Every year, parents think about sending their child’s teacher a gift before Christmas break. So commence the rush to the local mom’s group and online searches to find ideas for getting the teacher. What might you ask is the best Christmas gifts for teachers?
While Google and Amazon searches will lead you to mugs, candles, bookmarks, lotion or soap sets…generally, things most teachers don’t need or want. So let’s look at what would be a thoughtful and useful gift for teachers at Christmas time.
1. Flair Pens
These are a favourite for teachers. They give a nice thick line for writing feedback and lots of fun colours when marking. To help teachers skip the ‘mark in Red pen’ trauma, grab these fun pens and make any teacher happy.
2. Yeti Coffee Mug
For many teachers, we rarely get to drink our coffee or tea hot. There are too many days that I finish my hot morning coffee cold by noon. This Yeti tumbler ensures that your coffee stays hot hot hot all day long. Don’t worry if you think a teacher already has many ‘mugs’ for coffee. One can never have enough of these on hand. The other added benefit is that these can be used over and over again, which is a good environmental option if that matters to
3. Hat, Glove, and Scarf Set
That outside duty period during a Canadian winter is COLD. You may think we would be good in this department and ready for it. But I can’t tell you how many times I have thought I had all my warm gear for duty, only to realize that I had forgotten it. I have received a few scarves, hats and mitten sets in the past, and they are always welcome and well-loved.
4. Dry Erase Pockets
These may not seem like a typical gift for a teacher from parents, but rest assured that these dry-erase pockets are all the rage amongst teachers these days. Teachers use these pockets with students daily to let students answer questions, play games in their center’s activities or share their thinking with a group. The teacher simply slips in a sheet of paper into these pockets and instantly turns that page into a reusable whiteboard for students. This help cut down on our limited paper supplies and reduce the frequent trips to the photocopy room. These don’t last forever, so having a fresh supply for the class is why I consider this one of the best Christmas gifts for teachers.
5. Dry Erase Markers
Gone are the days of classrooms full of chalkboard dust. Most modern classrooms are relying more on whiteboards than chalkboards. But those whiteboard markers must have legs because they never seem to stay where I have put them. These are a welcome gift to replenish teachers dwindling supply.
6. Wall Timer
As teachers, we constantly work with students on time management and using our time efficiently. From encouraging students to line up quickly and quietly so we can make it down to the gym to timing how long our center’s activities will last while the teacher works with a small group of students. This timer is all over teacher TikTok because it is easy to use, highly visual and easily sticks to our magnetic boards. Make your child’s teacher the envy of their colleagues with this best Christmas gift for teachers.
7. Pencils
In a classroom, there are never enough pencils. Just like every Canadian home has a house hippo, every Canadian classroom must have a class beaver. I can fill a bin with freshly sharpened pencils in the morning, and by the end of the day…they are all gone. All that is left is a pound of pencil shavings, some graphite dust, and the broken remains of what was once a pencil. Now you may think that schools supply these…they do. But it is never enough, and teachers generally supplement their class monthly with a box of pencils such as these. The best part about these amazon pencils is that they come pre-sharpened. So no need to sharpen them, which is good because the pencil sharpener has been broken since the second week of September with someone’s mini pencil stuck inside,
8. Mr. Sketch
Sometimes as teachers, we need students to remember what we learned in a lesson, so we create a chart on chart paper using coloured markers. Mr. Sketch are by far my personal favourite. These markers look vibrant on chart paper and rarely bleed through to the next page. But just like whiteboard markers, these also grow legs and often wander off from the cup at the front of the room. A new supply of markers will help ensure those chart papers continue to use all the rainbow colours all year long, which is why it is one of the best Christmas gifts for teachers.
9. Gift Cards
Gift Cards are a great option for hard to buy for teachers. It allows them to choose something they might need and use it for themselves or their classroom. Think of gift cards from stores like Amazon, the Dollar Store, Walmart, Michels and Staples.
If your child is in a Canadian classroom from grades 3-6 then consider something from the Madly Learning Teacher Store. These resources are all about supporting good-quality teaching materials.
10. A Personal Handwritten Note
Most teachers teach because they want to make a difference and impact their students’ learning in some way. If you have something to share about how the teacher impacted students, share it with them. If the teacher is anything like me, we keep these meaningful notes somewhere special and often read them when days get tough or we need a little pick me up. Out of all the gifts I have ever received, these are always my favourite and something that means the most to me.
*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself, and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.
