Handmade Gifts for Teachers

Host Bee on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Handmade Gifts for Teachers: Thoughtful Ways to End the School Year!

I’ve always believed that our children’s teachers deserve anything and everything that we can do for them! They instruct, mold, encourage and entertain our kids for eight hours every day of the school year! These early June days are the right time to be thinking about what we (and our children!) can do to thank them! Without getting too complicated or requiring too much artistic talent, here are two ideas that I think any teacher will enjoy!

Super Easy Scrap Book!

The idea of putting together a scrap book can be intimidating, but the approach I’ve taken in the past isn’t bad at all. Instead of giving kids (and their parents!) a pressure filled blank scrap book page, provide the children with an open ended sentence to complete. Some good examples are:

Mrs. Smith is a star teacher because….
I’ll never forget the day that Mrs. Smith….
My favorite day in 1st grade was….

Have one parent collect the replies and retype them on colorful paper using a fun font. Cut out the individual answers and paste them onto individual pages in a small scrap book. Decorate with stickers, class photos or rubber stamps. Viola – that’s it!

This idea also works well for special birthdays, graduations, anniversaries and other milestone occasions!

Perfect small memory books can be found at Amazon. The fabric covered 8-inch by 8-inch album is just right for this project and well priced at $12.99!

A Custom Quilt!

Not to fear, sewing is not involved in this project! At Oriental Trading, clever kits are available to create a fabulous class room quilt! The kit includes 24, eight inch, white canvas squares with pre-cut holes for tying the squares together with the included 96 pieces of multicolored ribbon! Also included are 80 colorful fabric markers in 8 colors.

Over the course of a few days, send 8 quilt squares home, along with 8 fabric markers, for the children to decorate for their teacher as they wish. Repeat the process until all of the students have had their chance to create their contribution. When all of the squares have been returned, assembly is easy using the fun ribbons!
(Classroom Quilt Starter Kit, $39.95, pictured right)