what about using free/found objects for looms....branches, etc?
I like recycling/reusing and, knowing that, parents bring me things all the time.....sometimes I'm not even sure what we'll do with some of it, but we always do! I loved when an 8th grade boy said "you have the coolest stuff" (they can be hard to impress) and a fellow teacher said, "this is so wonderful that the kids have access to all of this". It makes all the storage issues, etc worth it :-)
Linda in Oregon (where it is finally hot and sunny)