School supplies · for parents buying back-to-school supplies
ListaEscolar is a school supply list and budget app for parents in Mexico, and for families anywhere whose school sends home a supply list. Pick primaria or secundaria and a grade, and the suggested list that the SEP (Mexico's Secretaría de Educación Pública) publishes for it loads on its own; any other list can be pasted in or typed. Mark each item bought, already at home, or reused from last year, add what it cost, and the app keeps the total spent and what is still left to buy. It needs no account and works offline.
Make a card for your child with the school and the grade. Choose primaria and a grade from 1º to 6º, and the SEP's suggested minimum list for that grade fills in: the right notebooks, the bicolor pencil from 2º, the geometry set from 4º. Secundaria loads the one list the SEP sets for all three grades, and whatever the teacher adds goes on the same list.
Every item can be done three ways: bought, already in the house, or last year's and still good. Type a price next to anything, from the shelf tag or from the receipt. The top of the list keeps two figures in pesos, what you have spent and what the items you have not bought yet come to, so the next trip to the papelería has a number on it.
When your partner or a grandparent is near a store, send only what is still missing. ListaEscolar turns the open items into a short message with quantities and any prices you noted, and you send it through the messaging app you already use. Items that are bought, at home or reused stay off the message.
Every July and August the same routine starts. A photocopied list comes home in a backpack, a photo of it lands in the parents' group chat, and news sites reprint the SEP's suggested list for each grade. Parents copy it into a notebook, circle what they already have, and carry the paper from one store to the next. Some education sites now post spreadsheet calculators for the SEP list, which helps when you are at a computer and not standing in an aisle.
Where it breaks is the middle of the week. Half the notebooks were bought on Monday, last year's scissors turned up in a drawer on Tuesday, and by Wednesday nobody remembers whether the glue stick is still missing or what the receipts added up to. ListaEscolar keeps that state in one place on your phone: the list for the grade, what is done and how, and the money spent so far.
Each summer the SEP publishes a suggested list of minimum basic school supplies for preescolar, primaria and secundaria on gob.mx. The 2026–2027 list came out in July 2026. Primaria has its own list for each grade, from two large-grid notebooks in 1º to four small-grid notebooks and a geometry set in 4º, 5º and 6º. Secundaria has one list for all three grades, with one notebook per subject whose type each teacher decides. Preescolar has no item list at all; the SEP leaves those materials to the educators to agree on with families.
ListaEscolar loads exactly that and treats it as a starting point. The SEP itself says teachers may suggest other materials for their projects, so the teacher's additions go on the same list as the SEP items. For secundaria you set how many notebooks your child's subjects need, and for preescolar you paste or type the list the teacher hands out.
Not every list comes from the SEP. Private schools, schools outside Mexico, and teachers who send their own sheet all produce lists that ListaEscolar cannot know in advance. Paste the list as text from an email or the school's website and each line becomes an item. If all you have is a paper sheet or a photo from the group chat, keep the photo on screen while you type the items in.
From there it works the same way. Each item gets bought, at home or reused, a price if you want one, and the list keeps the total and what is still left.
ListaEscolar does not sell supplies, link to stores, or suggest brands. It does not read photos for you; you type what the paper says. There is no account and your lists are not sent anywhere: your child's name, the school and every price stay on your phone, and the app works with no connection, which matters in a busy store with no signal.
It also does not decide what a school may ask for. The SEP list is a suggestion of minimum supplies, and your child's teacher has the final word on what the class needs.
ListaEscolar is a list and budget tool. It is not affiliated with the SEP. The lists it loads follow the suggested lists the SEP publishes, and they do not replace what your child's school or teacher asks for.
From the suggested list of minimum basic school supplies that the SEP publishes on gob.mx each summer, currently the 2026–2027 edition. It is built in grade by grade for primaria, and as the single shared list for secundaria.
The SEP publishes a new list each summer, a few weeks before classes start. The 2026–2027 list appeared in mid-July 2026 and classes began on August 31. ListaEscolar's built-in lists are updated after each new publication.
Not an item list. The SEP says preescolar materials such as paper, paints, colored pencils and modeling clay are suggested by the educators in agreement with families. Paste or type the list your child's teacher gives you.
Yes. Paste the list your school sent, or type it in while looking at a photo of it. Marking items, prices, the total and sharing work the same; only the built-in SEP lists are specific to Mexico.
No. There is no sign-in. Your lists and prices are stored on your phone, and the app works offline.
Not live, because there is no shared account. Use the share button to send the items still left to buy as a message, and they see exactly what is missing and what you expect to pay.
Pick the channel you use.
