Teacher Gifts - Phase 1

I'm back! (I hope). It's been very hectic this year with two children who have end of the year school activities. I'm anxious for them both to be at the same school. But today marked my daughter's last day of preschool.

This means... teacher gifts! I spend a lot of time making a special banner for one of the teachers at the school how has decided to stop teaching for a bit to spend more time with her kids. We had the kids decorate flowers and some parents and kids signed the bottom (dirt). I didn't make it to the presentation of this gift so I only have before pictures... and no after pictures. It was a really fun project. Each flower is made from a scrap piece of cotton on top of a tshirt scrap. I finished the edges of the tshirt to give each flower a wavy, petal look.

For my daughter's teachers, we made garden markers. I needed a project that she could help with... and she's still too young to help with sewing. And she LOVES to paint. So I had my husband drill some holes into wood disks, had her paint them and I them sealed them. We hung them from some bent wire. She was so proud of them and happy with the way they turned out. She chose some seed packets to go with them.

I have a tutorial for a similar garden marker in the works. I hope to have it done by the end of the week.

I'm thankful that my son's last day of school isn't for another two weeks. So I have a week or so to figure out what I'll be doing for his teacher. The ideas I've given so far have not been well received with my son. But I think it's important to give handmade gifts... I really think it shows my appreciation for the time they spend with my kids. Not that I haven't gone and bought a gift certificate in the past when I didn't have time to make something... but I am trying to make a rule that teachers get a little more thought put into their gifts. After all, where would we be without them?

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I-Spy - Welcome Spring with a little Green!

Okay, here's the second I-Spy. We are ready for green and flowers! This I-Spy is primarily green with a little bit of white. Robbie is having a great time doing these. Of course, the kids have lost their button privileges for a few days as they scattered them around the room. Oops!

Can you find these things? How many white flowers do you see? How about aliens - do you see any aliens?


As we continue to do these pictures - they would be fun to print up and make flash cards for the kids. A little something to keep them busy while traveling in the car.

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I-Spy - White

My kids are obsessed with I-Spy books. My son is always wanting to make his own. He will draw I-Spy pictures, he will set up I-spy scenes with his toys, we play I-spy when we are out and about. It's all about I-spy.

So, I thought it would be fun to take the much talked about bin of buttons and have him make an I-spy picture. He immediately decided that he would turn it into a book... but I'm thinking that we can just post a picture or two each week and maybe other kids can enjoy his love of I-Spy and their many buttons.

Today's theme is white (perhaps the snow won't come back if we focus on it a bit).

Here are a few things that can be found in the above picture. Hopefully clicking on the picture will enlarge it (provided Blogger is cooperating today).

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