How to Be Awesome at Quarantine with Kids Part 3

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

Previously, we talked about eight ingredients that we can use to help fill our days while we are social distancing at home.  Here are some specific activities for most of those categories to help get you started.  I tried to find easy, no or low prep options that you can do with whatever supplies you have at home.

Academics

• Flash Cards
• Sudoku
• Crossword Puzzles
• Workbooks
• Rhyming/Matching/Opposites Games
• Board Games like Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Solitare, Scrabble, etc.  My kids especially love the Richard Scary Busytown Game.

• Pick an animal, sport, historical figure, country, etc. that they are interested in and research it together
• Spelling Games
• Keep a Journal or Video Diary
• If you have a chalkboard, write spelling words or letters on there and let your child "paint" them off with a paintbrush and water.

Reading

As I mentioned before, reading with your child or setting aside time for them to read independently is probably the most important thing you could do during these next few weeks.  You can find free audiobooks on podcast apps or rent them from your library through Libby or Hoopla if available.  There are also some on Spotify, Pandora, and YouTube.  See my last post for some recommendations.

Gross Motor

• Masking/Painter's tape works well on hard floors.  Make shapes or lines and have them try to walk along the tape without "falling" off.
• Tape crepe paper streamers at angles through a hallway and have kids bob and weave their way through the "laser field."
• Simple songs like the Hokey Pokey or Father Abraham can get kids moving.  Or put on some music and have a dance party!
• Obstacle courses can be made indoor or outside.  Masking tape, pillows, and pool noodles can be used in surprising ways to create obstacles inside!
• "Heavy Work" chores can be a surprising source of gross motor activities.  Have small children pull all the cushions off the couch and help you vacuum it, then replace the cushions.  Help (and supervise) them climb on a step stool to dust the top of a shelf or table.  For older kids, vacuuming, dusting, scrubbing, etc. double as housework and gross motor!

Fine Motor for Young Children

• Have children paint some sticks from your yard and then when they dry, tie some ribbons on them.  Put them in a vase for a colorful centerpiece.
• Put different kinds of paper, TP tubes, ribbon, etc. in a box with a pair of scissors and let them practice cutting!  (Stay close and make sure to supervise this one!)
• Put sticker dots (or just draw them) on a page and have your child connect the dots with a pencil, crayon, or marker.  
• Lacing cards are available to print online, or you might have some from Target.
• Give them strips of fabric or ribbon to thread through the holes of a laundry basket, chain link fence, chicken wire, or anything else with holes big enough.  
• Playdough!  Have them roll snakes and then cut them with scissors, roll different size balls, make shapes or letters, etc.
• I have a whole Pinterest board full of more great ideas for fine motor activities here.
• Coloring books and mazes like this one are a hit with my four year old

• Both of my kids have really enjoyed these foam mosaic craft kits

Fine Motor for Older Children

• Rainbow looms and weaving looms are great for more advanced fine motor practice.

• Paracord bracelets, macrame, and friendship bracelets

• Simple cross stitch or sewing projects

• Adult coloring books or printable pages

• Spirographs

• Finger knitting

Art

• The more open ended the art, the better.  Put a bunch of supplies on the table and see where they go with it.
• Mirror painting or bathtub painting are fun alternatives to the usual.
• Magazine collages
• Stamps, foam stickers, or stencils
• Directed drawing activities give step by step instructions.  Do one with your child and hang them up together when you finish!
• Watercolor pencils are a fun and less messy way to paint.  You draw with them like regular colored pencils and then paint over them with water.  Or dip them in water and see how different they write!

• Kwik Stix are tempera paint sticks that make painting less messy and easier for young children to control.

Music

This one is easy to incorporate into other activities simultaneously.  

• Play classical music during art time or while coloring and knitting.  There are plenty of playlists on Pandora, Spotify, or YouTube.
• Play upbeat music for a dance party or while doing an obstacle course.
• Play name that tune with Disney songs or whatever your family listens to.
• Let your kids do their own cover of their favorite song and make a video.  
• Pull out some pots and pans, your old recorder, or whatever else you can turn into instruments and have a jam session.

Sensory

This wasn't one of my eight categories but it's worth listing because a lot of food items typically used for sensory boxes aren't available right now.  So here is a list of common sensory box fillers that aren't food.  I'm not saying go buy any of this specifically, but maybe it will give you new ideas. (Use caution and supervise young children to prevent eating or choking, of course.)

• Shredded paper (even better if you have a shredder and they can watch you make it)
• Marbles
• Bingo Dots
• Pompoms
• Buttons
• Flower petals or other nature items from your yard
• Cotton Balls
• Cut Up Straws (let them cut up the straws first!)
• Easter Grass
• Cut Up Foam
• Bird Seed
• Fake Snow
• Glass Gems (used as vase fillers in hobby stores and Dollar Tree)
• Aquarium Rocks
• Water Beads
• Soapy Water
• Poker Chips
• Rainbow Loom Bands
• Yarn, Ribbon, and Fabric Strips
• Feathers
• Beads

Housework

I know, I know.  Sometimes it's more work to get them to "help" than to just do the work itself.  Think of it more as an activity than actually helping. I'm pretty sure if you have older kids, you know what they can do, but here are some ideas for young children.

• Wash doorknobs and baseboards with baby wipes.
• Sweep with a small broom
• Dust with a feather duster or a dry washcloth
• Wipe down bathroom counters with a baby wipe
• Put toys on shelves
• Fold washcloths and match socks
• Set the table with help
• Wipe the table before or after a meal
• Put bib/pj's/clothes in hamper

I hope this gives you some ideas to get you started!  Please don't see this is as a list to work through from beginning to end.  I am just throwing out a whole bunch of ideas so that hopefully a few of them click with someone.

Next post, I will describe my themes for our "Spring Break Quarantine Camp."

How to Be Awesome at Quarantine with Kids Part 2

This post includes affiliate links.

You just found out your children's school is closing for three to four weeks.  You can't take them anywhere.  You can't travel.  You just see days and days full of hours and hours yawning ahead of you.

Picture credits to Douglas Adams and this site.

Remember from my last post, if reading ideas about activities and plans stresses you out, walk away now.  Everyone copes differently.  Some people need this info, and some need to hear me say it's ok to do nothing.  Do what you need to do to get through.  And not all of these ideas will work for all age groups and all family situations.  You are welcome to message me with specific questions, and I will do my best.  I'm just trying to help in the very small ways I can, so if this helps, great.  If it doesn't help, no worries.

But let's say you need some suggestions.  I have some areas that I consider basic ingredients for my day.

Let's go through each area and talk about some basics.

• Academics

Many schools are transitioning to e-learning or online class components.  If that is the case for your school, make this a priority.  That means it gets done early, and intentionally.  If you like a schedule, set a time to all sit down and make it happen.  If you like it looser, set boundaries around what has to be completed each day before screen time or free play.  

If your school is not giving your children academic work to do from home, like most of the schools in my state are not, you can still devote some time each day to working on academics that will help them retain what they are learning.  You might use math flashcards, spelling games, books from the library about what they are studying in history or science, or whatever else you think would help engage their minds.  We are going to talk in a later post about theme days, and it is easy to find some quick activities for math, science, etc, that go along with pretty much any theme you can imagine.

• Reading

Setting aside reading time each day might be the very best thing you could do over the next few weeks.  You can order books from most local libraries online, and pick them up quickly without having to stay long in a public place.  If your library is closed, you could also order them new or used on Amazon if that isn't an option.  Chances are, you probably have a ton of books at your house already that you can pull out.  For little ones, read to them or with them every day. For older kids, set aside DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time each day.  Model it yourself!  Let them see you sitting on the couch reading during DEAR time.  

This is a great time to pick a chapter book to read aloud to your family.  The Read Aloud Revival has great suggestions for family read aloud books.  And if you don't like to read out loud, you can find audio books at your library or on YouTube, Spotify, Podcast Apps, Libby, Hoopla, Audible, etc.  Not all of those will be available to everyone, and some of them are free while others have a cost, but there are plenty of resources available.  Audiobooks have a magical way of entrancing kids from 4 to 14 (and adults too) and they will give you topics of conversation, inside jokes, and ideas for academic enrichment.  If you need some quick recommendations, I am reading Anne of Green Gables right now to my kids, ages 4 and 7.

And my husband is reading them The Green Ember.

We also recently finished Thorton Burgess' Big Book of Animal Stories and loved it!

• Gross Motor

Think big movements and big muscles.  Running, jumping, tumbling, jumping jacks, etc., are all gross motor activities.  There are lots of great exercise and activity videos on YouTube for kids.  Two of my favorites are Jack Hartman and Cosmic Kids Yoga.  You can also print out activity cards like these and set up an exercise circuit or an obstacle course for them to do.  If they can do gross motor activities outside, even better!  Jump rope, cartwheels, freeze tag, etc. Kids crave the deep muscle input they receive from gross motor activities, and they need to stretch and get out that energy, for everyone's sanity!  

• Fine Motor

Fine motor activities are the ones that require precision and detail, such as lacing, tying, sewing, pinching, etc.  For younger children, this can look like sorting pom poms into ice cube trays, or making a Froot Loops necklace.  For older children, it can be cross stitch or macrame or making paracord bracelets.  Stacking and balancing blocks, playing Jenga, coloring, and playing with Legos can also be fine motor activities.  I try to incorporate at least one fine motor activity into each day.

• Art

Creative expression is important, especially in times of stress!  Pull out some old magazines to make a collage.  Let everyone paint abstracts.  Make a nature mandala in the backyard.  There are tons of easy art projects that don't require special supplies and don't create too much of a mess.  You can search Pinterest for easy art ideas, or do something that goes with your daily theme.  One art project a day can give kids an outlet for expression and encourage them get lost in an idea.  While they're at it, why not pick up a paintbrush yourself?  You might be surprised how good it feels!

• Music

Music is soothing and has been shown to lower stress hormones and unify groups of people.  Whether it's a living room dance party or practicing an instrument, try to bring some music into your day!  YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, or even just the radio can provide some background while they paint or some rhythm while they perfect their dance moves. 

• Free Time

Remember when we were kids and we were allowed to get bored?  It's still an ok thing.  Boredom is actually important to kids because it encourages innovation and creativity.  If they aren't used to unstructured free time, or if they haven't had any since last summer, it might take a while to get used to, but that's ok too.  Start with a set time, and tell them it is their time to free play.  No tech or screens, and no structured activities.  There might be wailing and gnashing of teeth in the beginning, but eventually they will wander off and find something.  (Offering extra chores or tasks as an alternative always worked for my mom. Just saying.)

• Housework

We already talked about how things are going to get messier than normal.  Incorporate your kids into helping keep the house clean.  If they are little, it might be as simple as "helping" you sweep with a small broom or wiping doorknobs and baseboards with a wet wipe.  (Mine started doing that at 3 years old.)  If they are older, they can help fold clothes and towels, clean their rooms, set the table, etc.  It contributes to the sense of adventure and the attitude of "we are in this together" if they are included in the daily tasks more.  Again, there might definitely will be complaining, but it is worth it to use this time to teach about serving our family and taking care of our things.

Housework can also include cooking!  Get them involved in making snack bags, lunches, bread, dinner, desserts, etc.  It might make a bit more mess, but hey, you've got extra time now!

Of course there are plenty of other things you could add in, and we will talk about some of those next time, but if you hit all eight of those every day, plus meals, you are well on your way to filling the hours.

Next, I will give you some easy, no-prep activities in each of these categories that you can pull out on the fly.  Then I will talk about some theme day ideas if you want more detailed plans.  As always, comment or message me if you have questions.  I'm happy to help!

Here's a black and white version of the graphic so you can print it out and check it off if you want.  Both graphics were made for me by Megan Floyd at meganfloyd.com .  She is amazing.

How to Be Awesome at Quarantine with Kids Part 1

Schools are closing.  Everything is crazy.  Families who never wanted to homeschool are now honorary homeschoolers for the next several weeks.

It can feel like a long road ahead.

Welcome to the family!

If you feel overwhelmed by the thought of doing anything but screen time and Lunchables for the next couple of weeks, no judgement here.  We all deal with stress and crises differently.  Some people panic at the thought of implementing any kind of structure or they simply feel it isn't necessary.  That's a valid response, and you probably don't want to continue reading. 

But some people need some kind of structure in order to thrive.  (It's me.  I'm some people.)  It doesn't have to be a rigid schedule, nor does it have to be the same as anyone else's, but for me, chaos makes me panic.  I need a plan.  And I've seen lots of posts asking for help and ideas, so I thought I could share what works for me.  This isn't my attempt to force anything on anyone else or make quarantine "Pinterest-worthy."  I'm just offering what I have to anyone who might be interested.  Take it as it is.

So you want to set up some kind of routine or schedule or at least plan some activities to pull out when the kids get restless?  Let's start with a couple of mindset adjustments that will help for the long haul.

• Expect more mess.  It's gonna happen.  Whatever your tolerance level for mess is, having kids home all day, every day is gonna push those limits.  Take a minute before you do any planning to try to address this so it doesn't drive you crazy and inhibit the rest of your plans.  What are the definite boundaries (like, no art on the couches, or no food on the carpet, etc.)?  What are the areas where you can give a little (like letting some sensory filler spill on the kitchen floor), and how can you incorporate cleaning breaks into your day so that you don't feel overwhelmed by 6:00?
• Try to stretch the times.  For little ones, try to stretch activities to 20 or 30 minutes.  For older ones, try for 45 minutes to an hour.  That means you probably won't be able to just set play dough on the table and expect them to occupy themselves for an hour.  You'll have to be more involved.  Help them make up games, like a play dough pie store, or print off some play dough mats.  If you are constantly jumping from activity to activity every five minutes, they will be restless and you will go crazy.  Pinterest is your friend here.  Search "easy play dough activities" to get some good ideas.  
• Use themes.  Everyone who knows me knows I love a good theme.  Don't try to invent twenty random activities each day.  Pick a theme for the day and make the activities fit with the theme.  It encourages them to combine and expand, and it makes your life easier because you will naturally start to come up with more ideas that go with the theme.  
• Get outside.  If at all possible, go outside every day.  If it's raining but not storming, let them splash in puddles and then come in and take warm baths (fills extra time!).  If it's cold, bundle them up and give them five or ten minutes to do a nature scavenger hunt.  Or even just have them run out the door and do ten jumping jacks and then run back in.  Fresh air is great for everyone!
• Don't expect to get a lot "done."  You will not be as productive as usual.  It's important to make peace with that.  Constant interruptions, heightened vigilance, more mess, and constantly finding things for them to do means that you are going to look back at the end of some days and say, "Did I actually DO anything today!?"  The answer is yes.  You were there for your kids, and that is a full-time job.  Give yourself some grace.
• Adopt an attitude of adventure.  I know these are anxious times, and I know there are a lot of inconveniences and disappointments swirling around everyone, but as much as possible, approach these next few weeks with a purposeful attitude of adventure.  We've never done this before.  We are all in this together, including your kids.  Keep a "quarantine journal" or blog or vlog.  Get your kids to add to it.  

We are going to get through this together, you guys.  We have so many resources at our disposal.  Eyes up, hearts up!  You've got this.

In my next post, I'm going to go over some basic ingredients for a day, and then I'll give some easy no-prep activities for those who want to keep it super simple, and some theme day ideas for those like me who need a plan!

Let me know if you have specific questions.  I'm always happy to help!

Awesomely Easy Toddler School: Letter A

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.  My opinions are all my own.

Last time, I introduced Toddler School as a way to incorporate learning into your toddler's every day routine.  Today, I'm going to go over specifically what we did with the letter A, so if you wanted to, you could use this as a kind of template to make it easy on yourself.  No need to reinvent the wheel!

Just as an aside, please remember that this is not forced or meant to be a super structured sit-in-a-desk time.  This is a fun, do whatever she's interested time.  Not every child responds to this kind of thing.  If yours doesn't, you'll have to get sneakier or more creative about how you introduce information to them.  You can still do it, but maybe not in this way.

Ok, but if you do want to do what we are doing, this is how we do it.

Calendar Time and Number Play

First of all, we start out day by doing our calendar.  I talked about it in my last post.  The calendar is a great way to practice counting, number recognition, prereading skills, days of the week, months, and more!  I also use calculator play, number puzzles, and the Poke a Dot books for number and counting practice throughout the day.  These are not really related to my alphabet theme, but I do try to make a point to do at least one number activity or book with her each day.

She loves playing with "her" calculator.

Alphabet Unit

As I said in my last post, I decided to do units based on a letter of the alphabet.  Each unit lasts approximately two weeks.  During that time, I try to cover two famous people (one man and one woman), at least one animal (usually a bunch), one place, and one object, all beginning with the target letter.  I also choose a character trait that is usually based on at least one of the people we are studying.  (It may or may not begin with the target letter.)  Here are the ones I chose for the letter A.

Man:  Albert Einstein

I have some leeway in whether I want the first or last name to start with the target letter, and it varies depending on which person I choose and honestly, which books my local libraries have.  We found a couple of simple ones on Einstein, and we emphasized that he worked hard and studied so that he could discover new things.

Also, I recently got her this book, Quantum Physics for Babies:

It is awesome, and the last page says, "Now you are a quantum physicist," with a picture of Einstein, so it got read a lot.

Woman: Amelia Earhart

This was Cricket's favorite part of the whole letter A unit.  She absolutely loves Amelia Earhart!  We got several books from the library about her, but Cricket's favorite by far was this one, called I am Amelia Earhart.

It really is a cute book, and apparently the illustrator used to work for Marvel Comics and some other big names.  Cricket would often repeat the lines Amelia said, like, "This is awesome!" and "This isn't a good idea.  It's the BEST idea!"  We emphasized that Amelia Earhart was very brave to do all the things she did, and the book makes a point of saying that she wasn't a natural pilot.  She just worked harder than anyone else.  I loved that part.

Brian found an old pair of tinted goggles that
immediately became her "Amelia Earhart goggles."

I used this coloring page for Amelia Earhart, but you can find plenty just by Googling it.

Animals: Alligator, Ant

We got a book about alligators and crocodiles and had fun reading it and looking at the pictures.  I used this coloring page for the alligator.  It is actually a whole set of letters made in the form of animals that begin with that letter, so I am making a little book out of them as she colors each one.

Places:  Atlantic Ocean, Antarctica, Australia, Alabama, America

Letter A is the jackpot when it comes to places.  Print off a map and you'll realize that the majority of the continents begin with the letter A, as well as several oceans, states, and countries.  (Not all of them begin with the traditional "A for Apple" sound though, so I used those for letter recognition, but not for the phonics emphasis.)  The main place we focused on was the Atlantic Ocean because it went along with the life of Amelia Earhart.  We also found some library books about Antarctica and Australia, so we ended up talking about those some, too.  They were a cute little series that was just perfect for a toddler attention span, with cool pictures and facts.

     

I printed off a world map to cover the oceans and continents, and I printed off a map of America and a map of Alabama, because we live there.  We also checked out a colorful children's atlas to look through, and a couple of books on Alabama.  Cricket especially liked Y is for Yellowhammer.  It goes through the alphabet and tells an interesting fact about Alabama for each letter.  They make them for several different states.

Object: Apple

The activities from 1+1+1=1 (more about them below) were all apple themed, so that was our main object, but of course, we talked about lots of words that started with A when we found them in our books or just out and about.  I think we even managed to eat applesauce and/or an actual apple sometime during the two weeks.  I am not stressing about trying to coordinate snacks to fit my theme (like some blogs I've read).  This one just happened to fit.

I also used this airplane coloring page because we were already talking about Amelia Earhart, so she had seen the word airplane a lot. The word airplane doesn't start with the traditional "A in Apple" sound, so we didn't focus on it for the phonics part, but we did use it for the letter recognition.  Airplanes are also great to talk about because toddlers are just starting to be aware of airplanes in the sky, so it comes up regularly.

By the end of our two weeks, our kitchen cabinet display was pretty full.

Character Trait:  Bravery

I know it doesn't start with an A, but since bravery came up naturally in the Amelia Earhart books, I made a point to emphasize it during these two weeks and beyond.  When she did something on her own the first time, we told her she was brave like Amelia Earhart.  We talked about how being brave meant doing something even when you were a little scared, like going into her bedroom when it was dark and turning on the light herself.  This has been something we have continued to talk about with other historical figures and Bible figures, emphasizing that there are many different ways to show bravery.

Bible Activities:

As I mentioned before, I printed off these amazing verse cards and put them on a ring.  The verse for A is "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.  Joshua 24:15."  Cricket had no trouble memorizing this.  I would just read it to her and show her the card each morning, and for almost a week, she just listened.  Then one day, in the middle of lunch, she just started saying it.

I have to say, I was a little skeptical of trying to get her to do memory verses.  I didn't know if they were too long or too complicated, but she picks them up so fast!  We still review all of them every day, but she absolutely can say them by memory by the end of the two week unit, just saying them once a day like that.  Kids' brains are amazing.

We also read a Bible story every day from our Big Picture Interactive Storybook.

I did a blog post a little while ago on how and why we chose that storybook Bible.  We are loving it so far.  The stories are a little longer than Cricket's normal books, and since there is one story per page, sometimes she gets anxious for me to turn the page, but she usually makes it through the story ok, and she is definitely picking things up.  The other day she started repeating, "God always keeps His promises," which was the theme of the story on Abraham we had read that day.

I also try to make sure we listed to some praise and worship music or some verses set to music at some point during the day.  Pandora has a great praise and worship station, and Seeds Family Worship has some AMAZING Scripture set to music that she and I both love.

Other activities we did during the two weeks:

Play Dough

I have a set of alphabet cookie cutters that my sister-in-law gave me, and boy have they come in handy over and over!  Here's a set you can get on Amazon:

When we were talking about the letter A, I gave her the A cookie cutter and she had a blast making her own letters.

Google eyes and pipe cleaners are also super fun.

Alphabits

Alphabits are the new Cheerio's at our house.  I got them for her birthday party, but she loved them so much, I've kept getting them!  (And they're surprisingly not full of sugar!  They have a pretty short list of ingredients, too.)  She loves pointing out the letters as she's eating them, and even spontaneously decided one morning to look through her bowl of dry Alphabits to find the letters that spelled April.

It didn't even occur to me to do that, but we've done it several times with different words since then.  Whenever she finds a target letter in her Alphabits, we make a point to say the sound it makes.

Alphabet toys and puzzles

I absolutely love my Melissa and Doug Alphabet puzzle.  It is how she learned her letters in the first place, back when she was potty training.  She would spend forever working on that puzzle, and by the end of the week, she could recognize every letter and say the word for the pictures underneath them.  She still plays with it a lot.

Other alphabet toys that I love are the foam bathtub letters,

the magnet alphabet on our fridge,

and this Light Up Alphabet Apple that I got at a consignment sale.

They are all great review and practice for letter recognition and phonics sounds, and there are lots of things you can do with them.

Printables

As I mentioned before, I use several printables from 1+1+1=1.  It is a great site with just TONS of stuff you can use for your young child.  I just use a few basic ones, like the traceable target letter and the letter with a couple of pictures around it, both of which I put in page protectors so she can use dry erase crayons to color every day.

    
If you haven't discovered this combination yet, you're welcome.

Toddlers are not able to write letters accurately yet, so don't push that.  Just let them color the picture and watch you make the letters.

I also print out a couple of her pages on cardstock that Cricket can play with over and over.  There is always a little puzzle picture for the target letter, a matching shadow game, a sequencing game, and a lacing picture.  Cricket loves these and often asks to play with them several times a day.

So there you go.  That's everything I used for the two weeks we focused on the letter A.  Please remember, I didn't do all of this every day.  Some of it, like the play dough, I may have done once a week.  It just depends.  Also, remember this is just an introduction.  This isn't kindergarten.  My goal was for her to be able to recognize the letter, give the sound it makes, (or one of them anyway, since it's a vowel), and learn some stuff about people and places.  I didn't work on lots of phonics practice or writing drills.  It's just directed play.

I hope this helps inspire you.  If you come up with other ideas, please post them in the comments so we can all try them, too!

Awesome Christmas Gifts for Teachers

(This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.)

Whenever we have a big holiday, or it gets to the end of the school year, I always have friends on Facebook asking what they should get their child's teacher.  So, having been a teacher for several years, I thought I would make a list of a few things we teachers love to get as gifts, and what we honestly don't love.

(Please understand that I am not trying to come across as greedy or demanding.  I loved all the gifts my kids gave me.  Please don't think that teachers are selfish and only want expensive presents or something.  I just know lots of people stress about getting something for their teachers that they will like, so I thought I'd help you out.)

First up, what NOT to get your child's teacher.

Of course, any teacher will tell you that every gift is special, and that's true in a sense.  But in another sense, there are some things that I, as your teacher friend, am telling you to pass on.  Things like...

1)  Stuff with apples all over it.

We get it.  'Apples for the teacher' was a thing, like, a hundred years ago, and people for some reason want to celebrate that by putting apples on literally everything they can sell.  Apple bags, apple ornaments, apple shirts, apple calculators, apple timers, apple water bottles!  I'm kinda surprised the teacher's bathrooms don't have apple shaped toilet paper!

Stop getting apple stuff for teachers.  It's not cute, and we already have a ton of it.

2)  School supplies

Yes, teachers have to pay for our own school supplies.  Yes, that sucks.  But when you give your child's teacher paper clips and staples for Christmas, it's kind of self-serving.  It's like giving your cleaning lady a new box of Swiffer Wipes.  Remember, teachers aren't just a job.  They're people.  I mean, I love office supplies more than most people, but still.  Do you want highlighters and pencils for Christmas?  Not particularly.

I will say, though, I have seen a few school supply gifts that were cute and fun to get.  At the beginning of the year, one student gave me small tackle box filled with all kinds of cute and unusual stuff, and they decorated the cover with my name.  That was awesome.  Also, our school had a thing where for teacher appreciation day, kids brought in Post-It notes or some other small desk item, and that was fun.

I'm just saying, for Christmas, maybe skip the pen aisle, or bump it up by getting it personalized.  (See below.)

3)  Mugs

I love mugs.  I really do.  I love to drink hot chocolate and tea and cider and really anything hot, so mugs are awesome.  Plus, mugs come in all kinds of interesting shapes and with hilarious stuff on them.  They're a great gift that isn't too personal and isn't too detached.

Unfortunately, everyone else knows that, too.  It's not that getting a mug for your teacher is bad.  It's just that each teacher has anywhere from 15-30 students, and at least half of them will get her a mug at some point in the year.

Every year.

I have enough mugs to start a small business called "Mugs with Apples and Inspirational Sayings on Them."

Pass on the mugs.

4)  Random Figurines

Again, I think we forget that teachers actually have normal lives and normal houses.  Unless you know that your child's teacher collects a specific kind of figurine, or you find a really nice one that is meaningful to him/her, don't just grab one on the shelf at Hallmark on your way to the checkout line.  A random angel covered in glitter might be pretty, but it takes up space, and it's not something that most people are into.

5)  Ornaments

Ok, this one I debated about.  I actually love the ornaments I got from my students.  Every year when I put up my tree, I think of each student who gave me those ornaments and smile.  I really do.  I remember them all.

But I do have a bunch of ornaments from students.  Like, more than two dozen.  And I only taught for six years.  Imagine how many ornaments a teacher would have after ten or fifteen or twenty years!

Plus, Christmas trees are the centerpiece of the home, and not everyone enjoys the mishmash of colorful characters and textures that I heap all over my tree.  Some people have like, color schemes and themes and stuff.  I say skip the ornaments because the other half of the class, the half that didn't give a mug?  They're giving ornaments.

6)  Bath Stuff

Most people are pretty picky about which scents they like for lotions, soaps, etc. and many people have specific products they prefer because of sensitive skin or allergies, so giving skin care items is tricky.  Unless you know for a fact that your teacher uses a particular brand and scent, skip this one in favor of something a little less personal.

I will say, though, Bath and Body Works will let you exchange products for different scents.  It's such a great idea.  Just make sure you're teacher knows about it!

7)  Ties/Tie Clips

I'm pretty sure this is the only thing people know to get male teachers.  Think outside the square knot.


Ok, now it's time for the good stuff.


What to get your child's teacher:


1)  Gift Cards

You can NEVER go wrong with a gift card.  Sure, some people think of gift cards as impersonal, but we're not talking about a gift for your grandmother here.  You have a professional relationship with your child's teacher.  Their feelings won't be hurt if you get them a gift card instead of a tangible gift.  Quite the opposite.  Teachers don't get paid a lot, and at holiday time, couldn't we all use a little extra spending money?

Here are some of my favorite gift cards I've gotten from students:

• Starbucks  (Always a good idea.  Always.)
• A Movie Theater (One mom gave me a "date night" set of gift cards for a movie and dinner.)
• The Mall (Yes, you read right.  You can get gift cards to the mall, good for any store!)
• Visa Gift Card (Basically just cash, but prettier.)
• Their Favorite Restaurant (Have your child ask.  It's cute and sweet.)
• iTunes (Only if you think they would use it.)

Gift cards are my number one recommendation when people ask what to get their child's teacher.  They're easy for you and perfect for them.  A bunch of my friends and I used to save our gift cards and use them throughout the year for special occasions.  So yeah, we really do enjoy them.

2)  Food

Teachers love food.  Most teachers I know have food stashed in at least one of their desk drawers.  You should see the frenzy that goes on in the teacher's workroom when someone brings snacks!  Food is almost always a welcome gift.  Homemade cookies, a box of nice chocolates (not a candy bar), a surprise latte in morning carpool, or even something you bought at a bakery.  The last week or two before Christmas break is usually a pretty crazy time for teachers, so a homemade lasagna or casserole can turn fast food night into surprise home cooked meal night!

I will say, though, make sure you know what kind of foods your teacher likes.  If your child's teacher has gone gluten-free, a loaf of homemade pumpkin bread wouldn't be a good idea, but maybe a fruit basket or Edible Arrangement would.  (I got an Edible Arrangement from a student one year, and I thought I had won the lottery!)

3)  A Class Gift

My class did this for me several times, and it's always just amazing.  A few weeks before Christmas, the room mom, or just someone wanting to help out, would secretly send out letters to the class saying they will be taking donations for a class gift.  (Usually the kids would let is slip or someone would give the money to me by accident, but that just makes it cuter.)

The parents used the collected money to get one bigger gift like a Visa gift card or a video recorder for the classroom or something else they knew I would like and use.  It's great because I got something really cool and it took the pressure off all the parents to come up with creative ideas on their own.  Plus, it's usually cheaper to donate $5-$10 to a group fund than to buy something yourself that often costs more.

For a simple class gift idea, get a book like one of these,

          

and have all the students sign the inside cover.  Pair it with a gift card or a couple of those designer cupcakes, and it's a thoughtful and inexpensive gift that she can actually use.  My class did this for me when I finished student teaching, and that book is still on my bookshelf.

4)  Hand Made Crafts

Let your child make something for your teacher.  She will love it.  A picture frame made out of popsicle sticks with a picture of your child and her teacher is precious.  (Put a magnet on the back.)  A yarn angel or a simple cross stitch design works, too.  Teachers appreciate the time and thoughtfulness that went into a gift like that.  After all, they know their students really well (hopefully), so they know how much it means if your daughter, who has trouble paying attention, took the time to sit down and make something herself, or your son, who hates to use cursive, wrote them a sweet card.

5)  Personalized Stuff

If you're just dying to get some school supplies for your teacher, Vistaprint has all kinds of stuff you can get personalized, like pens, notepads and notebooks, self-inking stamps (to label books, etc.), and stationery.  I had a student get me a set of blank cards with my name embossed on them because she heard me say one time that I never found stuff in stores with my name.  It was one of my favorite gifts of all time, because it is practical and very thoughtful.

For something a little higher end, I have a friend who does personalized stationery, etc.  Check out her Etsy page!

I also found this and loved it.  There are lots of places to get something engraved that could be used as a desk plate, a door sign, or a hall pass.

One of my friends does wood engraving, and he gave me a personalized sign one year, and it's just the coolest thing.  Very unique, and also useful!

6)  Jewelry or Watch

One awesome idea is a small jewelry item, as long as you know their style.  A men's watch or a woman's necklace or bracelet is a sweet gesture from one student or from the whole class that they can treasure for a long time.  I love this example:

 

It doesn't have apples, crayons, or school buses on it, and yet it is still specific to a teacher.  Just make sure it's wearable.  Remember, your teacher isn't Mrs. Frizzle.  We don't wear rocket ship earrings on Friday nights to the movies.

7)  A Basket of Things They Like

One of my friends had a student whose mother was a teacher.  At the beginning of the year, she sent all her children's teachers a survey to fill out, asking about their favorite things.  Then, throughout the year, she used that survey to get them what they want!  What a great idea!  Some ideas to ask about are:

• Favorite soft drink
• Favorite coffee/drink from Starbucks
• Favorite candy
• Favorite snack
• Favorite kind of chips
• Favorite color
• Favorite hobby
• Favorite music
• Favorite lotion/scent
• Favorite restaurant
• Other favorites

Can you imagine getting a basket full of your responses to a bunch of those questions?  Yeah.  It's pretty great.  Plus, you can use that information for the rest of the year.  Birthdays, teacher appreciation day, end of the year--whenever you need a gift idea.

These are just some general ideas.  If you know of something specific that your child's teacher is into, you could always get something in that vein.  And of course, every teacher is different, so yours might absolutely love an apple figurine or a tie with school buses all over it.  I'm not saying those people aren't out there.  I'm just saying I didn't work with them.

But seriously.  Don't over think this.  Gift cards are awesome.