Birthday Celebrations in the Classroom

I love to celebrate my little ones' special day in the classroom BUT I keep it pretty simple. Very! If you are looking for some tried and true (but easy-to-implement) ideas to celebrate birthdays in your classroom, you may find something here.

Straws and Crowns are given out to my birthday kids.

Years ago, I had a pretty elaborate display of their birthdays but no more.  Space became an issue and I just didn't want to give up that much real estate to a display that really wasn't used much. So here's my super simple birthday display that takes me 10  minutes to complete. (Shown with names/dates blurred out.)

Oddly enough, it gets WAY more "looks" from the kids than the fancy displays I had up. Pretty sure because it's eye level and straight forward. I made it using PowerPoint, added a border and first names/birthdays.  Easy. Done.  I usually have "Crazy Straws" but the Dollar Store was out so these large ones work fine. Easier to clean for parents!  NOTE: I'm now in a huge classroom but am sticking with this simple, yet, effective display.

My colleague gave me this large coloring sheet. Perfect for the birthday child to color in while others are making cards.  While it says the website address to access it for free, it's not active. I'm sure you could easily find another one. The appeal is that it's 17 x 11. This is the Do-Now of the day and I send home the cute birthday cards that day the kids make but I have some colleagues that compile them into a book.  I may try that next year. A nice memory all in one place!

They also get to pick out the books that I'll be sharing that day.  They tend to pick tried and true favorites, Some pick nonfiction...up to them! They can bring in books from home, too. 

Being a Cool Cat Helper of the day is always FUN but nothing beats getting to be one AND picking your partner. That's what happens on your birthday! It's such a simple system with no stress of changing jobs or having kids complain about their jobs!  I've been doing it this way for about 7-8 years now and would never go back to a full-blown job board. Each student gets to be a helper in ALL areas (like the coveted Line Leader every 10 days.)

They get a joke on the calendar and get to take it home.  I try to match up the child's looks as best as I can and the kids always say, "How did you make a picture of me?"  I have Seasons, Dinosaurs and Sports themes. All contain jokes.

We sing this fun Happy Birthday Song during Cupcake time!  Grab it if you want it,  It's my highlight! After we sing it (and add our Cha-Cha-Chas!) we give the Birthday student a "firework" with our hands and a "Truck Driver" which, if you don't know, you put your hand up in the air, and pull down while saying, "Honk, honk!" then pretending to talk into a radio, say in a deep voice, "Happy Birthday, Little Buddy."

Giggles galore! 

That's it.  Not a ton but I think it's the just right amount of birthday fun for my Fabo Firsties.