The first day of school is right around the corner. Let’s gear up for another year with something fun – free back to school gift tags for students! These simple gift tags are extremely versatile and ink-friendly. Just print on your your favorite colored paper and attach something bright. I personally love glow sticks, but the options are endless! Keep scrolling for some serious color inspiration from Astrobrights Papers to get you geared up for Back to School.
This is a sponsored post. I received payment, trade and/or products from Astrobrights in exchange for promoting. However, all opinions stated are my own and I only promote products I love. This post also contains affiliate links. I receive a small credit whenever someone makes a purchase through one of my links, which helps to support the blog.
July has arrived and I am already thinking about going back to school – ESPECIALLY how I can incorporate color into my classroom, since color can make learning a more fun and impactful experience. Fortunately, Astrobrights Papers has a wide array of colors (25 to be exact) that are perfect for the classroom.
Today is the official launch of #25DaysofColor – a summer celebration featuring the entire Astrobrights paper line, led by your favorite teacher-bloggers. For 25 days, Astrobrights Papers will feature a project using a different color of its paper, providing ideas and inspiration on how you #ColorizeYourClassroom. Each day, you can discover a classroom project, idea or tip featuring a specific Astrobrights color.
Today’s inspiration is all about Lift-Off Lemon. When I first laid eyes on this paper, all I could think was, “Wow, that is really BRIGHT!” I personally love the color yellow and have incorporated it into my classroom in many ways (most notably when I spray painted my file cabinets).
Lift Off Lemon has a personality all its own and I had so much fun thinking of ways to get playful with the color as I prepare for students to enter my classroom this fall. It’s always fun to welcome students with a small gift or trinket with they first walk in the door. I stopped by FiveBelow this summer and found a great deal on 4″ glow sticks that I knew would be the perfect compliment to this bright yellow color.
The completed project is a fun printed tag that’s affixed to a glow stick. The tag reads, “We’re Going to Have a BRIGHT Year in Kindergarten!”
These little gifts were SO easy to make! All you need is a pack of Lift Off Lemon cardstock or paper (I prefer the durability of cardstock), some double sided tape and glow sticks. This pack of 10 glow sticks only cost $4!
To create this simple gift, just print off some gift tags, cut to separate and use the double sided tape to affix a glow stick onto each card. These glow sticks came with lanyards so I tied the lanyards around the top of each stick to manage the cord.
The best part? These sweet printable tags are FREE to download! I created several different pages, so that all elementary teachers (K-5) can print the page that’s best for their students. Use the form below to access your free back to school gift tags!
These sweet student gifts were so fun to create, but I was still inspired by Lift Off Lemon and all of it’s glorious brightness; so I kept on thinking and creating.
Those first few days of school are brutal. Especially in kindergarten. My students aren’t permitted to touch anything until they know the appropriate procedures and it takes a LONG time to teach all of those essential procedures. But I need my students to do something while I take attendance and the early finishers need an activity that keeps them occupied while the rest of the class completes their work.
Luckily, students of all ages seem to be mesmerized by the novelty of dry erase markers. Traditional student whiteboards can be expensive so I created my own write and wipe surface using Lift Off Lemon as the backdrop. I also had some fun continuing to play with the brightness of the color by including the message “I’ve Got a BRIGHT Idea!” on the bottom of the writing surface.
Creating this dry-erase mat was simple! I created the bright idea message and printed it onto a sheet of Lift of Lemon cardstock or paper then laminated the sheet using my Scotch personal laminator. My school has a commercial laminator that doesn’t make for a very good dry-erase surface but the laminating pockets I use at home are perfect for write and wipe activities!
You can download a FREE copy of this printable write-and-wipe page. Just print, laminate, hand your students a dry-erase marker and go! I chose to print 2 sheets per page, but a full-page option is also included in the download.
Ready to get your free back to school gift tags? Simply enter your email and it will be sent directly to your inbox!
And there you have it! Two great ideas for how you can use Lift Off Lemon from Astrobrights as you welcome students into the classroom for a new school year.
The fun doesn’t stop here! There are still 24 amazing days to collect inspiration on how you can Colorize Your Classroom with Astrobrights Papers. For more ideas on how to Colorize Your Classroom, be sure to follow #25DaysOfColor, Astrobrights Papers social feeds and visit ColorizeYourClassroom.com. You can find Astrobrights on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr.
Post your own project using Astrobrights Papers with the hashtags #25DaysOfColor and #ColorizeYourClassroom for a chance to be features as the Colorize Your Classroom project of the week!
I’m a former kindergarten teacher turned work-from-home mom. I still love sharing ideas and resources to make teaching easier, so you can focus on what really matters in the classroom. When I’m not working on the blog, you’ll find me chasing kids around the house with a cold cup of coffee in my hand (some things never change even once you’re out of the classroom!)
©2021 Kinder Craze. All Rights Reserved.
22 Responses
Do you usually stick with 2/3 colors for your classroom? I did two and black and white last year as I was worried about over busy, but with Kindergarten you are probably always busy. I didn’t now that personal lamination does better for wipe-off as our school one is readily available. Thanks for the tip.
Hi Sarah, I like to have 2-3 dominant colors for my classroom. In my current classroom I have 3 dominant colors with lots of black to contrast it and lots of other colors to fit the “rainbow chalkboard” theme. It generally helps a lot if you mainly focus on 2-3 classroom colors.
I am trying to use that same theme (rainbow chalkboard) this year! Do you print at home? Or have a company (staples, kinkos) print it?
Hi Jill, I own a laser printer so I print from home. Many other teachers take their items to Staples or Office Mac.
Hi! I was just wondering if you could tell me the name of the font you used for these 2 items. Thanks so much!
I used the font KG Empire of Dirt. It’s free to download 🙂
Thank you, thank you, thank you for making all grade levels! I teach 2nd – 5th graders and I can’t always find each grade level in a product! AWESOME! Guess what I’ll have ready for Open House? 🙂
Thank you for the love gifts. Where did you get the glow sticks? ♥️
The glow sticks came from a store in Michigan called Five Below 🙂
I am off to find some glow sticks! 🙂 Thanks!
Thank you so much for the freebies! I had never thought about making dry erase boards from laminated card stock. I have my own laminator too so I’m definitely going to do that!
I would love to do this for my PreK class. Any chance I could get the download with PreKindergarten on it?
Hi Katerine! Great suggestion! I just added an expanded freebie in my TpT store that includes a tag for Pre-Kindergarten. You can find it here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Bright-Year-Student-Gift-Tag-Printable-1968336
will astrobrights offer any discounts on purchasing the card stock? or will you? love the glow-stick idea…would be great to write their names on them and use them as name tag/lanyards too….”everyone has a light to share” or something like that….”everyone is filled with bright ideas”…..happy marriage btw! 🙂
I love the idea of using the tag with the message that everyone has a light to share. Unfortunately I don’t sell Astrobrights paper so I am unable to offer a discount and I am not aware of Astrobrights offering direct discounts, but now is a great time to watch the flyers at Office Max/Office Depot for back to school discounts! Thank you for offering your congratulations!
I got lost in your blog yesterday! Loved so much of what you do. I too teach at a Catholic school. I read “somewhere” about what type printer you use and what type you would like. Have looked and looked today and can’t find it on the blog. Can you please tell me what kind of printer you said printed the black series the most economically. Thanks so much, Jackie
Hi Jackie,
Any type of laser printer is a more economical choice than an inkjet printer. Here is a link to the printer I use: http://amzn.to/1IcqIOQ
Love all the Colorize your Classroom ideas!! You classroom is so bright and cheery for Kindergarten. It’s adorable!! Starting to get inspired to begin work on mine. Almost August after all!
Warm Regards,
Kim
kgierahn@gmail.com
The Classroom Contessa
Thank you Kim!
Thank you so much for sharing! I made the glow stick gifts for my second grade class today.
Love! Where do you find the glow sticks?
Any chance you could update this for Preschool?