How to Make The Cutest Personalized Teacher Gift Classroom Sign

(Thank you to Woodpeckers® for sponsoring this post in return for my honest opinion about their products. All opinions stated are 100% mine.)

As I pull to to the kid’s school, I glance at the clock. It is 7:29 am. The kids are lining up along the front door, waiting for the doors to open at 7:30 am.

I pause for a second. There is an eerie silence in the air… Like a calm before the storm.

There, it hits me, the calm. The peacefulness is the collective sigh of relief from every school teacher… as they step out of their cars, grab their purses, balance tote bags and boxes full of papers and well-intended lesson plans, and brace themselves for one of the last Mondays of the year.

You can feel it in the air, even the birds are singing along: “We did it! We made it through another year!” As the school year draws to a close, teacher appreciation celebrations across the nation have kicked into high year – and with good reason.

Parents are thankful for the wonderful men and women who put up with their excessive emails, late permission-slips, forgotten lunch boxes and their children’s less than stellar behavior. Teachers deserve medals, not just for spreading knowledge and hammering multiplication tables into our kids, but also simply for putting up with 20 snotty-nosed kids, day in and day out.

This year, we had a blast at home making Teacher Appreciation gifts for the many wonderful educators in our kids’ lives.

These wood apple signs from Woodpeckers are PERFECT for Teacher Appreciation week and also back-to-school. I made a few version, for your inspiration.

Things you need to make a wooden classroom sign:

Wood apple plaque from Woodpeckers
[easyazon_link identifier=”B00ATJSD8I” locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]Acrylic craft paint[/easyazon_link]: Red, pearl white, browns, greens
Wide [easyazon_link identifier=”B000I0XNLA” locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]Silver Marker[/easyazon_link]
[easyazon_link identifier=”B00G2V6BCW” locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]White ribbon[/easyazon_link], length 9”
[easyazon_link identifier=”B00FI6QWBM” locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]Hot glue gun[/easyazon_link]
[easyazon_link identifier=”B00V4EG6D6″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]Paint brushes[/easyazon_link]

Steps to make a wood apple teacher sign:

Stem: Put two – three brown colors on a plate, get a little of each color on your brush and paint the stem.
Leaf: Put two – three GREEN colors on a plate, get a little of each color on your brush and paint the leaf. Be sure to paint in the same direction as the shape of the leaf. Replenish the paint on your brush often. The more paint, the more definition and depth.
Apple: Paint the entire apple red. Put a little pearl white on your brush and gently paint the upper left corner in a half circle.
Once all the paint is dry, write on the apple with the [easyazon_link identifier=”B0050FCPPS” locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]wide silver marker[/easyazon_link].
Attach ribbon on the back of the apple with your trusty hot glue gun.
Voila! You have just bought yourself just one more reason for your child’s teacher to pick you as chaperone for the next field trip… if you are into that sort of thing.

We like to give these signs with either inspirational sayings or for the teacher to hang in their room at the beginning of the year.

Last year, we also made this canvas art for the teachers’ rooms and they are still proudly being displayed by all of our kids’ teachers.canvas art

What do you plan on writing on the classroom sign for your kids’ teachers?

I have been very impressed with the wood products I have bought from Woodpeckers® on Amazon.
Their products lend themselves perfectly to crafts and DIY projects.
The wood shapes are uniform and without blemishes.
Their customer service is wonderful with personal attention to each customer.
They even send you an adorable ebook for inspiration when you purchase their peg dolls.
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