Teacher appreciation was a few weeks ago. Being a teacher once, I remember some of the things I have received from my students. It meant a lot to get notes and gifts from them. I actually have a file still out in my garage of notes that I have received from my students that really had an impact on me. This year offered a reverse of this activity–my son has two incredible preschool teachers, and we wanted to say thank you to them! We made these wonderful flower pots as a thank you.

I went to Pinterest to look for some ideas. I found several places that had flower pots with the writing, “Thank you for helping me grow!” One of my favorites was this one from Kelly Leigh. I didn’t have time to put the tape measure design around the top, but I think the teachers name at the top looks nice.

DIY your own flower pot

Here is how you can easily create your own “Thank You” flower pot!

Supplies needed:

• flower pot (I used terra cotta) and drip tray

NOTE: If using terra cotta, make sure to use a sealant if you would like the paint to last.  You could use something like DecoArt’s Patio Paint or Clay Pot Sealer or FolkArt Outdoor Sealer.

• black acrylic paint
• yellow acrylic paint
• oil-based Sharpie markers
• washable paint to make a handprint card
• cardstock
• card holder from a florist
• flowers
• potting soil

Begin by preparing your flower pot. You can do this by washing, drying, and spraying or painting sealant on the inside of your flower pot. A great tutorial on how to get your flower pot prepped can be found here.

Painting your flower pot

My son wanted to help with the painting. So I let him help. He painted the bottom of one flower pot black, and I painted the other black as well. Then I helped as we painted the top of each yellow.

We then allowed the flower pots to dry. After they had dried, I used the black oil-based Sharpie marker and wrote the teachers’ names at the top. Then I used the white oil-based markers to write, “Thanks for helping me grow!” on the base.

Plant your flowers

Once the paint is all dried (and, ideally, the marker too so you don’t smudge it), then you can plant your flowers. I really liked the Gerber daisies, and I think their color really looked great with these flower pots. I added extra potting soil on top to make sure the flowers were secure in their new home.

DIY Handprint Card

The last thing we did was create a card for my son’s teachers. I took card stock and folded it in half. Then I used a brush and painted my child’s hand with washable crafting paint. We used his hand print and placed it on the card stock, close to the fold. After it dried, I was able to come back with black Sharpie marker and write, “Thank you!” on the front. Then, taking scissors, I cut the hand print shape out WITHOUT cutting the fold. This way the card could open. Then we wrote a note to his teachers about things he liked about the school year. I then used a florist card holder to put the cards into the soil. It was a lot of fun to do this project together!