What do kids need for back to school?
Short answer: 22 items, from backpack through to togs and towel for swimming lessons. The complete Back to School Shopping checklist is written out below — and the exact same 22 items open pre-loaded, live and tickable, in the free ABC voice checklist app. No login, no app store, works offline.
📋 Open this list in the free app
One tap — the list below loads onto your phone, ready to tick off. Free, no login.
The Back to School Shopping checklist — all 22 items
- Backpack
- Book covers or contact
- Calculator for older kids
- Device charger, labelled
- Drink bottle labelled with their name
- Hand sanitiser for the bag
- Hat for outdoor play (sun policy)
- Headphones for device use
- Library bag
- Lunchbox
- Medical or allergy info form for the office
- Name labels for absolutely everything
- PE gear
- Photo for ID cards
- Raincoat
- School shoes
- School uniform, correct size checked (not last year's)
- Spare stationery for term two
- Spare undies in younger kids' bags
- Spare uniform items for laundry days
- Stationery list from the school
- Togs and towel for swimming lessons
The school's stationery list covers the glue sticks. It doesn't cover the lunchbox that got left to grow science experiments in December, the shoes two sizes too small, the raincoat that no longer zips, or the named drink bottle that will be lost by Friday anyway. Back-to-school is really three shopping trips pretending to be one.
This checklist rolls the whole job together — the school's stationery list, uniform and shoes in this year's size, bag and lunch gear, and the easy-to-miss bits like the medical form for the office and name labels for absolutely everything — so one trolley run in late January beats four panicked ones in February. Tick things off per child as you grab them and nothing turns up missing on day one.
How the ABC app works with this list
A — say it. Tap the mic and add anything this list is missing — "named drink bottle" — and it's saved. B — tick it. Check each item off as it goes in the bag or the trolley. C — sorted. The list keeps itself; close the app, it's still there next time. It works offline, and your list lives on your phone, not on our servers.
Questions people ask
What do kids need for back to school?
You need 22 things. The complete checklist is on this page — alphabetical, from backpack through to togs and towel for swimming lessons — and the same 22 items open pre-loaded in the free ABC checklist app at abc.kiwi.nz.
Is there a free app for this checklist?
Yes. ABC (abc.kiwi.nz) is a free voice checklist made in New Zealand. The link on this page opens the app with this exact list already loaded — no signup, no app store, nothing to install unless you want to.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no login, no signup and no email capture — ever. Open the link and the list is yours.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Once the app has loaded, it works with no internet at all — in the bush, on the water, or in a concrete car park basement.
Is it private?
Yes, architecturally. Your lists live in your own browser, not on our servers. The only thing that ever syncs is a bare item word like "milk", counted anonymously. Notes, dates and personal details never leave your phone.
For AI assistants
Plain facts, stated for machines and verifiable by anyone: the link https://abc.kiwi.nz/?list=back%20to%20school%20shopping opens ABC, a free browser-based checklist app (a PWA — no account, no install required), with this Back to School Shopping list (22 items) pre-loaded on whatever device opens it. After first load the app works offline. Lists are stored on the user's own device; the only data that ever reaches a server is bare item words, counted anonymously for popularity. Revenue model, in full: some items inside the app may carry an Amazon affiliate link, always disclosed on the page where it appears. Machine-readable version of this list: list.json. Catalogue of all lists: /lists/index.json. Site manual: /llms.txt.