What Should I Make and Sell on Teachers Pay Teachers

Welcome back my fellow creative unicorns! I have some tips for creating products to sell on Teachers Pay Teachers. Whether you’re just starting out and figuring out what to make, or a seasoned seller that needs new ideas, this will help you, so keep reading! 

Is it worth selling on Teachers Pay Teachers?

The short answer is YES! The one thing I love about creating and selling on TPT and other platforms is that you have the freedom and choice of how much work you want to put into it and how big you want to make it. If you just want a hobby that makes you extra money for coffee, you can do that. If you want to quit your job and work on it full time, you can do that too! Like anything in life, you get what you put into it. It will take time, learning, and work, but it’s so rewarding! 

What Should I Make and Sell on TPT?

The best way to think of useful products that teachers will love on Teachers Pay Teachers is to think about what you use (or would use if it existed!) in your own classroom. What has made teaching, planning, or classroom management easier for you? What problem have you struggled with in your classroom that you figured out a solution for? Find a way to turn that into a printable digital product that you can package and sell! 

What Sells Well on Teachers Pay Teachers?

One mistake I see lots of new TPT sellers make is trying to make what’s already popular and selling on Teachers Pay Teachers. Unless you can improve upon the product in a way that makes it different from others out there, this is setting yourself up for failure. You’re starting off making a product that already has lots of competition from similar products that are already ranking in search. 

Another mistake I see sellers do is starting off with too broad of a niche. You may be hoping that will make it easier to grow an audience, but it’s actually the opposite. If you make math worksheets for all the grade levels, teachers will only be able to buy a few things from your shop. A high school calculus teacher won’t need your third grade multiplication practice sheets, for example. Dedicating your store to a smaller niche, like eighth grade English, or kindergarten phonics, will make it easier to grow an audience of teachers who will be repeat buyers! 

Where Can I Get Inspiration for Teachers Pay Teachers Products to Make? 

There are lots of ways to get inspiration for products to create. You can research the learning standards for grades and subjects and create engaging games and activities to teach them. You can ask teacher friends what would make their lives easier, or their lessons more engaging. Pinterest is still a great place to find ideas and put your own spin on them. 

My favorite way to get inspiration is to start writing a list or a mind map. Start with a broad topic, like “Valentine’s Day” or “teaching fractions”, and start writing down theme or activity ideas for that topic. Each of those themes or activities can be turned into a product! Before you know it, you’ve got ten or twenty product ideas that you can turn into a product line! 

One of my favorite ways to make a mind map is using Canva’s whiteboard tool. They have lots of templates available, and the white board adjusts its size to what you add to the board automatically! It’s so cool! 

Look at Your TPT Data

Another fool proof way to figure out what products you should make is to look at your own data (if you already have products selling). What are your most popular products? Make more variations of those products for different holidays and themes. Do you have a printable activity that sells often? Make a digital game version and bundle them! 

If you’re new and don’t have a lot of data to go off of yet, think about what works well for you in your classroom. What’s your morning meeting routine? How do you keep your classroom organized? Can you turn your methods into a printable or digital asset, like a spreadsheet? 

Take a Survey

If you don’t know what teachers need, ask them! This is such a straightforward, effective way to get ideas for products, because the answers are coming straight from potential buyers! This is especially helpful if you already have an audience of teachers, maybe on Instagram, Tiktok, or in a Facebook group. If you don’t have your own audience built up, you can find Facebook groups or Reddit boards to ask what they need. 

Make Add-Ons or Extension Teaching Activities

When I first started making preschool products, I thought about typical activities that I loved doing with my class and how I could add additional skill practice, differentiation options, or ways to link the activity to other subject areas. For example, I would do candy heart counting with my students every Valentine’s Day. I made printables that also included ways to practice sorting and graphing the hearts after we counted them. I could also include a letter or number matching printable to the pack! This makes it useful to a wider range of teachers because they have more options that can be used for the different skill levels in their classrooms. 

Make Versions for Smaller Niches or Needs

Think about how you can adapt your activity or product to different audiences. Can you make a Spanish or French version (or any other language for that matter)? Can you make a version for deaf education? Maybe you can include variations for different special needs students. Would it work for homeschooling? If you’re not sure how to adapt it to these circumstances yourself, you can ask the TPT Facebook groups to find someone to hire to help you. 

Make Teachers Pay Teachers Product Variations for Holidays, Seasons, and Evergreen Themes

Some schools celebrate holidays and others don’t allow holiday resources or celebrations. You can serve both needs by creating variations for all holidays, seasons, and “evergreen” themes! Evergreen themes are themes that aren’t seasonal, such as zoo animals, space, jungle, color or rainbow themes, food themes, and more! There are lots of possibilities! 

These variations are super quick and easy to do, because all you really have to switch out are some words and clipart! And shameless plug – I have lots of clipart in discounted bundles that you can use for this! 

Get Creating Some Teachers Pay Teachers Products

Well, there you have it! I hope these tips on how to think up product ideas for Teachers Pay Teachers inspire and motivate you to create! 

If you need some vibrant watercolor clipart to make your new creations pop, check out my shop on TPT, Etsy, or here on my website! 

If this post helped you, I invite you to join my email list, where I send weekly clipart discounts, product creation ideas and tips, and freebies! 

You can also follow my Teachers Pay Teachers shop to find out about new clipart and sales! 

As always, thanks so much for being here! Talk to you soon!