Free Printable: Seedling Teacher Gift Tags

The girls’ last day of preschool is this week! We have been trying to do some gardening this year, and we planted some tomato seeds in a big pot. Surprisingly, a lot of them sprouted, too many for us to keep ourselves (we only have a patio). So I thought it would be perfect to give out some tomato seedlings as thank you gifts for the girls’ preschool teachers.

I customized ours to say “us” to include both my girls, plus added their names. But I’ve created a free printable for you to use, with “me” if the gift is from just one kiddo, and left a little space blank at the bottom for you to fill in your child’s name by hand. The link to the printables is below.

 

We planted the tomato seed on May 10…

and this picture was taken at the end of May, so this is about 20 days of growth. The girls just threw the seeds into the pot before I could tell them to plant them in a neat line, so they are all clumped together. But I give them props for reminding me to water them! On the left are yellow pear tomatoes, and on the right are Brandywine tomatoes.

I am using these Jiffy Pots to contain each seedling. That way, the recipients can just plant the whole thing right into their own soil.

I filled a small container with potting soil and a spoonful of plant food (that I reviewed here), then I poured in a little bit of water to moisten it and mixed it up. Then I filled each Jiffy Pot full of the soil mixture.

Then I teased apart the seedlings very very carefully. I sometimes pinched too hard or tugged too hard and had to say bye bye to some of them.

I poked a hole with my finger into the soil and placed the seedling in, then closed up the hole. I sometimes needed to add more soil after that.

Here are all the little seedlings. Hang in there, little guys!

Note: they were really delicate so I thought it would be good to keep them inside, by a sunny window, for a day or two. Unfortunately some of the soil became moldy and I couldn’t give those out. Sigh. But I hadn’t potted all of the seedlings and I bought plenty of Jiffy Pots! So I was able to redo the moldy ones. I should have moved them outside earlier, which you should do anyways, because this will “harden” the seedlings to acclimate them to the great outdoors. For more info on growing tomato seedlings, read this from Renee’s Garden.

Okay, now onto the packaging! Here’s what you will need:

• Fabric (mine was a vintage children’s print)
• Plastic wrap
• Twine
• Template for drawing a circle (I used a bowl)
• Disappearing ink pen for tracing
• Fabric scissors (I was jazzy and used pinking shears)
• Regular hole punch
• Printable gift tags (download and print them here), I printed them on white cardstock
• 2” craft paper punch
• Sharpie pen
• Popsicle stick

Trace and cut out your circle of fabric, plus a piece of plastic wrap a little bit smaller than the circle. Wrap the plastic wrap around the bottom of the Jiffy Pot. This is in case any moisture has seeped through, it won’t ick up your fabric.

Center the pot in the middle of the fabric and wrap it up around the pot. It doesn’t have to be neat.

Cut out a piece of twine and tie it around the pot to hold the fabric in place. Leave some length to help tie the gift tag on.

Write the type of plant/veggie onto the popsicle stick and poke it into the soil, making sure you don’t poke the seedling or its roots.

Punch out a gift tag, and punch a hole through that for the twine, and tie on the gift tag.

And you are all done. Repeat for however many teachers/staff you have. Again, the printable tags I’ve made say “me” instead of “we” and without my girls’ names.

I cut a paper shopping bag in half and reattached the handles with packing tape to create a short and wide bag for the girls to present to their teachers.

Hope the teachers enjoy their gifts, from my little seedlings who will be “repotted” to Kindergarten in the fall. Okay that sounded weird.

If it’s too late to grow seedlings, you can always use this tag for any potted plant!

Download your free “Thank you for Helping Me GROW!” printable gift tags from Google Docs by clicking here.

Linking: The CSI Project :: The Frugal Girls :: Tip Junkie :: Rook No. 17 :: How to Nest for Less :: Oopsey Daisy :: The Trendy Treehouse :: Tidy Mom :: Creation Corner :: Whipperberry :: Sassy Sites::Tatertots and Jello :: Lolly Jane Boutique:: Homemaker on a Dime :: The Gunny Sack :: Mine for the Making :: Fine Craft Guild :: Mad in Crafts :: Finding My Way In Texas :: Creative Jewish Mom :: The Taylor House