Are you a kindergarten or grade school teacher? If so, there are lots of fun crafts you can make to give your kids an incentive to work even harder. Listed here are several nice gifts you can give to students and make for pennies. The small but appropriate gifts will have every child trying harder and, hopefully, earning one of the accomplishment gifts.
Make refrigerator magnets by using a piece of magnetic sheeting. Cut a star shape from the sheeting and another from any type of paper or cloth. Stick the material to the star and then write “Star Student” on it with a paint marker or pen. Or, write “School is Cool” on the magnet. These can be made for about a quarter a piece.
Instead of magnets you can make something similar with small, wooden shapes. The flat stars are very inexpensive and can be quickly spray painted or covered with fabric or paper. Use hot glue to attach a pin backing to the back of the star. The pin hardware is sold at craft stores, in a pack of several, for a buck or two, and the star shapes are generally sold for a quarter or less.
Purchase cheap card stock and make a door hanger for a student who has a special accomplishment. Cut the card stock to be 10 ½” by 4 ½”. Cover it with decorative paper or cloth. Or, use markers to make polka-dots, stripes or other easy designs. At the top of the card stock draw a circle which is a little larger than an average doorknob and cut it out. Under the hole write “School is Cool”, “I’m an “A” Student” or a different remark.
Cut craft foam rectangles to be 7″x1 ½”. Poke a small hole at the top, in the middle, and thread a ribbon through it. Tie a knot, next to the top of the foam, to make a nice bookmark. These can be decorated with stickers, written on with markers or just left as-is. Write something like “Great Reader”, “I Love Reading” or another saying.
Make a magnetic picture frame by simply cutting a square of craft foam and then cutting a square or circle out of the center of the foam. Stick magnetic sheeting to the backside of the frame and it’s finished. Write on it, if you want, across the top and/or bottom of the magnet.
A good teacher often rewards students for doing well, and if you love crafting, you can give your students some accomplishment gifts that they’ll love. You’ll see that, suddenly, all your students are performing to the best of their abilities.