Teacher Appreciation Gift – End Of School Year Cute Kids Craft Idea! DIY

Teacher Appreciation Gift – End Of School Year Cute Kids Craft Idea!

Can you believe it’s that time already? Ethan has only 3 weeks left of school and then we’re on to another (long?) Summer vacation. I didn’t want to be scrambling at the last minute for a great Teacher Appreciation Gift again this year. And, I didn’t want to be ‘that’ parent who throws a gift card in an envelope and scribbles ‘Thanks” on an envelope either. (again!) Nope, this year, we were bound and determined to put some thought into a nice teacher appreciation gift. I mean, this sweet lady defiantly earned huge props for all the time and special attention she’s given him all year. He’s got all those  Asperger’s ‘quirks’ and the OCD thing going on… Yeah. She’s defiantly earned a nice well thought out teacher appreciation gift and then some! And since Ethan loves getting his kids craft on, we were going to do this right! Let me show you what we did, then I’ll give you some other great kids craft ideas to use for a little teacher appreciation!

 Teacher Appreciation Gift Supplies

Since this is a kids craft, Ethan would be doing most of it by himself. We wanted to keep it fairly simple for his age (6).  There’s so many choices for teacher appreciation! After looking over my favorite site for kids crafts and of course Pinterest, we decided on this craft using Smarties candy. Here’s what you’ll need to gather up:

• Mason Jar (or any decorative jar that has a lid and seal) 
• Smarties Candies
• Decorative Fill Paper (or, re-purpose  your shredded paper!)
• Ribbon
• Decorative Apples (found in the floral section of the craft store)
• Scissors
• Tape
• Hot Glue Gun (we did this step so no children were harmed in the making of this kids craft)

Start by putting about 2 inches of shredded paper or fill in the bottom of your jar. See the smile on his face? Kids crafts are awesome! He was super exited about not only getting his craft on but he loves giving gifts. At Christmas last year, he wrapped up some of his old crayons and gave them to his little brother. ‘He may want to be an artist someday ya know“

The box of decorative apples comes with several different sizes. Take a handful of the smaller ones and place them on top of your layer of shredded paper. Make sure none fall off the table and roll in front of the dog. Because the dog thinks they are real apples and starts chewing on them. Or, so we found out.

Now comes the fun part! Let your little crafter fill the rest of the jar with the Smarties candy. He started out just shoving them in. We went ahead and let him do it that way for a bit. I think he thought the whole bag would fit. It doesn’t. Well, in the size jar we had it didn’t.

While he snacked on some of the left over Smarties, we rearranged the ones in the jar just a bit. I’m fairly certain he didn’t notice. Make sure you leave a tiny bit of room at the top of the jar so it will close and snap shut. Go ahead and let the small fry eat a few more pieces of candy. We’ll wait.

Measure and cut 2 equal lengths of ribbon. Wrap one at a time around jar from top to bottom. Secure at the bottom of the jar with tape. (or, hot glue gun if you don’t intend for the jar to open) Cut a 3rd length of ribbon for the bow. This part was a bit tricky for me and I Googled how to tie a bow that wasn’t attached to a shoe. I know… You don’t even have to say it.

For the final step, take 1 of the larger decorative apples and hot glue it in place on top of your bow. (no Googling necessary!) To make the little hang tag, we used simple card stock paper and a Word Template for proper sizing. We typed “Thank You For Making Me Such A Smartie” and added Ethan’s name, the year, a couple apples and a border and printed it out. Nothing super fancy. I’m sure you can find some pre-made designs and sayings at the craft store as well. Since we were making this teacher appreciation gift a true kids craft, we didn’t buy a pre-made card. Plus, we saved a few bucks as well!

I took Harris the Service Dog to Ethan’s class last week to teach the kids about his special training. I also taught them some basic things about people with disabilities and to always wear their seat belt in the car! I was a bit shocked that about 1/3 of them don’t wear seat belts! While we were there we brought along Ms. Van Hoose’s Teacher Appreciation Gift so Ethan could give it to her at the end of the day.  She loved it! See, easy right? It took about an hour to make start to finish. Ethan had a great time making his kids craft and we weren’t one of ‘those‘ parents this year with the quick gift card in an envelope!

For another super fun kids craft, check out our Glowing Wishes In A Jar! It’s a really easy craft and has been a huge hit for all occasions or just some fun craft time play! Over at Babble, they put together a great Teacher Appreciation Gift ideas list. Some really unique ones and easy to make ones too! Check those out!

So, what’s your plans for entertaining the small fry’s this Summer? I’m thinking I’ve got about 2 weeks before I start to lose my mind. Anyone want to start a betting pool?