Teacher Appreciation Day Gift Box

Teacher Appreciation Day is May 4, one week from today. This is a wonderful opportunity to tell those special teachers in your life just how much they mean to you. Teaching can be very challenging; a kind note from a student or a parent may be exactly what a teacher might need to temporarily forget the hard parts and remind themselves what a rewarding job it is. 

When I came across the owl drawing in Quirky Collages to Color, I thought it would be awesome to use it to decorate a gift box for a teacher. So that's exactly what I did.  

Did you notice the pull tab? It's attached to a bookstore gift card. This is my #1 recommendation when people ask me what gifts teachers want. I've never met a teacher who didn't spend their own money on books for the classroom, or who wouldn't love to buy some books for themselves to enjoy. Affiliate links below. 

Teacher Appreciation Day Gift Box

Materials:

• Quirky Collages to Color
• Prismacolor Art Markers
• microtip scissors
• empty gift box
• gift card
• Doodlebug Chit Chat - School Days
• tape runner

Steps:

Color in the owl image using markers. With microtip scissors, carefully cut out the image. Place it on top of a gift box. Arrange the Chit Chat die cuts to the side of the owl and adhere them in place. Turn the owl upside down and apply adhesive along all the edges EXCEPT for the top edge between the two "ear" books. Carefully adhere the owl to the box. 

Cut a scrap of white paper and write PULL on it, layer it on a Chit Chat banner, then tape it to the end of the gift card. Slide it into place. 

So what should you put inside the box? Here are some ideas, based on what my fellow teachers and I frequently bought for our classrooms, using our own money:

• individually wrapped candies
• granola bars or other snacks (for food-insecure students)
• kleenex
• hand sanitizer
• fun art supplies (Model Magic, pastels, or anything beyond the school-supplied construction paper)
• Magic Erasers
• dice (great for math games and/or a unit on probability)
• card games (for rainy day recess)
• fun colors of chalk or dry erase markers

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day to all of my former colleagues and all of the other hardworking teachers out there!