Valentines - Ideas for Teacher Gifts

Posted on Feb 1st 2016

Valentine Ideas for Teacher's Gifts

What does your child do for their teacher on Valentine's Day?
Besides Valentine cards, candy, flowers and cookies, have you run out of original ideas? Check out how creative our readers are… lots of wonderful ideas, including kid-involved projects that are made with love! Including gifts from the whole class. Lots of fun suggestions!

Really Original!
Along with a package of frozen sausage, include a card that says:
"Your Sausage a good teacher"…
May take the teacher a minute to figure out that the message translates: "You're such a good teacher"

A Gift That Will Make This Teacher Smile
"My son's Kindergarten teacher has a little crush on George Clooney. My son asked me to cut a picture of him out of a magazine, and we pasted it into a Valentine's card for her. He wrote, "Love, George" inside. He can't wait to sneak it onto her desk this February!"

A Whisk of a Gift
Take a large wire whisk, gently ease two of the tongs apart and fill it with red and silver Hershey's candy Kisses. Wrap the whole thing in red or pink cellophane paper and attach a card printed on pretty valentiney-paper saying, "I whisk you a Happy Valentine's Day"

Apples for the Teacher
Core a fresh apple almost to the bottom. Fill with Jell-O and add a gummy worm to the top, like it was coming out of the apple - An Apple For The Teacher. (Some Wal-Marts offer a chocolate hollow apple that is filled with gummy worms). "No doubt about it, you're the apple of my eye".

Caramel or other candied apple (pre-packaged mixes are available in the produce section of grocery stores)

Queen for a Day
To make Valentine Crown, take a paper plate and divide into 6 pieces by drawing an "x" and then a straight line though the "x" don't cut all the way to the edges but cut your "X and straight line" to form the crown, now bend up and put Conversational Candy Hearts on each point. The paper plate can be painted red or pink or purchase them in colors. (Note: stay one-inch inside the plate when cutting out the lines).

Puzzle Trail to the Treasure
Using a plain color mini puzzle, write a message of the hiding place of the gift. Leave a trail of puzzle-piece clues all over the classroom where the teacher will find them (i.e. chalk tray, desk drawer, etc.) After the teacher finds the last puzzle clue, she can put them all together to reach where her Valentine gift is hidden

"A Book of Favors"
A book of coupons, such as erasing the blackboard, passing out papers, clean up the art area, etc.

Cards from the Heart
"Making homemade valentines is a lost art in this world of buy, throw away and waste," writes one of our readers, "so, I have taught my girls to make lovely homemade valentines with lace, doilies, construction paper, sequins, etc. Each one is handmade and unique with their own creativity in mind. They put a great deal of thought and effort into making the valentine for the individual and get a great deal of satisfaction from giving their valentine to the person."

Wallpaper envelopes: Use old pieces of wallpaper or from sample books and glue to an envelope.

The child makes a card and draws his teacher on the front, writing inside all the reasons the teacher is special

Photocopy photos of the child's face, fold it in half so the blank part of the paper is showing. Child writes on front and when the teacher opens up the card, the child's face is there.

Draw a heart on red construction paper and cut it out. Line the heart with glue around the edges and put multi-color glitter on it. Write a note in the middle.

Create a collage picture from construction paper out of a variety of Valentine colors. On one of the piece of collage, add the child's photo. Print a poem on tracing paper and tape the tracing paper over the collage (tape only at top) so the teacher can read the poem while viewing the collage.

Create a heart out of cardboard and border it with Red Hots (mini candies) or Conversation Heart candies.

Glue white doilies to red construction paper and cut out a heart. On the other side, write the message.

Create a Poem
Use the "teacher's name" to create a poem about the things liked about the teacher.

Use the word "teacher":
T is for teaching and that's what you do to me,
E is for enthusiastic that's how you make me feel to go to school.
A is for award that 's what you will get
C is for caring because that you do too
H is for a your good hearth
E is for everything you mean to me
R is for remarkable and remember
And that is what I will do!

Another example:
The child writes and spells and wishes the teacher well
She tells her she likes her
And wants to be the best
And hopes her gift is better than the rest
She thinks about gifts that will make her smile
And wants to do something that will go that extra mile
On, Valentine's Day she thinks of what to do for the woman she admires just as much as you
She wants to give her teacher a much-needed break
She thought about even baking her a cake
Then finally, she thought of something really fast
Perhaps, she could be the one to teach the class

Spin Art Card
Using a home salad spinner, place a paper plate in the bottom. Squirt two to three colors of washable paint directly on the plate. (Optional: add marbles). Close the spinner and spin. Remove the paper plate and let it dry. Cut into a heart shape using pinking edge scissors.

Create a Pin
Cut out small wooden hearts and glued red, white, and pink buttons to cover all of the wood. Glue a clasp on the back of the wood heart for a special Valentine's Day or anytime of the year pin. Another idea is to use a large safety pin, glue on teeny buttons and silk flowers and on the side that does "not" go through the material pin.

Another idea: Use one baked and painted salt dough heart (see under Salt Dough Heart later in this article) and hot-glue lace around the edges. Add small buttons on the top corner and a clasp on the back to create a pin. Write the child' name and date on the back.

Soap
Use Ivory Snow soap flakes, red food coloring and a 1/2-cup of water. Mix well. Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter, place mixture inside and press down tightly. Let dry for several hours and remove.

Cupid's Arrow
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/homegarden/crafts/cupidsarrow.shtml
Has photo on site

Tissue Flowers
Make a rose with tissue paper and use pipe cleaners to make the stem. Spray some perfume on the rose.

Heart Frame
Use a plain wood 5x7 frame and glue "candy conversation hearts all around on the wood. After the glue dries, take the frame outside and spray a sealer over all of it on it so the candies won't spoil.

Balloon Heart
Using a red or pink balloon, insert small paper messages and a few small candies. Partially inflate a pink or red balloon, then squish it down the center to create a heart shape and tape in place. Cover tape with ribbon.

Treasure Box
Paint a shoebox and decorate with doilies and hearts

Candles
Mold melted scented wax into a heart shape (use a heart-shaped cookie cutter is an option)

My School Book
The child makes a book of all the things he/she has liked doing in class, including a few things that wasn't liked. Add the child's photo and a thank you for being a great teacher.

Canvas Candy Heart
Using wide-hole plastic canvas, cut out two hearts (about 6 to 8 inches wide). Using pink or red yarn, lightly lace the edges of both hearts together but before sewing the top, fill with candy Kisses or Conversation Hearts. Finish lacing and tie off. Add a pink ribbon at the top.

Pillow Case
Using a white pillowcase, paint red hearts all over it and the words, "This is wear your head should rest, because you are the very best!"

Child's Flowers for Teacher
The child can enjoy fixing this for the teacher herself (or himself.) Obtain a green plant in a small flowerpot, either by purchasing it or potting a small ivy or plant from the yard. Then cut three red hearts out of shiny red wrapping paper left over from Christmas or purchased at a gift shop. Draw heart shapes on the wrong side of the paper to make cutting them out easy. Hearts should be about 1-inch wide. Take three green or red pipe cleaners and crook each like a candy cane and attach a heart (right side up) to the crook of the pipe cleaner, using two pieces of Scotch tape on the back of each heart. Cut the pipe cleaners three different lengths and stick them into the soil among the leaves in the flowerpot, letting them stick up about three, four and five inches above the plant. Then wrap the pot with shiny red wrapping paper or red or white tissue paper, held on with ribbon, yarn or whatever is available. The hearts will look like blooms among the green leaves of the plant and the plant will make a nice addition to the classroom. The teacher can easily remove the "blooms" after Valentine's Day or just leave them with the plant. With Valentine's Day coming so soon after Christmas, Moms may have red paper, ribbon, etc. already on hand. Colored pipe cleaners are usually available at school supply or gift shops and one package will supply a child with enough to surprise a number of teachers.

Salt Dough Heart
Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out salt dough that has been rolled about ¼ to ½ inch. Push a straw through the top make a hole. Bake in the oven and paint red and pink! Use long pieces of ribbon so the heart can be hung in the windows at school or home). You can also tie them with a bow at the bottom and the top.

Beaded Heart
Make a heart out of beads - for a free pattern, check out http://www.makingfriends.com/

Candle Holder
Use plastic cups and glue tissue paper, hearts cut from doilies, ribbons, glitter, etc. Add a votive candle. Message: "You Light up my life".

"Nuts Over You"
Use real acorns or walnuts and paint on it, "I'm nuts for you".

Candy Cane Heart
Use two candy canes left over from Christmas and leave the wrappers on -- glue them together to make a heart shape. Decorate with ribbons, pipe cleaners, construction paper hearts, beads, etc., making sure to cover the two parts where the candy canes are joined together. The teacher now has an adorable snack or a decoration for the classroom.

Spoonful of Love
Cut out a heart from a paper doily and tie a ribbon through the middle of the heart. On the bowl part of a plastic spoon, put a Hershey "Kiss" and a Hershey "Hug" (almond) in it and wrap with Saran Wrap. Put the spoon on the white doily and tie it with the ribbon. The card reads: "A spoonful of hugs and kisses for you!"

Popcorn
Using red construction paper, make an envelope to hold a package of microwave popcorn. Address the front to the teacher.

Hot Rock Cookies
Yields: 3 - 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
1-cup sugar
1 cup softened butter or margarine
1 egg
1-teaspoon vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1-teaspoon baking powder
1/4-teaspoon salt
1/2 cup hot rock candies
1-tablespoon butter or margarine
Heart-shaped cookie cutter, about 3" tall

Directions:
Heat over to 400 degrees F. Combine sugar, 1-cup butter/margarine, egg, and Vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add baking powder, flour, salt, and then beat at low speed until a soft dough forms. Sprinkle flour on counter top. Roll the dough out to about 1/8" thick. Cut Dough with cookie cutter (that has been dipped in flour). Place hearts 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 9 - 12 minutes, or until cookie edges are golden brown. Set the cookies aside cool down. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt hot rock candies and 1-tablespoon butter/margarine, stirring the mixture until smooth. Dip half of each cooled down cookie into the melted candy, allowing excess to drip off. Place cookies on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Refrigerate until set.

Candy Bouquet
Make a bouquet of roses from Hershey Candy Kisses wrapped in appropriate Valentine colors! Glue the flat ends of two candy Kisses together and wrap them with a green pipe cleaner as a stem using green floral tape and every so often, include some green leaves. When all the "roses" are done, place all the flowers in red or pink cellophane paper and tie with a pretty ribbon… voila, a dozen roses.

Cookie Bouquet
Make cookie flowers by using heart-shaped cookie cutters (or buy them from the bakery). Frost and decorate the cookies. Wrap each one in pink or red cellophane and add a wire stem, using green floral tape. Put all the long-stemmed cookie flowers together and tie with a ribbon. Another suggestion is to place all the decorated heart-shape cookies in a basket that has been lined with a pretty napkin.

Heart-shaped sugar cookies
Bake, cool and frost. Using frosting, add little sayings on each cookie (like the candy hearts you can buy in the store). Let the kids make a special cookie for each teacher. Other ideas: Frost with pink icing and dip them in coconut
Wrap sugar cookies in pink colored paper or pink cellophane and tie with ribbon that has hearts on it. Idea: write "thank you" on the cookies.

Mini Cheesecakes
Miniature cheesecakes shaped into a heart with a red Twizzlers (candy) shaped into an arrow on top.

Mini heart-shaped cakes
Any flavor cake mix, raspberry frosting and topped with cinnamon candies

Chocolate-dipped pretzel rods

Chocolate-dipped strawberries

Chocolate heart-shaped suckers

Chocoloate Cake
Make two flat chocolate sheet cakes. Let cool, then stack one on top of the other. On the top cake, cut out a heart shape and gently remove it (this will resemble a chocolate box), Ice the entire cake "except" the inside of the cutout. After the frosting has set, fill the cutout with chocolates candies. Cupid's arrow can be cut out of fruit roll-ups. This can be given to the teacher to share with the class.

Loaf of fresh-baked bread

Cupcakes
frosted pink with little candy hearts on top, or red frosted cupcakes with colored sugar on top

Handmade chocolate suckers in the shape of hearts

Heart-shaped cookie cutter filled with fudge and wrapped in cellophane

Fill a heart-shaped cookie cutter with mini Red Hot or heart candies, wrap in cellophane and tie with a ribbon.

Brownies
Bake brownies in heart-shaped pans, place doily over cooled brownies and lightly dust with Powdered Sugar. Gently remove doily for a pretty design.

Lunch
Heart-shaped sandwich and heart-shaped cookies

Homemade chocolate hearts or fudge

From The Class
Cut out construction paper hearts and ask each student to write on them things they "love" - example, I love poetry, I love math, I love recess, etc. Put all the hearts in a bowl or lay them out on the floor and let the teacher guess who wrote each one. If the teacher can't guess the right name, let all the other students join in with their guesses.

Valentine's Card Book:
Paint each child's hands with red (washable non-toxic) paint
Have the child close their fingers very tightly and put hands together with their thumbs touching
Press painted hands onto paper
Cut out in shape of heart and let the child write messages on their own hand heart.

An "I.O.U. Wish Book"
Each student creates his or her own "IOU" for the teacher to help with a chore in the classroom. All are put into a pretty red bag decorated with hearts. The teacher gets to choose one a day.

Giant Card
Make a giant Valentine card and trace the hand of each student onto it. Have each child sign (or print) their names on their own handprint.

Class Photo
Take a photo of the whole class and put it in a heart shaped glass frame.

Song
Everyone serenades the teacher.

Row of Hearts
Ask all the children to cut out hearts and place the hearts all along the hallway to the teacher's classroom.

Homemade Valentine Balloons
Inflate balloons with helium and marking pens to decorate the balloons, and write the teacher's name on one balloon. Let each student write a fun message on one balloons. Tie each balloon with long curly ribbon and let them float around the classroom.

Photo Card
Take photos of all the students. Make a collage inside a big frame, let the kids sign their names on their photo.

Old Stand-By's To Win Any Teacher's Heart

Delicious Treats:
Heart shaped cookies
Cupcakes with mini heart candies on the frosting
A nice box of chocolates
Heart lollipops

Pretty Treats:
A red or white carnation in a vase
A small plant
Bouquet of Flowers
Roses, each one has a message of why the teacher is special
A small flowerpot planted with bulbs (forced blooming)
Scented Candles
Bath and Aromatherapy items in a basket

Appreciated Treat:
A big hug and a kiss
A quiet, well behaved day in school

From the Store Treats
Valentine's Day coffee mug filled with candy
Valentine's Day coffee mug filled with tea bags
Pencils and notepads
Notepad with a magnet on the back
Gift Certificates
Manicure
Pedicure
Coffee Shop
To buy items to help her teach
To a restaurant for her and her husband
Movie Passes
Cookie Shop
Donut Shop