Teachers are responsible for helping our children learn and grow in this crazy world and are infamously underpaid and often under-appreciated. Onset of Covid-19 and e-learning during quarantine will most assuredly bring about a new appreciation for these superheroes who are doing so much for the future of our country.
Our school year may have ended abruptly but that doesn’t mean we can’t drop off an “end of year” appreciation gift. If you’re looking for something beyond (or in addition to) a gift card, helping your child create a DIY appreciation gift for their teachers will go that extra mile to show your gratitude for all that they do.
Teacher Survival Kit
Find a cute Mason jar, preferably wide-mouthed, and then fill it with things that can help teachers relax and unwind. These things can include bath products, such as bath bombs, scented bath salts, face masks, scented lotions, etc. Other good additions are chapstick, chocolate, tea bags, and ibuprofen. When this is all assembled, have your kids write out a few nice notes to put in as well to remind their teacher how much they are appreciated.
Painted planter
On a simple terra-cotta planter, you can pick up at any home improvement store, first paint the base with black chalkboard paint. Follow the directions for how many coats and priming are needed—this can differ by brand. When the base is dry, pull out your acrylic paints from your craft room and paint a yellow ruler along the top tip of the planter. Write in chalk, “Thanks for helping me grow” on the base, and then let your child transplant a live plant of their choice in the planter, preferably something hard to kill.
Framed affirmation
Just like all of us, teachers sometimes have hard days and need to be reminded that what they are doing is important. Take a “scrap painting” (one done by a child that you couldn’t bring yourself to get rid of and has been in a stack on top of your fridge collecting dust) and cut it out to be the size of whatever frame you have chosen. For a desk affirmation, 4×6 or 5×7 is a recommended frame-size starting point. Find an affirmation that you feel resonates with the teaching profession and write it on top of your child’s painting, then frame it. Examples of affirmations are: “What I do is important,” “I am making a difference in my students’ lives,” and, “I believe in myself and my life’s work.”
Cookie in a Jar
Create a cookie in a jar by simply adding all the dry ingredients for your favorite cookie recipe into a Mason jar. Put this into a cute mixing bowl with a nice spatula, pot holders, and the recipe for the cookies, including the wet ingredients and cooking instructions. Top it all off with a sign that says, “Thanks for helping me become one smart cookie,” with your child’s signature.
Mini DIY
At the end of the day, the most important thing is to make sure that your child’s teachers know that they are appreciated for all the hard work they put into helping your child reach his or her full potential. If you are short on time, have your child write a note to their teacher about something they really like about them, with an accompanying drawing. Put this in a nice envelope, go ahead and slip a gift card in there and call it a day!
