14 Back to School Gift Basket For Preschool and Elementary Teachers

Hey girl, today let’s chat about the best back-to-school gift basket ideas for preschool and elementary school teachers.

With the beginning of school quickly approaching teachers are busy getting classrooms ready to welcome back students and they could all use a back-to-school gift basket.

As a mom of 4 (2^nd – 8^th grade this year, say what!), I am here to give you the top back-to-school gift basket ideas for preschool and elementary school teachers that they want and will use.

The best classroom gifts and teacher gifts are below and your kiddo’s teacher will feel all the love no matter what you decide to include in the back-to-school gift basket.  These also make great Christmas gifts for teachers.

Ask your kiddo to help you put together this back-to-school gift basket for his teacher and he will be more than ready for back-to-school night so he can give it to her.

Let’s jump into the best back-to-school gift basket ideas for preschool and elementary school teachers.

1. Back to School Classroom Supplies

Girl, even though your kiddo is asked to supply most of these items, at some point, supplies run out or get lost.

You can pick a few of these items or be bold and pick them all to make an epic classroom supply basket.

If you have multiple teachers to get gifts for like I do, try to get as many of these items in multi-packs.  It is usually cheaper that way.

Also, if your child wasn’t asked to supply any of these items, don’t gift them to the teacher.  For example, last year my 1^st grader did not need or use colored pencils so I did not put that in his teacher’s gift.

Just a quick note about the stickers and stamps, they are for the teacher to use on the students’ papers.  Consider that when picking them out.

Stickers

Stamps

Post Its

Pencils and Pens

Sharpies

Highlighters

Expo Markers

Glue

Scissors

Crayons

Colored Pencils

Markers

2. Books

Reading is so important for kids at the preschool and elementary school level and most teachers have to fill their classroom library with books they purchased on their own.

But here is where you can help.  Buy books for the classroom.  And girl, it doesn’t matter one bit if the teacher ends up with multiple of the same book.

Some popular options by grade can be found below.  Most of these are a series and are great as presents for your kiddo’s birthday, Christmas, and Easter basket.

What was your favorite book or book series when you were a kid?  Let me know in the comments below.

Also, which books does your child like reading?  We are always looking for great book recommendations.

Preschool

Pete the Cat

Llama Llama

Kindergarten

Elephant and Piggie

Fancy Nancy

1^st Grade

Dragon Masters

Junie B. Jones

2^nd Grade

Narwhal and Jelly

Amelia Bedelia

3^rd Grade

The Bad Guys

The Never Girls

4^th Grade

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Little House Books

5^th Grade and 6^th Grade

Harry Potter

Anne of Green Gables

3. Book Marks

Bookmarks are easy and cheap prizes for teachers to hand out to the students.

There are lots of fun ones out there like scratch-and-sniff bookmarks, color-your-own bookmarks, magnetic bookmarks, and rainbow scratch art bookmarks.

4. Flash Cards

Even though flask cards are cheap, buying multiple of them can add up in a quick minute.

I like using the School Zone flash cards.  They are large and durable.

Depending on which grade level you are buying for you could get math flash cards like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or number recognition.

There are also flask cards for letter recognition and sight words.

5. Keep the Classroom Clean Kit

Listen, we both know kids are little germ factories and they are so good at sharing them that your teacher’s supplies will run low sooner than expected. 

So, to help with that, get hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, and tissues.

All of my kids’ teachers strongly hint that an extra of these items at the beginning of the school year would be greatly appreciated.

6. Hand Lotion

7. Water Bottle

8. Chocolates

9. Gift Cards

Every single teacher can and will use a gift card.  You can get a gift card to Amazon or Target where they will most likely get supplies for the classroom.

But if you want to get a gift card that will be more like a treat just for your teacher then get a gift card to a local coffee shop, restaurant, or even the movies.

10. Personalized Notepad

Your teacher will use this personalized notepad.

I stumbled upon this company last year – The Curio Press Store – and was so impressed with the quality and quick turnaround time.

11. Blank Cards

Teachers use blank cards for lots of different things including thank you cards so beef up her stock.

12. A "Meet the Student" Note

Get your child involved with this gift by asking him to write a note to his new teacher and introduce himself.  It could be short if he is little or encourage more sentences if he is older.

You can also write a little something to the new teacher and include some of these fun facts:

Student and Parent names

A little bit about your family

Did you do anything exciting over the summer

What is your child’s favorite subject and least favorite subject

Any hobbies

Favorite books

What your kiddo wants to learn this year

13. Shower Steamers

Help your teacher relax at home with shower steamers.

They make the bathroom smell so good too.

14. Movie Night Bucket

Another way to help your teacher relax after a long day is with a movie night bucket. 

You can include popcorn, popcorn seasoning, candy, or even cookies.