Better than apples! A+ gifts for teachers
Show your teacher you care with a homemade thank you
By Julie Stoyka
One of Lesley McPhail’s prized possessions is a thank you gift she received from a student — a small magnet with a message saying, “Teachers are so important in moulding a child’s life.” As a Grade 2 teacher, McPhail knows how true the saying is.
And so do parents. So as the end of the school year approaches, many are scrambling to find the perfect way to thank a dedicated teacher.
Playing favourites
Gifts don’t need to be expensive or elaborate, McPhail points out. “I love practical gifts, like something that can be used in the classroom or something that can be done with my whole class,” she says. In addition to practical, McPhail says the best teacher gifts are also thoughtful and do not break the bank.
“My favourite gifts are the handwritten thank you notes I receive from students and from parents,” says Betty Farquharson, a business and high school teacher in Oakville, Ont. “This is truly a gift that keeps on giving, since I save these and look at them over and over again.”
Giving thanks
Both McPhail and Farquharson respond to each gift in the same way — by writing a thank you card. McPhail puts her message on fancy rainbow or school bus paper. Farquharson mails hers right to the student’s home.
This end of year, why not make your child’s teacher a few handmade thank you cards? We created a beautiful butterfly template, so you can turn plain cards into three-dimensional thank yous. As well, with special paper and some wire, you can create adorable book darts, perfect to mark pages in the teacher’s textbooks.
Thank you cards
Add our colourful butterflies to any blank thank you card. Using cardstock and Pop-Dots (foam pieces that are sticky on both sides), you can turn a basic thank you card into a 3-D wonder. Print our multipurpose Butterfly template (PDF) and follow the accompanying instructions.
Book darts
An easy craft, book darts slip between the pages of your teacher’s favourite textbook.
Book dart materials
- Shrinky Dinks shrinkable plastic for inkjet printers
- scanned image or Clip Art
- printer
- paper scissors or a sharp-edged utility knife
- hole punch
- paper grocery or gift bag
- metal wire
Step 1: Download a design template and personalize
- Download our Butterfly PDF* template for ready-to-trim images.
- Or, create your own book darts in Word. Select images that are 2”x 2” in area and have contrasting colours.
- When using your own images, be sure to lighten them by 50 per cent before printing, because as Shrinky Dinks shrink, their colours darken.
Quick tip: Shrinky Dinks shrinkable plastic sheets come in 8”x 10” sheets, so you’ll have to adjust the paper setup in Word.
Step 2: Print and trim the template
- Load Shrinky Dinks shrinkable plastic into the printer, following your printer’s directions. Print the book darts at the lowest-quality print setting. The printed image will appear faded.
Cut out the darts using paper scissors or a utility knife.
- Using a crafting hole punch, punch two holes in the images horizontally, about ¼ of an inch apart.
Step 3: Prep, bake and cool
- Lay the trimmed butterflies on a cookie sheet lined with a paper bag to keep them from sticking.
- Bake for three-to-five minutes (following the directions on the package) and allow them to cool.
Step 4: Attach a piece of wire
- Cut thin wire into lengths of 5 inches. We used copper wire, but any metal will do.
- Feed the wire through both holes in the book darts from the front (image side) of the Shrinky Dinks.
- Twist the ends of the wire together at the back of the darts to secure them in place.
- Roll the ends of the wire up, so that the sharp edges are not sticking out.
Step 5: Present your gift
- Once you’ve completed this project, take a few moments to put together the final presentation. If you are giving your teacher homemade book darts, slide them in a book.
- Or combine them with a set of thank you cards; wrap a ribbon around the cards and envelopes and adorn them with the matching book darts.
*You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the PDF files. Click here to get it for free.
All styling and inset photography by Julie Stoyka of Zariel Creative
