Appreciation Gifts: End of the Year Teacher Edition

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As the school year is coming to the end, you can give the gift to your child's favorite teacher for an amazing year.

REI Lunch Cooler $17.50

Gifts that focus on R&R is always a hit! It's Summer Time, so after a year of rushing to work, your hard-working teachers deserve to enjoy the summer and relax and recharge. Give a cooler or reusable shopping bag packed with some summer time fun like ice-tea cup, some magazines, sunscreen, bug spray, or a beach towel.

"Thank you for quenching my knowledge."

You can gift Teas, Green Teas are great for the anti-oxident properties! or Breakfast, Black Teas, Iced Teas, etc.

"Thank you for helping me grow this year." 

Plants are a nice useful gift. You can give a basil plant in a pretty terra cotta pot along with a recipe for pesto or bruschetta. Any other herbs can work too, like mint, parsley, lavender, rosemary, dill etc.

Cosmetic or Toiletry bags are great for your teacher. It comes in handy for traveling, or day to day organization. You can get it monogrammed or fill it with tissues, band-aids, and wipes. Also, you can pack it with bath salts, scented soaps, and a travel size lotion, tooth-brush, paste, and mouthwash.

Add a photo of your child with THANK YOU! or a note written and signed by your child.  Below is a sample note and a link for older children.

Thank you teacher from a young child 

Dear Mrs Smith,

Thank you for being my teacher. I enjoyed your class very much and most of all liked your art lessons. 

You were always very kind to me and helped me with my reading.

Thank you.

Examples of Thank You Note for Teachers

It's always appreciated by these hard working men and women who's passion each day is to teach children. To teach with relentless energy, love, and possess such amazing work ethics, they are the true heroes. A small gesture of appreciation is the least any student or parent can do.

Screen Free Time with Your Kids

Time at home with younger kids require lots of activities. Rule of thumb is 1 hour of TV iPad iPhone Game time per day, but I find myself reaching for some sort of video distraction, while trying to get my child to eat, or as I do some cooking, cleaning, showering, etc.

If the weather permits, a trip to the park is always a great idea. Packing a soccer ball, a bike, or scooter, or other outdoor toys makes a trip to the park a good one.

At home, a section with construction paper and a pair of scissors (child-safe and blunt) is a great activity. Playdoh with all it's shapes and tools is another busy activity.

For rainy or wintry days, a game of indoor basketball, we use a beach ball which we throw into an empty hamper as an indoor-friendly version keeps the kids happy and active. Also, a blow-up punching bag, weighed down with sand is another energy buster. When in doubt, play some music and dance and jump around! That is always a mood buster.

You can also provide quiet time with books, Legos, and even sit down and do an impromptu reading. If you are spontaneous, the simple action of changing things up is always a trigger for FUN!

The main idea is to play with your children, sprinkle the day with active and quiet time, and hopefully by bedtime, they will be worn out from the days activities!