Office for Children
Fairfax County Department of Family Services
12011 Government Center Pkwy., Suite 920
Fairfax, VA 22035
Media contacts: 703-324-7162 or 703-324-8042
TTY: 711

Gift Ideas for Child Care Teachers

As the school year ends, many parents will send thank-you gifts to their children’s elementary school teachers. Parents whose younger children are infants, toddlers or preschoolers may be wondering how to also express their thanks to the women and men who provide safe, educational child care while parents are at work.

“Child care professionals are educators,” explains Betsi Closter, the school readiness coordinator for the Fairfax County Department of Family Services Office for Children. “They teach children social, emotional, reading, math and language skills that children need to succeed in school.”

The Office for Children offers dozens of courses for child care teachers that help them develop effective curricula for children age birth to five.

Parents can thank all their children’s teachers with low-cost, useful items such as gift certificates to book stores or toy stores, or with gas cards, First Aid kits or emergency supplies like flashlights.

“Items that can be used to teach children are best,” Closter says. “Art supplies or subscriptions to children’s magazines are gifts that keep on giving. Parents can also consider giving memberships to professional organizations.”