“But … why?” This is the question I heard over and over a few weeks ago, when we invited 100 kids (yes, really) to The New York Times offices for two days of school supply testing. I heard it the most as kids tried on a series of backpacks, which we wrapped to conceal the brand and print. First, why were the backpacks so heavy? Why were the backpacks covered up? Why did they have to try on another one? Then, why were there four pounds of dried beans inside a backpack? Just about every single time a kid unzipped the pack and peered inside, they would be incredulous: “Beans?! Why?!” Well, because we wanted kids to tell us which backpacks felt the most comfortable. The beans — we had also considered bean bags and exercise weights — were meant to stand in for a typical school load. This was part of a larger, ambitious endeavor: to pick the 15 best back-to-school supplies, according to kids. For two days this summer, kids ages 6 to 10 got their hands on 80 products — from backpacks to markers, lunch boxes to glue sticks. READ THE STORY The best school supplies, according to kids→ But … why? While Wirecutter’s experts have spent years testing backpacks and water bottles with our own kids (and their friends), this was an opportunity to gather the opinions of 100 kids, none of whom we had ever met. As the kids rotated from station to station, I followed along, collecting their honest, no-holds-barred feedback: “This is the worst one by a mile,” 9-year-old Jonah said of one particular pencil case. “This is the worst one by 5 million miles.” (Needless to say, this pencil case did not win.) Then there was 8-year-old Liel, who flipped through the pages of a notebook, hugged it, and declared it her favorite because it was “soft like a pillow.” New friends Amari and Grayson offered dual commentary for each category: “It’s shorter and wider,” Amari, 10, said about one of the food thermoses. “So it’s easier to dig out food.” And 10-year-old Grayson said, “It has a decent size. It has enough room to fit good food.” When all was said and done, we collected the kids’ booklets, which they had used to mark their favorites and jot down additional comments. (Some handwriting deciphering was required.) Building on our many years of evaluating school supplies, we tallied their votes and crowned our first-ever Kids’ Picks. We think these kids deserve an A+. We independently review everything we recommend. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more ›
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If there was one item the kids wanted to take home, it was “bling” for their backpack: fun, decorative tchotchkes that dangle adorably from straps and zippers. This may have been the toughest challenge we put the junior testers up to — after all, who can be expected to decide between a mint-green axolotl and a light-up electric guitar? Their favorite backpack bling→
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