim first

Start with the ones that put supplies in your room, then claim the tools you would otherwise pay for. If your school passes a free-lunch test, a free store or First Book gives the most.

Worth doing

• A DonorsChoose project under $556, or an AdoptAClassroom page at a private school
• A teacher free store, if one near you takes your school
• Canva Education or Adobe Express, Headspace and Office 365 A1
• Every Kid Outdoors passes, if you teach fourth grade
• The educator expense deduction, and TopCashback on supplies you buy

Skip

• Hunting for Hot Wheels kits or Crayola marker recycling
• “Freebie” lists that are mostly discounts
• NAEIR, unless you accept handling fees you see only at checkout

For classroom rewards, see our list of companies that mail free stickers. For furniture and bins, sites like Freecycle list free things near you.

How we researched this

We read each program’s own eligibility rules, terms and help pages on October 15, 2026, and quoted who qualifies rather than paraphrasing it. Figures come from the programs’ own counters, the IRS, NCES, the NEA and the federal Every Kid Outdoors report, and teachers’ results from the news reports linked beside them. Where a company’s page refused us and we saw its wording only in search results, the page says so.

Free Stuff for Teachers FAQ

What can teachers get for free by mail?

Colgate mails free dental kits to Head Start and kindergarten classes at a school address. DonorsChoose and AdoptAClassroom ship donor-funded supplies to your school. NAEIR ships for free but charges a handling fee on each item.

How can teachers get a free computer?

No program on this list gives a teacher a computer outright. DonorsChoose projects can request laptops, Chromebooks and tablets for your classroom, which donors then fund. Apple’s education pricing is a discount, not free.

How do teachers get donations for their classroom?

Post a project on DonorsChoose if you work full-time at a public or charter school, or set up an AdoptAClassroom.org page, which also takes accredited private schools. Share the link with families, and enter AdoptAClassroom’s monthly $500 giveaway.

What do teachers get free during Teacher Appreciation Week?

Teacher Appreciation Week 2027 runs May 2-8. In May 2026, McAlister’s Deli gave free tea with an educator ID and Chipotle gave free entrées to teachers picked in a draw; most other offers needed a purchase.

Is Canva free for teachers?

Yes. Canva Education is free for certified K-12 teachers at accredited schools anywhere in the world, with most Canva Pro features. Tutors, preschool assistants and unlicensed homeschool educators don’t qualify.

Do teachers get Netflix for free?

No. Netflix’s help center lists no teacher plan or discount. It does allow one-time educational screenings of some of its documentaries, watched through a Netflix account.