Kid's Craft- Painted Pencil Cups for Teacher Appreciation

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My kids are always asking to paint stuff. It is one of their favorite crafty things to do. I typically have a little stash of stuff that can be painted in my craft supplies, unfinished wood stuff, canvases, etc., and they love looking through it to find stuff they can paint. 

One of the things that I happened to have in my craft supplies was some unfinished wood pencil cups. I bought them a while ago planning to make a specific project that I never got around to making. My daughter asked if she could paint one so I told her she could, and then her brother wanted to paint one so I let him too. So the next thing I knew we were having a little pencil cup painting party. 

As I was watching them paint I thought about teacher appreciation week coming up and I thought it would be fun for them to make something that they could give to their teachers from them, like a painted pencil cup, that we could then fill with some school supplies, treats, or gift cards. I thought it would be a way for them to give something handmade by them, so it would mean a lot to them to be able to give it to their teacher, paired with something really practical that I knew the teacher would want and be able to use. 

They painted the pencil cups and then we picked up some dry erase markers to fill them up with. We kind of lucked out because I bought them just thinking that they were something a lot of teachers asked for, but not knowing what specific supplies they wanted, and when I got the list of each teacher's favorite things a they said dry erase markers for the school supply. So that worked out great!

The kids had a lot of fun making something for their teachers, and they may or may not keep it and use it, the gift card and makers may be the more useful gift. But I think it means a lot to the kids to be able to give something they made specifically for their teacher. It makes it more personal for them. And this was an easy and pretty inexpensive way for them to make something. 

How to Make Painted Pencil Cups

You will need:

• unfinished wood pencil cups
• acrylic paints 
• paintbrushes
• school supplies, treats, gift cards, etc. to fill the pencil holder

Instructions:

The instructions for this project are pretty self explanatory, give your kid a pencil holder, some paints, a paintbrush, and let them do their thing. My kids just used paper plates for palettes and plastic cups for water cups for easy cleanup. Pick out some fun things to fill it up with, dry erase markers, pens, pencils, other school supplies, the teacher's favorite treats, anything that you think they would enjoy and use. Add a gift card if you want, and let your child proudly give their teacher something that they made.