Teacher Appreciation Ideas

As my daughter has gotten older it feels like teacher appreciation has become less of a thing. I don’t know if that’s because the school makes less of a deal about it (they do snacks and drinks and things for the teachers, so it’s not like there’s nothing, it’s just not coming from individual parents) or because it’s too overwhelming to give gifts when your kid has six or seven teachers.

If your school does theme days and you need some ideas, check out my post on teacher appreciation themes for the school.

Maybe it’s a little bit about teachers not wanting all those gifts, and I have written before about what teachers really want for teacher appreciation (spoiler alert: it’s gift cards).

But I also feel like there can be a middle ground, if you truly want to give a teacher something to acknowledge their hard work (and goodness knows they need all the acknowledgement we can give them).

The solution might be consumables, especially if you know things the teacher likes and uses like lotion or their favorite kind of coffee. Everything Pretty has some ideas for practical gifts you can give for teacher appreciation, some of which are consumables, and all of which sound thoughtful and nice, and not an apple shaped doodad among them.

The Applicious Teacher has another list of things teachers will actually appreciate, and it starts with a personalized note. If you know the teacher enough to get specific about something they’ve done for your child, or your child has said something nice about them, that’s great to include. Even better: get the kid to write or draw something special for that teacher.

I also love the idea that’s in both of these posts to get teachers personalized school supplies, whether that be a notebook, pens, sticky notes, etc. This personalized notepad that looks like notebook paper from Sophias Things on Etsy is super cute and every teacher is sure to love it. I’m not even a teacher and I always want more places to take notes!

If you’re a teacher I’d love to hear what you really like to receive for teacher appreciation gifts!

[Photo: Sophias Things]

Growing Up Ladybug and How to Become a Butterfly are both by Stepanka Sekaninova and illustrated by Linh Dao, and they came out at the same time and are on similar themes, so let’s look at them together.

Growing Up Ladybug is narrated by Mariella, a seven-spot ladybug. She talks about the parts of a ladybug, where they live, different kinds of ladybugs, why humans love them, their defenses against predators and the life cycle of a ladybug.

The drawings are cute if not always scientifically accurate, it’s not in such a way that’s likely to confuse kids (who probably already know that ladybug mamas don’t push their larval babies around in strollers, for instance.

It’s a good general description of the life cycle of a lady bug and why we like having them around.

About the book: 32 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Albatross Media. Suggested retail price $16.95.

Similarly, How to Become a Butterfly covers the life cycle of a butterfly, starting with caterpillars eating burning nettle leaves. (Here Amanda is the narrator.) The book talks about a few of the more than 18,000 daytime butterflies in the world as well as other creatures that live in the meadow (there’s that ladybug again, along with crickets, bees and other bugs).

It also covers some of the enemies of caterpillars like wasps and spiders, and the defenses that caterpillars use to try to prevent being eaten. It illustrates how caterpillars grow and change as they molt and prepare to pupate, and what a caterpillar looks like before and while it is forming its chrysalis. And while the book uses the word metamorphasis it doesn’t really talk about what happens between the caterpillar forming a chrysalis and the butterfly hatching.

This butterfly is a peacock butterfly, and once it hatches the book covers the parts of a butterfly and the life cycle. It also talks about nocturnal moths (though it says nocturnal butterflies are “usually called moths” when moths are actually a different species) and what butterflies do at night.

I’m maybe a little hard on this book because my daughter is a butterfly expert from way back, but it is still cute and good for the very basic basics of the butterfly life cycle.

Both books would be fun additions to your bookshelf for younger kids starting to learn about different animals or who have an interest in insects.

About the book: 32 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Albatross Media. Suggested retail price $16.95.

Have you read?

Leave a Reply