Here’s something you may not know: today, July 9, is National Sugar Cookie Day! I admit this July recognition came as a surprise to me. I tend to 
associate sugar cookies with December holidays…or maybe that’s sugar plums? Well, anyway, when I heard it was National Sugar Cookie Day, it got me thinking about cookie cutters in the classroom. Do you have a favorite classroom idea that utilizes cookie cutters? Or maybe you’ve just thought of a fun way to use cookie cutters with students. Please share!
Sweet thoughts,
Diane
PS: Just in case you’d like to know, tomorrow, July 10, is National Piña Colada Day! 🙂
I have tons of cookie cutters at school and always have them available at the play dough table. One of my favorite things to do in September is to have the letter cutters out and sit with my preschoolers and make my name. After the kids see me do it they begin using the letter cutters to make their name. I have seen kids go to that station day after day. Its a great way to encourage name recognition, working with literacy skills and building fine motor.
Number cutters work great for counting and number recognition too.
i will use the opposite edge (thicker) for letting them stamp with paint.
i’ve also taken the cookie cutters and traced them onto a cookie sheet and then they cut the shapes with playdough and match them to the shapes on the cookie sheet to make “cookies” to bake! especially fun with christmas cookie cutters. (also add in some spatulas!)
I use them to make necklaces out of modeling clay.
Darlene, I think you are a girl after my own heart! I have used cutters in playdough almost from the beginnig of my daycare days. Thanks for the great ideas with the number recognition too.
I have some people cutters: mom, dad, grandparents, girl, boy, baby. So I let the kids make their family from playdo. I have ABC cutters that I encourage them to make their names with, and then other words as well.
I give them a stamp pad, and the ABC cutters, and they write simple words.
Hi-I’ve been a subscriber to Mailbox Magazine for over 32 years. And I have all the magazines to prove it. This year I decided to retire, it was time. School has been out for three weeks now and I’ve been cleaning my room. I can’t believe all the materials I have collected throughout the years. I had at least 50 thematic units that I have put together, plus all kinds of resources and books I’ve collected. But as I am cleaning I keep thinking about my Mailbox collection, I’m not ready to give that up yet. I’ve used it so many times. As times have change and teaching has change my Mailbox has always had the resources I needed, the ideas and the facts I wanted. I have recommended and lent out magazines, but always made sure I’ve gotten them back. I’ve change grades k, 1 and 2, but Mailbox has always been at my side. Now that I no longer need to renew my subscriptions to the Mailbox and Teacher’s Helper-I still want to keep all my magazines (you never know when I will need them, I planning to maybe sub or work with children at a hospital) I just wanted to say thank you for all the help Mailbox has given me throughout the the 32 years of my teaching career.
I have a 100 cookie cutter that I use to bake cookies for the 100th day of school. The children decorate their own cookie for a special 100 day treat! They love it!
I also have many cookie cutters the children use with play dough that go along with different seasons, letters, and numbers.
I’m lovin’ your cookie cutter ideas! Fun, fun, fun!
And Lorraine, thank you so much for your kind words. I hope you feel the warmth of the smiles you’ve generated, not only here at The Mailbox, but also with the readers of this blog! We wish you the very best in your retirement. It’s certain you will continue to touch the lives of many!
My favorite cookie cutter project is to use oven baked clay my favorite is Pluffy Clay because it’s easier to work with. We roll our clay out into a thin sheet and use stamps to make designs and words in the clay then use the cookie cutters to cut out the shapes. Then we just bake them in my toaster oven. Sometimes we paint them, sometimes we put holes in them so we can hang them up, sometimes we glue magnets on the backs. There is so much you can do with oven bake clay, stamps, and cookie cutters! Parents love them! Plus it’s a nice keep sake they can keep their whole lives!
Cookie cutters are like my go to tool in my toolbox. I use them for everything: ABC and number recognition, ornaments for the holiday, clay fun,and making magents. For the beginning of the school I use the boy and girl cutters to make pouches, one for everyone. We do a all about me day and the kids put pictures of their families, matchbook cars, small transformers, stickers, name braclets,and anything they really like to share with the class. They are simple to make just put two cutouts together and glue or staple around the edges leaving the top open to add their favorite items. If you staple cover the edge with tape.
Also for theme weeks (bugs, dinosaurs, holidays, beach, butterflies) I use cutters to make shapes on coffee filters and paint with watercolors. You can use the finished product on their own or add several to a larger projects or boards.
We add different cookie cutters to our clay and playdough area as the year goes along, and hide them in rice, sand or shredded paper in our sensory tubs. But when we tried cookie cutters for painting, it was such a hit! I’m always looking for different tools to use to apply paint and add something new to their art. We noticed that many of our youngest children tried the cookie cutters, even when they weren’t that comfortable with fingerpainting or getting their hands messy. The cookie cutters allow lots of opportunities to add several colors, different shapes, they wash up easily and the artwork really comes alive when they sprinkle on glitter to the wet paint. We made cookie cutter painting a once a month choice last year and they looked so great displayed in our hallway!