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Birthdays are in important time for children. Acknowledging and celebrating them are great for building class community as well as your individual relationship with students. Here are some ideas for how you can make birthdays special for preschool and elementary students.
Buy birthday cards in bulk at the beginning of the year. Write students names on the envelopes and sort them in order of birthdays. Keep these in a small box on your desk so you are ready to write in them as the date approaches and then hand them out or mail them.
Keep a stack of birthday hats to use for classroom celebrations.
Received a gift in an extra-pretty box? Hold onto it to keep small gifts inside. Let birthday students choose an item from this box, which should be separate from a normal prize box. Keep it on a high shelf so students can’t reach it, but within sight as part of class decor.
Your school probably won’t supply you with a birthday tablecloth for each student, but probably does supply you with access to bulletin board paper in bright colors. Take a long sheet of this to cover a table (or desks pushed together) to make the room look more celebratory. Bonus: it’s more eco-friendly than plastic tablecloths!
Even if you want to light a candle with your students, most schools won’t allow it. But you can add some fiery colors to a regular candle with tissue paper or even buy an electronic candle that students can pretend to blow out over their own cupcake.
Birthday Cards
Print these templates onto cardstock and keep in your desk to use as birthday cards.
Birthday books
Print these pages to create a birthday book for students. Have each classmate write a note and draw a picture, then assemble all pages together with the cover page of your choice.
Birthday Wall
Display birthdays on your wall with a gift bag, yarn and these balloons printed onto color paper.
You can also open that bag, fill it with whatever small gift you will give to each child, even tying it to the string, and then remove the balloon with the gift tied onto it on the child’s birthday. As the year progresses, the balloons will disappear, showing everyone how many more birthday celebrations lie ahead.
Birthday Hats
What is more fun than a birthday crown? Not much, especially for younger children! Print these crowns onto color paper to make your birthday student stand out.
Birthday Pins and Tags
Create a birthday pin for students to wear with this template. Pins are a great alternative to hats for older children, who may feel “too cool” for a crown 😉 Just print onto color paper, laminate, and tape a safety pin to the back. OR, print onto full-page label sheets, then cut out to make your won birthday stickers.
Print out these tags to add onto small gifts. If you are giving students something like a pen or pencil, you can attach a birthday tag, or balloon printout to it, with their name on it, and keep them in a decorative vase or cylinder on a high shelf. If your school allows it, you may also include a uniform or homework pass.
Birthday Homework Passes
Birthday Banner
Welcome your birthday student through the door with this banner to help set a festive mood.
Birthday Slides
Use these background slides on your screen to help set the tone for celebrating a birthday.
Birthday Activities
Here are some easy activities to do in the classroom to make your birthday student’s day a little more special:
Make an Acrostic Poem Card
Have children collaborate to come up with positive adjectives that spell out the birthday girl or boy’s name. Then, transfer the acrostic onto a piece of paper (ledger is great) folded in half. Have students each sign the card and send it home at the end of the day.
For the acrostic poem, check out this list of Adjectives and Adverbs.
Birthday Spins
Bring your own spinny chair to the front of the room and let the birthday child sit in it. Spin them around the number of years they are turning.
*Always check with the birthday child ahead of time if this is something they will find fun.
Birthday Desk
Decorate the birthday child’s desk with bows, balloons, streamers, etc, the night before.
Birthday Chair
Have a special chair that the birthday child gets to sit in all day.
What Are You Bringing to (Name’s) Party?
Have all children sit in a circle. Each person says what they are bringing, and what the people before them brought. By the end of the circle, it starts getting hard to remember all the items on the list.
For Example:
Person 1: “I’m going to Jenny’s party and I’m bringing cake.”
Person 2: “I’m going to Jenny’s party and I’m bringing cake and streamers.”
Person 3: “I’m going to Jenny’s party and I’m bringing cake, streamers, and balloons.”
And so it continues…
Pass the Present
Print this template onto cardstock and cut it out. Have children sit in a circle with a clothespin in each hand. As the item comes around, have them pass it to each other, as well as from their right to their left hands, using the clothespins only.
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